NZPhotographer Issue 11, Sept 2018

For my iconic image shot at Lake Rotoiti, I made a long
exposure of the stars circling the Southern Celestial Pole,
then mimicked these concentric circles by spinning the
wire wool.
4. Camera Settings. Once you have a composition planned,
lock down the camera on a sturdy tripod. Hang a small LED
light from it to make it visible. Focus on where the firespinner
will stand, then switch to manual focus on the lens
barrel. A wide-angle lens is preferable.
Set the camera’s Mode Dial to Manual, with a shutter
speed between 20 and 30 seconds. Apertures can vary
from f/2 to f/11. Set the ISO. between 50 and 800. Any
higher and digital noise may become an issue. For colour
temperature, choose a ‘Daylight’ setting, or drop the Kelvin
temperature down to about 3500K.
WIRE WOOL SPINNING TECHNIQUE:
• Pull apart a wire-wool pad length-wise to break up
the density and allow oxygen inside. Unravelling
the wool, then spinning it speeds up the chemical
reaction.
• Insert a wool pad into the whisk, ensuring it won’t
fall out.
• When igniting the wire wool, a BBQ butane lighter
is preferable for a continuous flame, whereas a
cigarette lighter is fiddly and hard to operate with
cold hands.
• The wire wool will not burst into flames, only
simmer. Once the wire wool has caught alight,
spin the whisk in consistent circles. Then get the
photographer to begin the long exposure.
• Keep your arm straight to create a perfect circle.
Consistency is the key. Try not to move your body, or
you will appear as a blur.
Note: If you are the photographer, wait for your assistant
to light the wire wool and begin spinning it in a circle,
then fire the shutter. Both of you should switch off your
headlamps, so they don’t interfere with the photo. To
mitigate light leaking into the viewfinder, hang a baseball
cap over the top of the camera.
Being an experimental art-form, be prepared for
lots of trial and error, especially the latter. As Ansel
Adams remarked, “Landscape Photography is the
supreme test of the photographer, and often the
supreme disappointment.” This is a challenging genre
of photography with many inherent difficulties to
overcome, but the rewards are there for the patient
photographer.
My shots on the following pages are sure to inspire you to
get out there and give it a try. If you need more help, tips,
and inspiration, there are tons of tutorials on Youtube.
There are numerous variations of this technique that you
can try too, from orbs to spheres to halos to a vortex.
RAY SALISBURY is a seasoned landscape
photographer and art teacher based in Nelson. He
sells his photos to magazines, calendars and image
libraries. He also shares his knowledge through his free
e-Books and affordable online courses allowing you to
learn photography at your own pace through a series
of video training modules that have been filmed in NZ.
www.hotpixels.co.nz
SPINNING WOOL
24 NZPhotographer
Repetition of geometric shapes through use of reflections.
September 2018
25