Weekly Assignment #104: Take a Match

[Nikolai]

Those of you old enough remember the Asimov's story. Them yongun ones can use google... :-)
Anyways... This time around we're gonna catch a match flare.
Make it artsy. Make it look great.. Make it look "nukular". Use PS if you feel like it.
But, beoynd everything - make it safe! :deal

One, two, three - strike!

Let's take a match!

[Jeremy Winterberg]

OK, so I guess I'm the first entree. I gave up on the High Key assignment. Never got a chance to go outside again, and I didn't want to, waaay too cold outside.

Two pictures for this one.

#1:
http://jeremywinterberg.smugmug.com/photos/452108319_vabs4-L.jpg

And

#2
http://jeremywinterberg.smugmug.com/photos/452108444_2wthA-L.jpg


Its really hard to take pictures of yourself lighting a match when you only have two hands :D. I guess that's why there's a timer on cameras :thumb.

It looks like I'm trying to set my keys on fire... but dont worry, none of my precious desk clutter was set on fire in the making of these photos.

[Nikolai]

OK, so I guess I'm the first entree. I gave up on the High Key assignment. Never got a chance to go outside again, and I didn't want to, waaay too cold outside.

Two pictures for this one.

Its really hard to take pictures of yourself lighting a match when you only have two hands :D. I guess that's why there's a timer on cameras :thumb.

It looks like I'm trying to set my keys on fire... but dont worry, none of my precious desk clutter was set on fire in the making of these photos.
Jeremy, thank you! Glad no one was hurt and nothing was burnt! :rofl
You got the snaps alright. Now relax, get some rest and try to capture a great pictuire! :thumb

[Jeremy Winterberg]

Jeremy, thank you! Glad no one was hurt and nothing was burnt! :rofl
You got the snaps alright. Now relax, get some rest and try to capture a great pictuire! :thumb

Sounds good to me. I'll do some new ones tomorrow night after work. and this time they will be great! maybe an example by you to show us what great looks like:bow ...

[mc-photo]

http://www.michaelcostable.com/photos/453231325_YfMoG-XL.jpg

www.michaelcostable.com

[Nikolai]

www.michaelcostable.com (http://www.michaelcostable.com)
It's nice but this is the light, not the original flare! Timing is everything!

[baldmountain]

Striking a match and clicking the shutter are not so easy. Getting the timing right is hard. You really need two people. Although I managed this one on my own...

http://baldmountain.smugmug.com/photos/453585177_cjcVA-L.jpg

[Nikolai]

Striking a match and clicking the shutter are not so easy. Getting the timing right is hard. You really need two people. Although I managed this one on my own...

Great job! Thank you for the entry! :thumb
One idea you guys can try is to use alternative methods of igniting the flare :wink
Or use the "self-registration" method (hint: initial flare is *much* brighter than everything else) and long/bulb shutter.

[mc-photo]

http://www.michaelcostable.com/photos/453947356_6WhhN-XL.jpg

[Nikolai]

Thank you! :thumb
It would be a much better one without the object in the bottom-rigth corner... :dunno

[shutterbunny]

Hey Nikolai,

Been browsing this category for a few weeks and really wanted to take part in your assignments. Didn't realize how tough they were until I started with this one (the match). I actually ended up taking like 30-40 shots, played around with the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO... man !!! Awesome Assignment!!! You Rock :thumb

Now for my entry. I hope it qualifies.

thanks much.

http://sehajpal.smugmug.com/photos/454010037_cFhjt-L.jpg

[Nikolai]

Hey Nikolai,

Been browsing this category for a few weeks and really wanted to take part in your assignments. Didn't realize how tough they were until I started with this one (the match). I actually ended up taking like 30-40 shots, played around with the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO... man !!! Awesome Assignment!!! You Rock :thumb

Now for my entry. I hope it qualifies.

thanks much.


Hi Kanu, welcome to the Class! :clap
Nice entry, great flare! :thumb

[Jeremy Winterberg]

OK, heres my redo... Hopefully its a Great picture. I think its pretty sweet. No PP other than converting to jpeg from RAW, white balance correction, and cropping.

http://jeremywinterberg.smugmug.com/photos/454075791_QwdME-L.jpg

[Nikolai]

OK, heres my redo... Hopefully its a Great picture. I think its pretty sweet. No PP other than converting to jpeg from RAW, white balance correction, and cropping.

