Bhoo Chakra (Fire Wheel)

[Stryker]

Last weekend was Deepavali (also called Diwali in North India) and this was one of the shots I took of a "bhoo ckara" or the fire wheel that turns rapidly on the ground. This things revolves very fast and moves around quite a bit, so capturing it is quite a challenge.

From Deepavali 2010

EXIF:
Shutter: 2 seconds
Aperture: f/36
ISO: 200
Exposure: 0 EV
Flash: Did not fire

I was in shutter priority mode and this was handheld, since a tripod would not be of much use as the wheel was moving around a lot. Not much editing beyond a saturation boost and a little USM.

The question: If I want to freeze the actual thing in the center, what flash mode should I use? Front or Rear Curtain? Would it have made a difference at all?

Also, what do you think of the framing? Should I have been more perpendicular to it? That would have me looking down on it rather than from an angle like above.

[Stryker]

Er, apologies for the bump, but does anyone have inputs on this?

[zambie]

Well ... let's see ...
f/36 and 2 seconds .... that's really not where you want to be from any perspective while shooting a chakra firework. Since you're interested in freezing the motion, getting some definition of the actual chakra and getting some of the flair of the sparks ... i would suggest anywhere between a 1/50 and a 1/100 shutter and take it from there ... and open up that aperture - f/36 is really not a good aperture setting for anything worthwhile!
your pic is totally over exposed and you're not getting any proper definition of the sparks ...
truth be told - as far as chakra fireworks are concerned, you're not going to get any shots that are extremely well framed, you might have better luck with the ones that actually shoot sparks in the air. you could always try framing it from top, but be mindful of getting too close - where protective shoes if you do

[Stryker]

Thanks for the C&C, zambie. Really appreciate it.

The f/36 was the camera deciding the aperture for me, since I was in shutter priority. Understandable, since at 2 seconds anything lesser would have probably blown out the shot completely. I have seen 1/100 shots of the same and they looked pretty weak so I set it a lot slower. I can see what you mean by not getting proper definition for the sparks, they look like light streaks.