great balls of fire!

[Peter Blake]

so, how am I going to do this?

planning a shot for a baseball team, where the pitcher has just pitched, and the ball is in flight on the way to the batter. the baseball is either smoking or on fire, leaving a trail of flames or smoke back to the pitcher.....


of course could also be applied to pretty much any ball game.

what I thought of doing, was getting the (picture of the) pitcher first, maybe with a ball at about the right position. then using that shot as a composition guide, shooting a falling ball doused in lighter fluid or similar. then blend the two together?

the tricky part might be getting enough dof in the first shot, I am going to flash the ball and the pitcher. what does anyone think?

and also if shooting with a fairly wide angle lens for maximum dof, not getting hit by the pitcher in the first place. I think would need to be at a fairly shallow angle to the trajectory of the ball?

 

[Lesley Jones]

I was going to say I simply have no idea, but I would be fascinated to see any serious replies. Then I wondered if you could get yourself and the pitcher in place, have a ball on some thin wire (doused as you suggested for the flames), with maybe a wind machine to get some trailing smoke. I guess either a ball suspended on a vertical wire might be your first try, but I suppose you could also drill a hole through the ball and run it horizontally while on fire (even being pulled by a second wire). Am I making any sense?

 

[Beth Anthony]

there are a ton of photoshop tutorials out there on making fire and smoke.

here's one i've done using some fire brushes and smoke brushes. the colors in the flames are from using gradients and textures.


for a baseball i'd start with looking for a tutorial on how to make a comet or asteroid.

 

[Pete Askew]

Do you have a lens with tilt on it Peter? That would help with your DoF issue. I like the idea of doing it 'live' as it were but suspect that the digital approach would be more cost/time-effective.

- - - Updated - - -

Or bring the Toyo out of retirement!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

I'd shoot the pitcher, the ball, and then outsource to Beth for the PS work

I'd be tempted to shoot the pitcher using a remote release, with the camera on a tripod. That way you can stay out of the way, and just have the pitcher pitch to the side of your camera. Flash should freeze the throw ok.

The ball I'd shoot separately and comp in - the chances of getting a ball in the right place and in focus is slim doing it in real time I'd think. Put the ball on a black painted pole, as PS the pole out afterwards.

I'd try plain and on fire, in case the real flame version actually worked.

I'd comp in the ball in focus and out of focus and see which looks best.

I suspect PS flames will be the best option though - either 100% PS or PS assisted real flames

And I wasn't joking about outsourcing to Beth - she has some of the best PS skills I've seen.