Steel Wool Photography

Zascar

https://www.google.ie/search?q=steel+wool+photography&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEzdiT9e7RAhXG2BoKHWVtBcMQ_AUICCgB&biw=1495&bih=749

Has anyone done this? I really want to give it a go - just wondering if anyone here has any experience or tips... Thanks

Balfey1972

Have used steel wool several times. Good fun. Get a good metal whisk. tie it to a good piece of twine or light rope.

Get the the finest grade possible of wire wool. It comes in different grades.
Use a 9v battery for lighting it. better than trying to use a lighter.

Most times it was about 20 seconds exposure.
also wear a hoody and old clothes if you are spinning it. Sparks down the back of the neck do tend to hurt !!

Adrian.Sadlier

Balfey1972 wrote: »

also wear a hoody and old clothes if you are spinning it. Sparks down the back of the neck do tend to hurt !!

I would go further - whomever is spinning the steel wool should wear safety glasses and if you/the camera are close take the same precautions. I have had a lens filter pitted by a stray hot piece of steel wool!

Zascar

Great, thanks thats good advice. I'll definitely bring a 9v battery. I was hoping to do something creative with a model in the foreground. Could I place her in at the end and use a burst of flash.

Any suggestions of locations around Dublin? I was thinking down on the rocks around Dun Laoghaire, or maybe around bullock harbour or the 40 foot.

CabanSail

You can also get good effects spinning glow in the dark sticks or small torches.

With the model you could do it all in the one shot or else take a second shot using a flash and then combine in post. The advantage of multiple shots is that you can select from multiple attempts to get the best result. One shot relies on them both being good.

Tiriel

Do be careful in terms of safety as yes, the sparks can cause a lot of damage (burns in clothing, glasses, skin!)

Anytime I've done it I've thankfully never been the one spinning (thank you to all those boardsies over the years who took the brunt of the burns!).

It's good fun

Zascar

Thanks. What time of day would be best? I'm guessing maybe golden hour? I'd like to get a little bit of the surroundings - so pitch black is not ideal

Homer

I used one of these whisks to hold the steel wool and worked well enough.. Piece of string then tied to the end of that and spun at arms length..

OldGoat

Zascar wrote: »

Thanks. What time of day would be best? I'm guessing maybe golden hour? I'd like to get a little bit of the surroundings - so pitch black is not ideal

Remember that you will be using a long or even a lllonggggg exposure so the dark is your friend. It's all a bit hit and miss for your first attempts tbh. Go shoot some on a beach at night and see what you get then adjust whatever needs adjusting.
If you wanna meet up some night (assuming Dublin based) I'm always happy to be sparkly.

Zascar

OldGoat wrote: »

If you wanna meet up some night (assuming Dublin based) I'm always happy to be sparkly.

Great idea! Boards outing anyone?? Who else wants to come?

GBX

I'm fairly new to photography but I'm intrigued by this .. (I know I should learn to crawl before walking but still would be interesting to see)

Zascar

Don't worry, if you have a camera and a tripod we can show you (i'm still learning myself). We'll need someone to spin the wool anyway! :pac:

GBX

Sounds like a plan so ... I'll bring my nephew so :pac:

Loki98

Yeh, sounds like fun, put me down, depending on date.

Kamili

Been meaning to give it a go myself. There's a shot out there of someone standing under and umbrella with the sparks flying. Would love to give it a try.

I've done the long exposure with some kids and torches, brilliant fun I must admit!

CabanSail

This thread has me inspired.

My plan is to do some Steel Wool images shooting from a hovering drone. Will have to choose a still night.

OldGoat

Hang the spark-generator from the drone and then make spin it madly 100ft up in the air.

Zascar

CabanSail wrote: »

This thread has me inspired.

My plan is to do some Steel Wool images shooting from a hovering drone. Will have to choose a still night.

That's a bloody amazing idea. I have a mate who has a drone too - could ask him. Maybe a second drone with Glowsticks?

Homer

Problem is most drones don't support long exposures so won't be as effective as a camera on a tripod will be.. might be an interesting video but photos won't show much I wouldn't think.

magicbastarder

Homer wrote: »

Problem is most drones don't support long exposures so won't be as effective as a camera on a tripod will be.. might be an interesting video but photos won't show much I wouldn't think.

i can't see the point with a long exposure on a drone. it's precisely the opposite to a camera on a tripod, i would have thought?

Zascar

Zero point of a long exposure on a drone it would not be able to keep anywhere near still enough. But a camera on a tripod doing a long exposure of a done moving around with lights etc could be really cool.

OldGoat

What you might do is to have a long exposure on the drone camera which will capture the chaotic sparks but then you can run around the scene in the dark 'painting' other elements of the scene with a flash that would give a sharp image despite the drones vibrations.

CabanSail

I have not tried it personally but have seen some long exposures taken from a Phantom which were quite acceptable. I believe it was allowed to hover on a still night. The lens is 4mm (35 equiv of 20mm) at a fixed f2.8. The gimbal has anti-vibration mounts and active stabilisation.

Doing the steel wool exposure should be OK as the light trails will each only expose for a short time. It will be the surrounding area which is more critical. Might try a second exposure with a shorter shutter speed and higher ISO.

Portlawslim

I'm a member of Waterford Camera Club and we've being getting out every 2nd Monday(we have a club meeting every other Monday) since January, with it being so dark we've done loads of Wire-wool shots, locations included the People's Park in Waterford, Dunmore East, Tankardstown and most recently Tramore Beach..great craic and with lots of new members a great way to get some wow shots to impress..

