Steel Wool Photography Tutorial!

Steel Wool Photography Tutorial comin at ya hot! Get it? Today we are talking about how to take a steel wool photography photo, and how to edit it! If you’re a photographer or just like things that are cool, you gotta try this. The sky is the limit and it’s always a blast looking at the camera to see what you’ve come up with in the end.
It’s pretty simple. You just need 4 things and you can get them all for under $10 bucks. First of all you need some steel wool. You can get this at your local WalMart for $2.97. Get the fine grade stuff, it works the best. Next you’ll need a kitchen whisk. Make sure it’s all metal cause anything else will melt. You need some rope to tie it to and spin it around, and lastly you need something to light the steel wool with.
The steps are simple. Put your camera on a tripod and aim for a 8-10 second exposure to start. This worked best for me. Stuff the steel wool in side the whisk. Tie the rope to the end of the whisk. Hit your shutter button on the camera. Light the wool. Spin it around however you like, and enjoy the results.
Get creative with it. There are so many good shots out there! Have fun and be safe. You’re dealing with fire, so don’t do this in flammable areas.
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[@spannerclyde6832]

I for some reason liked the before more. Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you clearly did an amazing job. I think I tend to like photos with more vibrance and contrast so the desaturation and lightening of the shadows is probably what did it. It looks like a good photo for a mood board/aesthetic board!

[@SamBischof]

Thanks for watching! You're right though, there are a few common practices, but the edit really just comes down to whatever appeals to the photographer. My edits change all the time just trying new things. Thanks again!

[@georgepaz7012]

Sam The Vlog love how you took that criticism definitely subscribing

[@SamBischof]

@@georgepaz7012 Welcome to the fam! Thanks for the support my friend!

[@johannesnoordermeer]

I felt the same (aside from the crop) and I guess that's really a compliment to the original photo .

[@ChristianJamesMCR]

2 videos in 2 days. This guy is on fire! Keep up the good work Sam.

[@SamBischof]

+Christian James Haha. Thanks amigo. Just trying to crack the code.

[@TheKayvon01]

Great tutorial once again from sam. For an outdoorsy guy like myself that loves nature photography these videos help me so much. Another masterpiece!

[@hope4kidsguate]

This is awesome Sam! I really have to try this with a friend soon!

[@SamBischof]

+Whos There Let me know how it goes! It's a blast.

[@alliedarasouk2812]

I went down to an abandoned tunnel and tried this today it was so cool

[@raiwolf3606]

Thank you for this video and the idea. Nice work man!

[@SamBischof]

Thanks for watching! Hope you come up with some cool stuff.

[@Fitins400]

Thank you so much for this tutorial!!! Helping me get an A in PHO class yess

[@SamBischof]

Thanks for watching and thanks for jumping in on that comment! Glad you got something out of the video 👌

[@Fitins400]

@@SamBischof Thanks so much Sam. Anytime.

[@rahuljadhav-vq2er]

Nice one brother sure I'll tag that keep giving us good idea's

[@FarisMlaeb]

This picture is wow, I will try similar today :)

[@SamBischof]

Let me know how it goes! Thanks for watching and supporting!

[@shawnspringall]

so cool Sam, I will try this on the weekend... I really need to figure out how to use my camera, I have a 70d, I picked up a remote so I could record time-lapses and have taken some nice photos but haven't really dug in and learned how to use it to the full potential. Do you have any tutorials that might help me out?

[@SamBischof]

Definitely try it out and let me know how it goes. I have one tutorial on my channel that applies to your 70D. How to Shoot in Full Manual Mode. Check that one out if you haven't. If not just search Canon 70D Tutorial and you'll find a ton of awesome videos on the camera. That's how I learned to shoot, all KZbin.

[@shawnspringall]

alright my man I will... i did look up my remote to try and figure out what each setting did but there wasnt much, I will do a search and see if I figure things out. thanks bro

[@varshitasrivastava472]

Really great work!👍

[@SamBischof]

Thanks for watching! Did you go out and try it yet??

