buckmaster20000

Here is one example of many I've taken with settings:
f/4.5, ISO 400,shutter 1/32, evuluative mettering,w/flash

CSI Dave Loc: Arizona

Thanks, Erv. It makes me want to go out and play with a campfire, too. You are correct that the low power flash will help the subject from getting blurred as much. I see that my practice shots here look much worse on my non-calibrated monitor at work (oh, did I just say that out loud? Don't tell my boss.). It reminded me to mention that they were shot at ISO 200, using relatively small aperture, so the settings were far from optimized for low light. There's a lot that could be improved in post, also, such as white balance and lifting the shadows, if necessary.

Margo Loc: Clearwater Florida

Great examples and certainly food for thought. Being in FL my neighbors are going to think I am quite odd starting a fire in a fire pit when it's 80 + degrees.

JBTaylor Loc: In hiding again

Using a tripod helps. Using a flash and the camera in manual mode is helpful. If you use the normal flash mode with the sync speed selected, you might not get enough of the file light to illuminate people around it. If you use the slow sync flash mode and let the camera pick the shutter speed, the exposure may pickup too much ghosting and movement and blow out the flames. Some ghosting is unavoidable unless you shoot at high ISO and raise the shutter speed. I am posting a couple of cropped examples with settings except I forgot the power settings on my flash. I did not use a warming gel on the flash which you can see in both pictures, particularly the first.

These aren't the best examples, the first image is too soft but I'm not sure if that is due to lack of focus at f2 or movement illuminated by the fire. If I doing it over, I would consider warming the flash output, increase the shutter speed to dial down the flames and bring up the flash power a little. I think it's always going to be an issue of trade-offs.

Shooting fire is easy. Capturing the action around it is the challenge, especially if you are trying to keep the firelit look. Next time, I may try some of the other ideas posted.

ISO 200 f2 1/8


ISO 200 f4 1/6