Weekly Photo Contest: Oct 23-Oct 30 : By firelight

[anotherscotsman]

I've had the opportunity to have a very short visit to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, one of the largest of its kind in the world. One of the highlights of the event is an evening 'glow' where the balloons simultaneously fire-up the burners in the dark to light-up the balloons from the inside - very impressive.

As autumn and winter approaches, there's nothing quite like the attraction of an open fire or candlelight to warm the cockles. What I'm looking for this week is something that shows the beauty or power of fire in any form you can imagine.

Normal rules apply:

• The photographs must be of your own creation.

• Explore, get creative and have fun with it.

• You may only submit one photo per weekly contest round.

• Please do not comment on any photos until after the judging has taken place.

• The contest runs for one week, starting NOW!

• At the end of the week, The Judge (last week's Winner) will choose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place photo, providing as much feedback as they possibly can.

• If the Judge is unable to complete the selection within 48 hours of the deadline for close, then a vote will be carried out to select a winner. This will be based on the number of "likes" each image has. In the event of a draw, the second place winner from the previous week will choose the tiebreaker.

• The 1st place Winner will start a new thread with the topic/theme of their choice, and act as the Judge for that contest. (Winner has 48 hours to create new theme, after that it defers to 2nd place).

• Winners please update the Weekly Photo Contest Master thread

As a starter to get the creative juices flowing:


In the glow by another scotsman, on Flickr

 

[deep diver]

I'll start.

 

[akash.nu]

I’ll go next. This is called a - Diya.

In Indian cultural and religious context fire is considered as sacred and pure, diya is used to represent that to begin any good deed, such as marriage, starting a new job, moving into a new house, buying a new car etc. It’s also commonly used in prayers to represent one of the basic elements of the universe.

Although I’m not religious at all but I think this also represents hope for people, that good things will happen to them as they take the next step in their life..

 

[CK Williams]

The destructive power of fire

 

[deep diver]

Three days in and only three images! Time to step it up, folks.

 

[Hughmac]

Sorry, I haven't got all fired up about this yet

Cheers

Hugh

 

[Apple fanboy]

Sorry, I haven't got all fired up about this yet

Cheers

Hugh

I’m struggling for an idea. Maybe I’m burnt out?

 

[deep diver]

Sorry, I haven't got all fired up about this yet

Cheers

Hugh

I’m struggling for an idea. Maybe I’m burnt out?

Be careful...... Too many dad jokes can extinguish your creative energy. It's better to use that energy to ignite your creativity.
I posted quickly out of my burning desire for 2nd place. My face will surely be glowing if I get 2nd but will turn ashen if I get 1st.

 

[akash.nu]

Unfortunately I’m not creative enough to join the conversation. ☹️

 

[tizeye]

A fire in the fireplace...in Florida???
Crank the AC down to get the house cold enough to light a fire. (A local joke).

 

[deep diver]

A fire in the fireplace...in Florida???
Crank the AC down to get the house cold enough to light a fire. (A local joke).

Those of us in the Midwest are not amused!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Laird Knox]

 

[Apple fanboy]

Not very imaginative, but struggling a bit this week.

_DSC9413 by apple fanboy1, on Flickr

 

[Clix Pix]

I finally got around to plugging in my external HD of archived files and found the images that, even now, years later, were still vivid in my memory: a truck catching fire in my neighborhood. It was a spring day in 2005 and I was sitting out on my deck with my very new Nikon D70, my first DSLR, and was tinkering with it and figuring out various settings when I smelled and then eventually saw smoke....still clutching the camera, I ran outside to our parking area and to the street beyond to see a truck on fire..... Thankfully no one was injured and the truck did not explode even though it had some chemicals in the back. It was sure exciting for me, bouncing around, trying to stay out of the firemen's way, grabbing shots with my new camera!

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

There's a candle in there.

 

[mollyc]

Three days in and only three images! Time to step it up, folks.

This is a fun category. Unfortunately I had to leave town unexpectedly for a family emergency. Now that I'm back home I'm catching up on everything I missed. Will try to catch next week's competition. In the meantime, it looks like you have more entries!

 

[Apple fanboy]

This is a fun category. Unfortunately I had to leave town unexpectedly for a family emergency. Now that I'm back home I'm catching up on everything I missed. Will try to catch next week's competition. In the meantime, it looks like you have more entries!

Hope everything is okay.