Jeremy,
it's much better! :thumb
Now, as you can see the flare is still blown out while the rest is soft due to the mothion blur. Why not try to catch it at a much (MUCH) shorter shutter speed? You can use self-registration technique (see above) or simply faste drive...

[Jeremy Winterberg]

Jeremy,
it's much better! :thumb
Now, as you can see the flare is still blown out while the rest is soft due to the mothion blur. Why not try to catch it at a much (MUCH) shorter shutter speed? You can use self-registration technique (see above) or simply faste drive...

I was told that I can't take any more match pictures, so I hope this is good... Shutter speed 1/250s, f/2.8, ISO 100, Shot in Raw...
http://jeremywinterberg.smugmug.com/photos/454106561_8Y2gV-L.jpg

[Nikolai]

I was told that I can't take any more match pictures, so I hope this is good... Shutter speed 1/250s, f/2.8, ISO 100, Shot in Raw...

*MUCH* better! :clap

[Jeremy Winterberg]

Good, cause I was getting light headed from all the smoke:rofl

[spb13]

I realized that this would be a lot easier if the match wasn't moving. I experimented with this a few nights ago without much luck. Tonight I had a stroke of inspiration. I took a heavy board and drilled a small hole in it providing a stable base for the match. From there it was just a matter of dialing in the exposure and timing.

http://spb13.smugmug.com/photos/454491991_Eh8Pw-XL.jpg

[Nikolai]

I realized that this would be a lot easier if the match wasn't moving. I experimented with this a few nights ago without much luck. Tonight I had a stroke of inspiration. I took a heavy board and drilled a small hole in it providing a stable base for the match. From there it was just a matter of dialing in the exposure and timing.

Good approach, great picture! :thumb
BTW, paper clip, a piece of cord tie or a piece of gum would work, too:-) :wink

[spb13]

Good approach, great picture! :thumb
BTW, paper clip, a piece of cord tie or a piece of gum would work, too:-) :wink

My first approach was along those lines, but the match wasn't stable enough for me to strike it in place. So I needed something with a bit more weight. :D

[Nikolai]

My first approach was along those lines, but the match wasn't stable enough for me to strike it in place. So I needed something with a bit more weight. :D
Well, true, but you could have also had it ignited some other way:-) :wink

[shutterbunny]

Hi Kanu, welcome to the Class! :clap
Nice entry, great flare! :thumb

Sorry Nikolai but I couldn't help myself and wanted to take another photograph... wasn't quite satisfied with myself... here's a self imposed redo... let me know what you think.

thanks
-kanu.

http://sehajpal.smugmug.com/photos/454578536_kPzWW-L.jpg

[MooreDriven]

I must admit that my entry is not what I had in mind. Even though it's a flare, there are a lot of thing wrong with the image. About the only thing working for it is the smokes mushroom formation. You can also see the reflection of the aperture blades, which confuses me a bit.:scratch

http://mooredriven.smugmug.com/photos/454576355_etkXB-M.jpg

[Nikolai]

I must admit that my entry is not what I had in mind. Even though it's a flare, there are a lot of thing wrong with the image. About the only thing working for it is the smokes mushroom formation. You can also see the reflection of the aperture blades, which confuses me a bit.:scratch

Thank you!
I think you're overexposing by at least two stops, if not more. Crank the shutter speed up. Maybe close the aperture a bit too.

[Nikolai]

Sorry Nikolai but I couldn't help myself and wanted to take another photograph... wasn't quite satisfied with myself... here's a self imposed redo... let me know what you think.
thanks
-kanu.

Kanu,
I think you're getting a hold of it:-) :wink
Thank you, nice entry, much closer to the artistic side! :thumb

[MooreDriven]

2nd attempt. I had not realized how overexposed my previous post was until after I uploaded it. :doh

These are a little better, but it's all I had time to prepare tonight.
http://mooredriven.smugmug.com/photos/455058227_fU48q-M.jpg

I'll wait for the next assignment and hopefully redeem myself. Thanks for the challenge.

[Nikolai]

2nd attempt. I had not realized how overexposed my previous post was until after I uploaded it. :doh
These are a little better, but it's all I had time to prepare tonight.
I'll wait for the next assignment and hopefully redeem myself. Thanks for the challenge.
I like it! Still a bit hot, but I like the base a lot!

[NateW]

I was told that I can't take any more match pictures, so I hope this is good... Shutter speed 1/250s, f/2.8, ISO 100, ...
Thanks for posting your settings! I used them as a baseline to get mine.

