Playing With Fire

Kids, don't try this at home! This is my first submission to Shootmaster Challenge 2: Night Light. I missed the deadline for the first challenge, so I was determined to enter something immediately. I wanted an orange glow around my face, neck, and fingers. Since this was a self-portrait and I was alone, it would have been too dangerous to ignite a large fireball and suspend it near me. Instead, I gaffer taped a candle in my hand. Even this "harmless" little flame burned me a few times! Why not just use a flash and a tungsten gel to emulate the flame? I experimented with that last year, but found that the flash was too powerful even at its lowest setting. I'm not giving up on the flash yet, but I wanted something quick and dirty today and was willing to risk getting singed! To create the fireball, I took a separate shot of the candle. Then in Photoshop I smudged it outwards to make the tall flame look more like a ball. Lastly, I composited the two together and voila! I don't like the way the fireball looks. It looks like a scoop of orange ice cream. I'm considering creating an actual fireball with wadded up paper/cloth and some lighter fluid. Stay tuned. :-)