Last week I had an interesting assignment at a school in Rotherhithe, East London. I was commissioned by the Institution of Chemical Engineers to photograph a scientific experiment which was being performed in front of a class. The purpose was to demonstrate that science can be both exciting and safe, and that such experiments can help to make the subject much more fun as well as more memorable.
This particular experiment was called the Flaming Hands demonstration and involved a volunteer first having their hands coated in a special solution to stop them from burning. Methane gas was then pumped into a solution of detergent and the bubbles were placed on the subject's hands. The column of methane-filled detergent bubbles was then set alight. As you can see, the results were fairly spectacular, not to mention challenging to photograph!
When I arrived at the classroom the lighting conditions were not ideal for this type of photography. Photographing something like fire requires a dark room in order for the flame to actually show up, and a slow shutter speed to capture its shape and form. It just so happened, however, that it was a particularly bright and sunny day, with light streaming in through the windows and no way in which to block it out.
So, what we decided to do was set up the experiment again after the main demonstrations in front of the school children and film crews; this time though, we moved to a darker part of the classroom and also switched off the overhead lighting.
I mounted the camera on a tripod and shot a couple of test frames at different shutter speeds; I also used my Nikon SB800 flash off-camera (attached to it with a coiled lead), and reduced the output by a couple of stops. The final shutter speed I chose was 1/25 @ f5.6, ISO 800. This meant that the flash lit the main subject, whilst the slow shutter speed allowed the flame to be captured too. The flame has also added its own light to the subject's face, creating a warm glow.
