Last Wednesday, the Foyle Camera Club went down to Lisfannan beach to catch a sunset. Afterwards we decided to do some paint by light images using Steel wool.

This is done by inserting some steel wool into a wisk with some cord through the handle – to enable us to swing the wisk around. The steel wool is then set on fire while it’s being spun around. NB – This is quite dangerous and requires certain safety precautions i.e. Whoever is swinging the wisk must wear safety glasses/monogoggles, gloves and long-sleeved tops. This must also be done in a safe environment so as not to cause a fire. Everyone else must be a suitable distance away as there will be a lot of sparks.

This was a great nights craic. It was our first time trying this out. Not sure if there are any specific rules, but you can spin the wisk around in one direction to create a circle of light, or spin it erratically for other patterns. We did both.

From a photography point of view, we used different exposures lengths to try to capture the images, eg 10 -30 secs at various apertures. Ideally its better to do choose an environment with interesting features which are also captured (and safe of course). We done it at the beach, with no real background. as it was our first attempt. Some of the more experienced photographers used wide-angle lens to capture star trails along with it. Unfortunately I was out earlier in the day with the camera and still had the telephoto lens (55-250mm) on. I never even thought about changing it, as the craic was that good. Still,there’s always next time, and igad a few interesting pics.

Check out a few others over on Flickr

~Keith~