Portlawslim

I'm a member of Waterford Camera Club and we've being getting out every 2nd Monday(we have a club meeting every other Monday) since January, with it being so dark we've done loads of Wire-wool shots, locations included the People's Park in Waterford, Dunmore East, Tankardstown and most recently Tramore Beach..great craic and with lots of new members a great way to get some wow shots to impress..

stronglikebull

Decided to do some experimentation with this over the weekend. Added an umbrella that I've painted white on the inside with a flash on the ground to light it up. Needs some work to perfect, and could probably do with more than just myself.



_MG_6592 by Paul Askins, on Flickr

_MG_6593-2 by Paul Askins, on Flickr

Effects

Who's spinning the wool if you're behind the umbrella?

stronglikebull

Effects wrote: »

Who's spinning the wool if you're behind the umbrella?

I'm a magician!

Zascar

Nice work Paul. How did you find it, any tips?
Where is a good place to buy steel wool in bulk? How much do you need?
Did it burn anything?

stronglikebull

I bought the wool in B&Q. Got two packs for about €5 each but have only used a small amount so far. A piece about 30cm long burns for about 30-45 seconds when spinning, so that's perfect for one shot. One of the packs would probably do enough for 40 or 50 burns, so that's more than enough. Get a steel egg whisk and some garden wire to swing it from.

I picked the location due to the concrete walls and having nothing flammable around. It was raining on Sunday, so even if I was out of the tunnel nothing would have burned. Some bits fell on me but didn't really burn or anything.

Finding something like this can be done on Google maps. If you're interested in old railway tunnels, find a line on maps and follow it along. Even lines that have been pulled up can be traced easily enough. Keep an eye out when driving for abandoned lines either passing over on a bridge or under the road, then look them up on Google maps afterwards. You can find some interesting locations that way, and check it out with street view before you go visiting.

.Longshanks.

Zascar wrote: »

Zero point of a long exposure on a drone it would not be able to keep anywhere near still enough. But a camera on a tripod doing a long exposure of a done moving around with lights etc could be really cool.

The DJI mavic Pro can do up to an 8sec exposure that is rock solid. Black magic involved!

Think this is 3 seconds (not my pic)


Modern Nazca Lines by dreyco676 on 500px.com

Zascar

Wow!! Keeping something completely still that is flying in the air for 8 seconds - black magic indeed!

.Longshanks.

Zascar wrote: »

Wow!! Keeping something completely still that is flying in the air for 8 seconds - black magic indeed!

It's got proper GPS with remarkable accuracy

DaireQuinlan

It's pretty cool all right, is it taking a video stream and then compositing the video stream into one image? I can't imagine how it does it otherwise. There'd be random air currents, vibration from the drone, GPS drift etc etc.

Zascar

The fact that the thing has 4 spinning motors vibrating in mid air - and they can still get a sharp shot is incredible. Must be some serious digital image stabilisation also.

Homer

It would need to be incredibly calm to achieve that! The Mavic and also the Phantom range of drones use a 3 axis gimbal to hold the camera steady in flight but to achieve results like that would require more than just the gimbal to hold the camera steady.

TheSelf

You just need a maniac to be happy spinning the steel wool!! That'd be me boss ;-)

Adrian.Sadlier

TheSelf wrote: »

You just need a maniac to be happy spinning the steel wool!! That'd be me boss ;-)

Are you volunteering yourself or your boss? A comma makes a big difference.

:):)

Zascar

Hey guys, I'm going to be doing this in the next few days. Anyone on for joining me?

Balfey1972

Zascar wrote: »

Hey guys, I'm going to be doing this in the next few days. Anyone on for joining me?

Where are you thinking? Would be up for it.

This one is from a couple weeks back down at the harbour in Rush.

GBX

Yeah .. where and when. Im in D12 - have bike will travel.

Zascar

Nice one lads. Was thinking around Dun Laoghaire. 40 foot, bullock harbour type area - some great places with rocks and sea for an interesting setting. Possibly Tuesday evening if that suits?

I have the steel wool and the whisk.

evolutionqy7

Zascar wrote: »

Nice one lads. Was thinking around Dun Laoghaire. 40 foot, bullock harbour type area - some great places with rocks and sea for an interesting setting. Possibly Tuesday evening if that suits?

I have the steel wool and the whisk.

I'd be up for it anytime?

GBX

Sounds good.

Zascar

Sunset is 8.45 - so meet at 8 or 8.30?

evolutionqy7

Zascar wrote: »

Sunset is 8.45 - so meet at 8 or 8.30?

Sure. Where exactly?

Loki98

Sounds good, where do you want to meet?

Mech1

Can a newbie attend?

Nikon p900 zoom and a hero5 Black plus.

Mech1

Oh and i can bring a bag of steel wool (unsure of the size grade) and a jump start pack to get it going!
and a full size fire extinguisher or two just incase we need them or if anyone looking for reasons to complain.

Balfey1972

Mech1 wrote: »

Oh and i can bring a bag of steel wool (unsure of the size grade) and a jump start pack to get it going!

A 9v battery like the ones for the smoke alarms will do the job for starting them off.

If you want to pm me your name and mobile I'll set up a what's app group for those interested?

ps. don't take the battery from the alarm when you are leaving the house

OldGoat

Don't limit yerselves to the wool, bring strobes, torches, ropes of LED lights, anything that casts a bit of light. Also let a good hour pass after sunset or you'll be struggling with light levels Vs desired shutter speeds, though you'll get some nice blue hour images.

If I can nab the car from Mrs. OldGoat for the evening I'll pop out too.