Capturing fire dancer Jay at Guyam island.
Recently I took a time lapse at Guyam island (a beautiful small deserted island 2 miles from Siargao island) with the Milky Way in the background. A few weeks before I took long exposure photos of a local fire dancer, Jay. Looking at both and thinking of ways to make it even better, I came up with the idea to put them together and thus take Jay to Guyam during a moonlight light.
Two nights ago we went with a bunch of friends to Guyam for the shoot. I turned out impossible to get both the milky way and the fire exposed correctly in 1 shot because of the enormous light difference, so the result of the fire dancer with Guyam in the background is a composite image.
How I created the images
A lot of people have been asking me how I do this and what gear I use. First of all, planning is essential, there are not many opportunities to capture the milky way and then the weather needs to be right. I use the Photopills app to plan the Milky Way’s position and time. Set up with a sturdy tripod, use you lowest aperture, a 20-30 sec exposure and set you iso to 1600-3200.
Test for best results, it all depends on your camera and lenses and the situation in which you are shooting. Generally they are quite the same though and will vary in between what I mentioned above. The gear you use doesn’t matter as much as you’d think. Any DLSR will do, and even a good compact. Sure, the better your equipment the better the result will be, but knowing your gear and postprocessing is so much more important. Just go for it and you’ll get amazing results.
Petapixel
Check out the feature of my post at Petapixel!
Check out the full series I shot that night!
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Hi, we are Martien Janssen and Jen Yap! I am a Dutch Travel Photographer & Filmmaker, specialising in Landscape, Aerial, Night Sky and Time Lapse Photography. Jen is a doctor from the Philippines who does most writing here. Follow us as we travel create cool photos & videos!
Amazing photos… i can’t wait to see the milky way in my own eyes…???
Thanks Roniel 🙂
Wow, these pictures are really awesome!
Thanks Robert!
wow that looks amazing! You took such a wonderful photos go the fire and the sky in the background! Wonderful job! The milky way looks stunning!
Thanks for your comment 🙂
WOAH! You got some pretty cool shots. Impressed!!
Thanks Baia!
Wow, gorgeous! Fire spinning is so cool, isn’t it?
Yeah, love it!
I have seen fire dancers before and it looks absolutely incredible. Unfortunately I have never been able to take great pictures like yours. Great post, thanks for sharing your tips!
Thank YOU!
Wow, every picture is so captivating! This looks as besutiful as watching the fire dancer in reality.
Thanks 🙂
These photos are amazing. I always try to learn how to use my camera but I somehow always fail. I read some tutorial and if I come across something I don`t understand I quit.
Thanks! Never quit 😉
These photos are amazing! I do not even know how to photograph moving objects properly. You really did a good job!
Thank you Iza!
Amazing photos! I am also a hobby photographer but still have much to learn. I hope to try out something like this one day and then I’ll definitely get back to this post 🙂
Thanks, many more tutorials to follow. I’ll be writing heaps end of the year and beginning of next year. Stay tuned.
These photos are stunning! I’m still learning with my camera. Have not quite mastered the motion shot yet 🙂
Thanks Kate!
How you captured the light show and the Milky Way was just amazing. We would definitely want to learn professional photography so we could capture low-light subjects. Unfortunately, lugging a DSLR and its other accessories are impractical for us since we climb mountains, trek in jungles, jump in rivers, etc. We find DSLRs too bulky and delicate for rugged activity UNLESS we hire a porter.
Thanks! Yes you need a rugged camera. The Olympus Tough shoots RAW, but I have no idea how the low light on that is. My Sony RX100 is really small and does Milky Way shots well enough. You don’t really need a bulky DSLR to capture it!