Experiment with fire

Here is a shot I took two weeks ago at Richland Campground of the campfire and stars. To get what I really want I think I will have to do a blend, one of the fire and one of the stars. Has anyone else tried this?

Canon 5D
F2.8
12 sec
iso 800
noise reduction
25mm

Hey Tom, interesting idea. I think this is going to be a tough one to pull off even with a blended image. The subtle variations in light on the surrounding trees/leaves would be hard to pull out naturally with a layer mask. I don't know, maybe it woudn't ... but it is a neat idea!

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I've taken pics of campfires (haven't we all!), but haven't tried to get a star field as well. It might be interesting to see star trails in something like this - food for thought!

Never tried campfire and stars, good idea. I visualize a shot futher back more sky and maybe some light in a dome tent in the shot.

How about if you expose (film might be best, I think) for a couple of hours for the star trail (with no moon and no fire), then build your fire and shoot a short double exposure with the fire going. You could probably do it with the right digital body, but I still like film for long exposures.

Thanks for all the input. This is a difficult one. The idea came from a painting I have done by an artist named Stephen Lyman. The painting is called Mountain Campfire and shows a campfire with glowing embers and stars in the background.

I will have to keep experimenting with this idea. Bill, you idea with film sounds interesting.