I've gotta finish editing (not too much, but gotta get 'em out), and then I'll have a few to post.
Having done it, I now have new respect for your shot of flare and fingers. It's harder to do a self-shot at flare up timing than I thought.

One thing I learned: flare is a _lot_ brighter than the average 100W bulb 10-15 feet away. Still, it's tough to get over the fear/normal-reactions and put the flare too close to your face..... (Don't do it! I'm a trained professional! Well, not at fire, but at something, and I like fire a lot.)
(Seriously, and I'll say it again after I post the shot: be very careful how you take your shots. The flare is hot enough to melt various metals and skin gets damaged a lot easier than metal does.)

OK, I'll be back with images...

[NateW]

Here we go. 1/3: (uncropped)
http://ntwphotos.smugmug.com/photos/456042774_2YxnS-L.jpg

2/3:
http://ntwphotos.smugmug.com/photos/456045893_aa9LA-L.jpg

3/3:
http://ntwphotos.smugmug.com/photos/456045853_DSBDQ-L.jpg

So: don't get this schtuff too close to your skin. It's hot. Like really hot.

Also: it's really hard to take a self shot from a tripos in the near dark while you need both hands already. I found out that the IR LED on the remote trigger will be picked up by the camera. :dunno All it meant for me: couble duty with my one hand to run the striker and the trigger at the same time. :clap
Also found out: f1.8 is really a very short depth of field when you can't look through the lens to see what up and there's no auto focus....:D I managed to get the shot by upping the ISO 2 stops, slowing the shutter a couple stops, and opening the aperture by the necessary compensation to keep it the same. (Thanks again to Jeremy for posting his settings so I could blatantly copy them...)

Have fun! I did! (I don't think I got the theme so well on the first one, I just really liked the idea. Comments on any of them?)

[Nikolai]

Here we go. 1/3: (uncropped)

Also: it's really hard to take a self shot from a tripos in the near dark while you need both hands already. I found out that the IR LED on the remote trigger will be picked up by the camera. :dunno All it meant for me: couble duty with my one hand to run the striker and the trigger at the same time. :clap
Also found out: f1.8 is really a very short depth of field when you can't look through the lens to see what up and there's no auto focus....:D I managed to get the shot by upping the ISO 2 stops, slowing the shutter a couple stops, and opening the aperture by the necessary compensation to keep it the same. (Thanks again to Jeremy for posting his settings so I could blatantly copy them...)

Have fun! I did! (I don't think I got the theme so well on the first one, I just really liked the idea. Comments on any of them?)

Hey Nate,
thank you for playing!
Out of three one first one "matches" (pun intended:-) the theme (it looks like it flares), the other two are "just burning" :-(
Good idea to intoduce another subject (face) into the frame.
Unfortunately, it also made the match flare only an auxiliarry object (it's even not in focus), while the idea was to concentrate on it specifically..
Still a rather good attempt though:-) :thumb

[Jeremy Winterberg]

Thanks for posting your settings! I used them as a baseline to get mine.

I've gotta finish editing (not too much, but gotta get 'em out), and then I'll have a few to post.
Having done it, I now have new respect for your shot of flare and fingers. It's harder to do a self-shot at flare up timing than I thought.

Your welcome! yeah I'm a bit of a Pyro myself, so I had no problem with fear of burning myself.

Its really hard to get it in focus, What I did, was I sat behind my camera (it was on a tripod) and extended my arm as far as I could, and changed how I was sitting till the distance between my hand and the lens was where I wanted it (about 5" away) then I focused on the match with the lights on, and then turned the lights off, sat in the same spot, put the 10 second timer on and had it set to take a 2 picture burst. and bam, after many failures I got a decent looking picture.

[NateW]

Your welcome! yeah I'm a bit of a Pyro myself, so I had no problem with fear of burning myself.

Its really hard to get it in focus, What I did, was I sat behind my camera (it was on a tripod) and extended my arm as far as I could, and changed how I was sitting till the distance between my hand and the lens was where I wanted it (about 5" away) then I focused on the match with the lights on, and then turned the lights off, sat in the same spot, put the 10 second timer on and had it set to take a 2 picture burst. and bam, after many failures I got a decent looking picture.

My approach was similar; I set it to manual focus for a set distance (max arm's reach away) and used a piece of string hung from the ceiling to remind me exactly where I needed to be to be in focus. The I shut down the aperture to get a bit more depth to get it in focus better.... I left the stairway light to the basement on because it was not nearly bright enough to make a difference in the photos. This way I had a "modeling" light to keep things going.

