flights of fire

Went back to get some more of Artomatic and I ran across some fire dancers from two troupes, Flights of Fire and Capital Fire Arts.

I'm really happy with the photos below. I cherry picked my favorites from the set, but trust me, it took many frames to get these. I like how the exposure turned out (I like my night skies really black), and I was pleasantly surprised at the how the skin tones turned out too. In many of the not-so-great ones (not shown), the focus was really off because I have a hard time seeing through my viewfinder when there's not a lot of light. I use manual focus when it's dark because the auto focus gets really confused when there is not enough light or not enough contrast in the frame. I was also taking three or four shots at a time to capture the fire when it got close to the performer -- that was the only way they were going to be sufficiently lit.

The following photos were taken with a fixed (no zoom) Sigma 30mm/1.4 lens on a Canon Digital Rebel XT, handheld, no flash, in shutter priority mode.


My favorite from this set. 1/30 sec, f/4.5, 3:2 crop


1/50 sec, f/2.5, square crop


If you look carefully, you'll notice fire-illuminated raindrops on the lower right. 1/30 sec, f/2, square crop


1/30 sec, f/1.6, square crop


1/30 sec, f/2, square crop