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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
How do make coals look on hot?
Jeff Bennett, Student/Intern
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Livermore | CA | USA | Posted: 11:42 PM on 06.16.10 |
->> I have a shoot coming up and the idea I have has to do with a model running on hot coals.
For the safety of the model does anyone know of a way to light the coals to give it the illusion the coals are on fire and hot? |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 12:11 AM on 06.17.10 |
->> Light that...I have no idea.
It's gonna be a photo illustration...shoot them separately then composite the image but LABEL IT CORRECTLY as a photo illustration.
Good luck. I'd love to see your final image... |
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Daniel Berman, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Seattle | WA | US | Posted: 12:17 AM on 06.17.10 |
->> I like Delane's idea.
Beyond that, maybe submerge two or three flashes gelled orange/red into a bed of coals, and maybe even find a way to get some smoke into the frame -- like with incense or something.
Post it when you are done!
Daniel |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 12:25 AM on 06.17.10 |
| ->> light real coals and tell the model to buck up!!!! |
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Erik Markov, Photographer
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anywhere | IN | | Posted: 12:30 AM on 06.17.10 |
| ->> however you create the pic, one of the things I would add to really sell the photo is steam/smoke. I saw a firewalk in college for real, and all the images I've seen of it, steam is a large portion of it. That I think will help sell the idea of fire, even if it's somehow faked. If you do the steam or even just a portion of it in PS, you can use it to hide some of the portions of the coals that don't look as decent. |
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Guy Rhodes, Photographer
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East Chicago | IN | USA | Posted: 2:53 AM on 06.17.10 |
->> I suppose it's a matter of how much time you want to spend on this. You could always carve fake coals out of white styrofoam and paint them to look somewhat ashy / black, but leaving some of the white area. Lighting each of these from within with some red (or gelled red and orange) LED Christmas lights would complete the effect. I suggest LED so they can be stepped on and not shatter.
Obviously this would be a huge effort, but would look really cool if you followed through with carving and lighting each individual coal.
I definitely agree with adding some fog to sell the effect. |
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Israel Shirk, Photographer, Assistant
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Philip Johnson, Photographer
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Garland | TX | USA | Posted: 9:39 AM on 06.17.10 |
| ->> I have no idea, but I would find a special effects person and ask them. |
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Wesley R. Bush, Photographer
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Nashville | TN | U.S. | Posted: 10:09 AM on 06.17.10 |
| ->> Just a thought: shoot at night. Flash with a red gel and drag the shutter. Real coals. |
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Wally Nell, Photographer
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CAIRO | EG | EGYPT | Posted: 11:06 AM on 06.17.10 |
| ->> You can also see if you are able to get a solution from Trengove (http://www.trengovestudios.com/). They sell and rent photoprops and have some amazing items. I know you will be able to rent/buy a way to have steam/smoke come off the coals. Perhaps they will have hot looking coals as well. |
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Max Gersh, Photographer, Photo Editor
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New Castle | IN | USA | Posted: 11:35 AM on 06.17.10 |
| ->> If you look on the link Wally posted, check out Products/Rental/Specialty Props. The 7th item down is labeled charcoal briquettes. I don't know how many briquettes you get for $7/day or if they are sturdy enough to have someone run across. |
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 1:14 PM on 06.17.10 |
->> How literal do you want to be?
If you want to give the "impression" of hot coals you could go with glass "rocks" and light them from underneath with a red gel. |
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Bryan Hulse, Photographer
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Nashville | Tn | USA | Posted: 3:52 PM on 06.17.10 |
->> Burn baby Burn!
As Wesley said: Time exposure at night to burn in the coals, flash the subject at the desired spot to freeze the subject (rear sync). Should be a nice photo! |
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Jon Longo, Photographer
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Independence | KY | USA | Posted: 4:20 PM on 06.17.10 |
| ->> if you are doing this in grass. A shallow ditch 4 inches deep, 4 feet long and about a foot wide. Line it with aluminum foil for reflecting the light. Lay a remote speedlite down with a red gel on it. Cover with plexiglass and then coals. I would partially burn the coals them cool them off with water so they look burned and are irregular in shape. Use a "coal chimney"(available at walmart) to get them all going really well. Just a thought. |
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Israel Shirk, Photographer, Assistant
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Boise | ID | US | Posted: 7:12 PM on 08.04.10 |
->> Jeff-
How'd it turn out? |
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Jeff Bennett, Student/Intern
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Livermore | CA | USA | Posted: 3:18 PM on 08.05.10 |
->> Thanks everyone for the all the ideas. Sorry I never got back to this.
The article it was going to go with never ended up happening, so the shoot never took place. I am keeping all the ideas here in the back of my mind and am trying to find a way to get it do for a feature project. |
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