Blacksmith Grinding

[Kate Howells]

I was just wondering if anyone has photographed a blacksmith before, and if it is possible to expose for the sparks.
Please feel free to comment on other aspects of the image, but I am particularly looking for feedback regarding the blown highlights from the flying sparks.

The room was pretty much dark apart from the light coming from the sparks, just wondering if it is possible to shoot without blowing them out.



Canon EOS 30D
ISO 400
Av : f.8
Tv : 1/30
Focal Length : 55mm
White Balance : Cloudy

Thank you for taking the time to look.

[SpencerC]

i can see that would be hard. so i was thinking eitherbumb up your ISO so you can have a faster shutter speed. or use a flash. but i kinda like the blown out image. i honestly dont know why you would want to chage it.

[IABoomer]

Having done my fair share of grinding, I think you've really accurately captured the moment. Those sparks are really bright and intense. Trying to tone that down would lose much of the detail of the worker.

I suppose you could try to cheat a little and create two images, one where the worker is exposed like he is here, and another where you tone things down to recover some color/detail in the sparks (provided they didn't just blow out to pure white), then do some creative post-processing to blend the two "exposures". Or, if you shot this RAW, you might be able to make a pseudo-HDR using Photomatix.

[sk66]

You could have exposed a bit less, but you want the sparks "hot". Here I used a shadow/ highlights adjustment and levels...(had to darken the background a bit afterwards)

[Kate Howells]

Thank you very much for the constructive feedback guys, really appreciate it. I was worried that the sparks were too dominating as my eye goes straight to that area, which is predominantly blown.
I will have to go back and try some different exposures, maybe try my hand at blending