 

[Janichsan]

Just to squeeze in a last-minute entry fitting for Halloween:

 

[malofx]

Camping with the boys somewhere in California.

 

[mollyc]

Hope everything is okay.

Thank you. My mom unexpectedly needed open heart surgery and I had to leave to go be with her and my dad. Luckily she is back home recovering already.
[doublepost=1540931584][/doublepost]

Just to squeeze in a last-minute entry fitting for Halloween:

I used to collect Smurfs when I was a kid!

 

[Apple fanboy]

Thank you. My mom unexpectedly needed open heart surgery and I had to leave to go be with her and my dad. Luckily she is back home recovering already.
[doublepost=1540931584][/doublepost]

Wow that’s serious. Glad she’s back home. Wishing her a speedy recovery.

 

[oblomow]

 

[Clix Pix]

This is a fun category. Unfortunately I had to leave town unexpectedly for a family emergency. Now that I'm back home I'm catching up on everything I missed. Will try to catch next week's competition. In the meantime, it looks like you have more entries!

Missed you -- just saw the other post, too -- glad that your mother is recovering comfortably at home now!

 

[anotherscotsman]

Thanks everyone and sorry for the delay (travel) - I’ll get back with judging this evening (UK).

 

[anotherscotsman]

The moment some of you have been waiting for!

I was worried I'd picked a dud subject earlier in the week but MRF members came through in the end. Well done everyone and thank you for making the effort to make a submission. Given the very high contrasts that can be present in scenes involving flames there is a definite technical challenge here - do you focus on the flame itself or on the light cast by the flame on its surroundings? In some respects capturing the flame itself is a bit like waterfall photography in that exposure time has a major impact on the character of the image.

Some comments that should be taken with the appropriate pinch of condiment of your choice. Please remember any comments are intended to be helpful rather than critical and simply reflect my own preferences.

Deep Diver: a great start to the entries that is right on theme. You've handled the difficult exposure scenario very well and the use of a shallow depth of field really contributes to a good atmosphere. The sort of arrangement that a suitably romantic individual might provide for a loved one!

Akash.nu: Fire does play a major cleansing role in many belief systems and you have an attractive arrangement here. I like how you have captured the glow around the flame with good drop-off with distance. Could I suggest that the shot would benefit from cropping to remove or minimise the very dark foreground shadow cast by the vessel.

CK Williams: Good action scene here CK. I like how the water spray/mist/steam have veiled the flames to avoid having to expose for both flames and for the rest of the scene - there just isn't any detail to be had there. Well composed and exposed and I like how you've captured the interest of the onlookers.

Tizeye: I vacation in SW Florida every year and am always amazed by how many homes have fireplaces! Ditto, the sale of 'winter' clothing in stores come October! Given earlier comments on the difficulty of capturing flames, you've done really well - plenty of life and colour/texture detail in the flame. To be critical, all it lacks is a bit of story to go with it.

Laird Knox: I really like this as a still-life scene. Good use of light to capture the texture of the rocks and other items and composition works very well. However....there is no indication or other giveaway that this was lit by flame.

Apple fanboy: A great use of exposure to underexpose the ballon itself against the sky and to contrast the balloon burner against the silhouette of the ballon itself. A really attractive shot where the small size of the burner flame acts to show the power within the flame.

Clix Pix: Like CK's entry, a really nice photojournalistic shot. Very well exposed and composed with lots of life in both the flames and the firemen. Could almost feel the heat from here.

Darmok N Jalad: A lovely glow here with tons of detail in both the (salt?) lamp and in the surroundings. A really warming shot but perhaps doesn't quite have the 'flame' impact.

Janicsan: I bet this was a tricky shot to get right. Hope you didn't burn your fingers holding the match! Despite the small size, shows all of the characteristics of a good flame photo. Nicely done.

Malofx: another lovely night shot with a great campfire glow. The contrast between the chill of the clear night sky and the heat of the fire are tangible. Just the right exposure time to get the sake-drift from the fire without overly blurring the campers.

Oblomow: another very good ballon capture. Its amazing how they get these things inflated without setting everything on fire. Nice colours and action. The only criticism is that the flame is a bit lost against the reds and yellows of the balloon background.

As usual, difficult to judge but here it is:

Special mention Deep Diver/Janichsan and CK Williams

3rd place Apple fanboy

2nd place Clix Pix

1st place Malofx

Again, congratulations to everyone who entered and over to you Malofx for the next competition.