step BY step meet your match
how to set up the shot without burning down the house in the process
01 Safety first
At the worry of sounding like a risk assessment, you need to make yourself safe. We had a bucket of water on the floor near us, to extinguish matches and use in case we dropped them on the floor. We also had a damp tea towel in case we burnt our hands.
03 Near a window
We shot this light leak portrait inside, so the ambient light was inherently darker. The advantage of shooting indoors is that you can do this project even if it’s raining. The large window on the left-hand side of the model provided us with flattering and soft illumination.
05 Make your flame
Use Cook’s matches or a long-necked lighter to take these shots. It’ll give you a longer burn time before either the match scorches your fingers or the lighter warms up so much it burns your skin. They’re readily available from most homeware or kitchenware shops.
02 LENS of choice
Experiment with focal lengths to see what looks best to you. Our 50mm f/1.8 was the perfect lens to frame a nice portrait while compressing the perspective and blurring close-up foreground elements. The wider the lens, the less perspective compression occurs.
04 camera Settings
In Av (aperture priority) mode, we set our ISO to 500 for the lower light levels inside. Our aperture was f/2.8 to blur the fire sufficiently when held in front of the lens. Our shutter speed was around 1/250 sec, which was fast enough for a sharp image when shot handheld.
06 fire placement
Strike a match, then hold it close to the front element in order for the fire to blur as it has here. Don’t obscure the model’s face with the fire, and of course, take care not to melt the lens! Use a lens hood to keep the flame away from the glass if you’re feeling clumsy.