One-shot flame painting

A man came to a wise man and said: "The neighbor's chicken laid an egg in my yard. It's my yard, so does that mean the egg belongs to me?" "You're right," the wise man replied.

Then another man came and said: "My chicken laid an egg in the neighbor's yard. It's my chicken, so does that mean the egg belongs to me?" "You're right," the wise man replied. The wise man's wife came to him and said that both people couldn't be right in this argument. The wise man looked at her, thought about it, and replied: "Hmm... but you're right too!"

In the same way, beginning photographers believe that unusual and original photographs worthy of everyone's attention can only be taken with expensive professional photographic equipment and only in a good studio. And they are right, but only until they themselves become professionals. Then they say that the cost of equipment is nothing, and they don't care what they shoot with, even the cheapest point-and-shoot camera. And they are also right (however, none of them have switched to a point-and-shoot camera yet).

So, as you can see, everyone seems to be right. Let's see what can be done with a camera that is far from being the most complex, you just need it to have a shutter speed of up to 30 seconds and you also need to have a shutter speed.

Some photographers argued to me that this work is the result of computer graphics, and all their arguments are so convincing that if I had not taken this picture myself, I would have believed them. But this is not true. Moreover, this photo was taken in one frame, without the use of complex special effects and computer graphics. Everything is so simple that, having understood the idea, everyone can implement it in their own way and with their own means.

The main thing here is a creative approach.
How was the photo taken?

The shooting is carried out indoors with constant weak drawing light from a flashlight or studio light. If a flash is used at the beginning of the exposure, its power should be lower than required for normal lighting, otherwise the frame will be overexposed (overexposed). Press the camera shutter and quickly set fire to a pre-prepared rolled-up newspaper.

Move this torch around the person where you want the finished photo to have an image of fire. To obtain the desired flame pattern, the amount and density of its twisting is important (this is not a joke :)). It is very important that the model stands still during the exposure (all 30 seconds) until the click of the camera shutter. Only then can you turn on the lighting in the studio again.

The entire scene (portrait and fire) is shot in one frame. If before working with fire the drawing light was set below the level of the model's face, it creates the impression that the person is illuminated only by the burning fire. This effect can be enhanced by using colored lighting - yellow or red.

— This is how the camera and model are positioned in relation to the modeling light (or flashlight).
Little tricks
— This image was captured using a flash and a modeling light from a studio monoblock with a softbox, the exposure time was 30 seconds.
— If possible, set the camera's white balance to the lowest temperature (lower than the key light), this will shade the person against the fire and make your work even more unusual.
— It is desirable that the background be black — of course, unless you want to include objects in the background, which, by the way, can be quite interesting.
— If the key light is too bright, in addition to the model and the fire, the camera will record blurry silhouettes. That is, you, running with a torch.
— You should focus and lock the autofocus beforehand.

Technical data
ISO 100, focal length 50 mm (equivalent to 35 mm cameras), white balance in automatic mode with compensation in the blue-violet direction, shutter speed 30 sec, f/14.