Next time I'm gonna have my wife help out (she was kinda surprised I didn't ask for help when I was explaining the trials and travails of getting the shots) and aim for really fulfilling the assignment. :wink Basically: get the _proper_ exposure for the flare instead of overexposing it so much.

[NateW]

Hey Nate,
thank you for playing!
Out of three one first one "matches" (pun intended:-) the theme (it looks like it flares), the other two are "just burning" :-(
Good idea to introduce another subject (face) into the frame.
Unfortunately, it also made the match flare only an auxiliary object (it's even not in focus), while the idea was to concentrate on it specifically..
Still a rather good attempt though:-) :thumb

I guess I read a little more flexibility into the assignment, but the second two are definitely not flares, so I should have re-read the assignment before posting.

I think I'll retry it where the flare is actually properly exposed (and ask my assistant aka wife to help out). Is having an assistant OK within the assignment? (I'm gonna try it either way, just making sure before I post).

Thanks!
Nate

[Nikolai]

I guess I read a little more flexibility into the assignment, but the second two are definitely not flares, so I should have re-read the assignment before posting.

I think I'll retry it where the flare is actually properly exposed (and ask my assistant aka wife to help out). Is having an assistant OK within the assignment? (I'm gonna try it either way, just making sure before I post).

Thanks!
Nate
Assistants are fine, as long as they are not child labor;-)

[eL eSs Vee]

Hey Nikolai! This was fun! :clap

Each match was lit by the flame of another. As each match flamed up, I pressed the shutter release. Surprisingly, I had a few shots where the match flared, the flame disappeared for a moment, then returned. That was very strange! :scratch

My exposures times ranged from 1/40th to 1/250th, and the aperture ranged from f8 to f22, until I found that f20-22 was best. I stood each match in a bicycle mini-tool socket wrench for the leaning shots, and then through some felt and into the same tool, and shot the last few from a higher perspective; number three is one of those. I checked my focus for every single one of my fifty-two exposures, and post-precessing was kept to a minimum. I also kept a small dish of water handy for dousing the spent matches, which I promptly spilled immediately after the final shot.

Launch
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/MrNewportCustom/MatchStrikeStartDSC_2424.jpg

First Strike
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/MrNewportCustom/MatchStrikeDSC_2419.jpg

Going "Nukular"
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/MrNewportCustom/MatchStrikeNucularDSC_2447.jpg

And them's my entries! :wink

EXIF - In Order of Appearance:

1.
Focal Length: 250mm
Sensitivity: ISO 100
1/40 sec - F/20
2.
1/60 sec - F/20
3.
1/60 sec - F/22

[Jeremy Winterberg]

wow... love your shots eL eSs Vee!

[baldmountain]

which I promptly spilled immediately after the final shot.

LOL! :rofl

Really nice work! I winged it, you studied it. Great work. Thanks for helping the rest of us over a hurdle.

I'm moving onto the hair challenge and the single light portrait. I have a GREAT idea. Now I have to convince my daughter who has all the hair. (See my avatar for my lack of hair...)

[Nikolai]

Hey Nikolai! This was fun! :clap

Each match was lit by the flame of another. As each match flamed up, I pressed the shutter release. Surprisingly, I had a few shots where the match flared, the flame disappeared for a moment, then returned. That was very strange! :scratch

My exposures times ranged from 1/40th to 1/250th, and the aperture ranged from f8 to f22, until I found that f20-22 was best. I stood each match in a bicycle mini-tool socket wrench for the leaning shots, and then through some felt and into the same tool, and shot the last few from a higher perspective; number three is one of those. I checked my focus for every single one of my fifty-two exposures, and post-precessing was kept to a minimum. I also kept a small dish of water handy for dousing the spent matches, which I promptly spilled immediately after the final shot.

Launch
First Strike
Going "Nukular"

And them's my entries! :wink

EXIF - In Order of Appearance:

1.
Focal Length: 250mm
Sensitivity: ISO 100
1/40 sec - F/20
2.
1/60 sec - F/20
3.
1/60 sec - F/22

Great entries, Lee! :thumb Thank you very much for your efforts, they did pay up! :clap

[eL eSs Vee]

Thank you, Jeremy, Geoff and Nikolai, for the kind words.

Now I'm off to do the single light portrait, too. I have a friend in mind, now I just need to ask her to be my subject.

See you all at the next one. :D