I need to create more fire.

Village Idiot · Oct 2, 2008

Starting a new post...

I have a shoot lined up for Thursday of next week. The main subject is going to be a glass of alcohol lit up by strobes and flame.

I need the flame to be intense enough to photograph and I would prefer if it's blue. If I do a redbull type energy drink that's full of sugary stuff and top it off with something like 151 proof rum and light it, will it work? Is there something else I can add to it to make it really blue.

I'm going to be using my strobes, so I'm going to fire the first few test shoots to get my settings based on the flame and then set the strobes accordingly.

JerryPH · Oct 2, 2008

Isopropyl alcohol burns a clean blue.

When I was a kid, I recall my dad taking his drink and spilling a few drops of it into a clean ashtray and lighting it. It held a clean blue flame for a good 45 seconds. The drink was called (I do not know the english translation) slivovice. Basically drinkable pure alcohol made from plums... lol.

What ever you are going to do it will most likely this time involve alcohol for your needs. Enjoy, and be safe, have an extinguisher close by.

BTW, are we going to see the results this time?

Village Idiot · Oct 2, 2008

JerryPH said:
Isopropyl alcohol burns a clean blue.

When I was a kid, I recall my dad taking his drink and spilling a few drops of it into a clean ashtray and lighting it. It held a clean blue flame for a good 45 seconds. The drink was called (I do not know the english translation) slivovice. Basically drinkable pure alcohol made from plums... lol.

What ever you are going to do it will most likely this time involve alcohol for your needs. Enjoy, and be safe, have an extinguisher close by.

BTW, are we going to see the results this time?

Yeah. I haven't had time to get the flames for the first one. I did get the first picture, but I may end up reshooting it.

fightheheathens · Oct 2, 2008

copper, indium and lead all burn blue....
so if you can get your hands on these metals...get them into solution or turn them into a powder....and light them on fire....you will get blue

DannyB · Oct 2, 2008

Id go with isopropyl alcohol. Like said above a nice blue flame. Here is a shot I did playing around and burning gin. Was something like a 20-25 second exposure time. In some other, not so long shots, it was pure blue. I was just trying to get some light on the bottle though.

Village Idiot · Oct 3, 2008

Nice. That's what I want, but not with that long of an exposure. I'm also wanting a small DOF, so I figure higher ISO, lower DOF should get me an acceptable shutter speed to hand hold the camera with. Plus I'll be using an IS lens and freezing the people with flashes.

DannyB · Oct 3, 2008

Haha, sounds like this is going to be an interesting shoot

Can't wait to see the results!

zeroskillz · Oct 5, 2008

I can get you great intense emerald green, which you could alter in post, if you're intrested:

Mix a little Boric Acid (can be found at wallgreens/CVS as rat killer) into some HEET brand gas line antifreeze and the results are remarkable.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/880515/how_to_make_bright_green_fire_from_materials_found_at_wal_mart/

It would be a real easy adjustment in PS or something to just adjust the hue of the fire...

HTH
-Ted

BTW, I used this method and it really is amazing how green the fire brns.