Playing With Fire

There are lots of fun vacation moments that we all get to share, but for me, my favourite vacation moment is sitting by a fire.  The crackling sound soothes me and watching the orange flames go around the wood in the pit is fun to watch.  It's also fun to photograph.  The fire has a life of its own, and there is no way to know where it will go.  I find that the best time to shoot fire is near the end of.  There is still lots of action around the flame, but you also have a nice layer of red embers in the bottom of the pit to give you some additional colour.  In a perfect world, I'd use a tripod to get these shots, but with The Heir Apparent and Crown Prince along for the ride, space is kind of limited in the car.  So, I try and shoot with as slow of a shutter speed as possible to get some movements of the flame, but also to try and keep everything in focus and not blurred by camera shake.  With this one, taken at f/3.2, 1/25sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm, you can see some of the dancing flame, as well as the red embers of the fire that was going through the piece of wood in those bright red spots.  It's all fun, but if I can be serious for a moment, playing with fire can be very dangerous.  Stay safe, and take some great photos.