What is Steel Wool Photography?
Steel wool photography is a type of photography that relies on visual effects by taking advantage of the sensors full capabilities. The end results will leave you wondering why you haven’t tried enhancing more of your nighttime photographs with steel wool.
What do you need to take steel wool photographs?
Photo by Steve Gorton/Dorling Kindersley RF / Getty Images
You will need a metal whisk, steel wool, twine to attach to your whisk and a lighter/matches. One thing to keep in mind is that steel wool comes in many different grades. You will want the finest grade there is which will be either 000 or 0000. Grades 1-4 will not light for you.
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Things to consider when taking steel wool photographs:
Once you get all of your supplies together there are a few things to consider. Safety needs to be a priority before diving in the world of steel wool photography. You are technically playing with fire. It is important to think of that when you go out on location. It is not ideal to be swinging steel wool around areas with a lot of dead grass or areas with anything that is potentially flammable.
Steps to taking steel wool photographs:
Now, let’s get started. You have your supplies together and your locations have been selected. Here’s what you do next. Take your steel wool and place it inside the whisk. Next, you connect the twine or string to the handle with at least two feet hanging. Finally, you light the steel and start spinning. You can spin as slow or as fast as you’d like. Be cautious, sparks will start flying. Ensure no one is standing nearby.
Last but definitely not least, let's learn some camera settings:
You will have to put your camera on manual mode to get the best results. Unlike astrophotography, you will not want a very high ISO because you are only interested in the light coming off the steel wool. Your aperture will be set in the range of f/6 – f/11. You do not want it super high or low, find a medium. Your shutter speed will be anywhere from 10-20 seconds. I find 20 seconds to be a tad bit longer because often the steel wool runs out of sparks toward the end. Safe go to settings would be an ISO of 100, a shutter speed of 10 seconds and an aperture of f/8. The sensor on your camera will pick up every spark that flies off the whisk from the steel wool. Leaving some very artistic results. Also, keep in mind that the sensor will pick up the light on the surrounding surfaces from the sparks.
Go have a good time and I hope this gets you on the path to some interesting steel wool photographs.