[@KitKat-cs6go]

Is there a specific type of camera you recommend for this type of photography (or just in general)? I see a lot about exposure and settings but I'm curious about the actual camera.

[@SamBischof]

That totally depends on your budget. There are a lot of great cameras out there. I prefer Canons because that’s what I know. Most DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are capable of doing this shot with a long exposure.

[@tousifk3138]

2.58 Ur dog is searching for steel wool to teach his buddies some tricks

[@cre8tivity06]

@Sam The Vlog I am interested in trying this for an upcoming shoot with a client. If I light the client with a couple speed lights, will that mess up the light coming from the spinning wool in the background? I just don't want the client to be a silhouette if I don't put any light on them. Thoughts? Amazing work by the way!

[@SamBischof]

Hey man thanks for watching! I don’t think it would mess anything up. I wouldn’t light them for the entire time. If you’re using a speed light just manually flash it at the end of the exposure to fill them in. Let me know how it goes!

[@jmanchester]

Solid my man...

[@SamBischof]

+Jason-Manchester Thanks for watching amigo!

[@D.radventures2021]

Excellent video and the pictures are just amazing. Great work and thanks for sharing. What were your camera settings? I know you said 8-10secs but aperture and iso?

[@SamBischof]

Thanks for watching and the compliments! I don’t remember my exact camera settings but my guess is I would have shot at around 4.5 on my aperture since this was shot on a kit lens and that’s as low as it went. When I’m doing my long exposures on my 80D I try and keep my iso below 3000 otherwise you’ll get a lot of noise. Hope that helps!

[@officialDragonMap]

Is there anything special about the umbrella? special material? made wet? want to test it out and I am not sure if it will work or burn....

[@SamBischof]

+Admin Dragon-Map Nope haha! Buy one that you don't plan on keeping. It burnt holes all through it. Make sure your skin is protected too if you're in the sparks.

[@officialDragonMap]

Sam The Vlog ok, thank you very much. I appreciate your answer.

[@hadleyv]

When i did it i wet the umbrella

[@gabieth]

THANK GOD THE QUESTION I WAS LOOKING FOR AN ANSWER haha thank you for asking that

[@alanmullally649]

I bought steel whool but it wasn't as fine as the one you used. Will it still work or do I have to buy fine steel whool

[@SamBischof]

It will probably still work. Might not burn as fast and might not stay burning sometimes. Curious to see how it goes. Let me know!

[@redseviin8352]

I'm a photographer too. I did this with a friend a couple years ago and one of those firey shrapnel's landed in his shoe and burned his shoelace in half. Actually pretty dangerous. Keep it up, dude.

[@SamBischof]

+Red Seviin Haha dude we were dodgin sparks like crazy! Hot burning metal. No messing around. What's your insta? I'll scope it out?

[@redseviin8352]

Sam The Vlog gatsby_and_bootlegger but 90%of my photos, about 15k, poof gone when my computer fried. That was right before I started Instagram for my company. Devastated

[@SamBischof]

+Red Seviin That's my worst nightmare man. Sorry to hear that.

[@azureablaze8721]

Red Seviin Have you considered external HD (raid) or UPS for prevention of oscillating voltage? It's priceless investment.

[@roadshoulderphotography683]

Is the man on the left holding some kind of shield to bounce the sparks over and under him.

[@SamBischof]

Yeah he’s holding an umbrella ☂

[@jokwonpope1561]

that lut hit hard at 0:42 lol

[@SamBischof]

+Joe Pope Haha nice catch. Not a LUT, I do my own color grading, but a missed clip none the less. Thanks for watching.

[@deangeyer6084]

great shot dude! just found this and was wondering if you shot this on auto focus or manually?

[@SamBischof]

Thanks for watching man. I shot this in manual mode. I had my friend stand where we were gonna shoot so i could lock focus.

[@deangeyer6084]

Sam The Vlog Great thanks bruv. Now for some fun 👌🏼

[@1963specialK]

Did our first try at steel whool last night, sooo cool ! Do you take any kind of umbrella, or does a cheap one will do since you gonna discard it after ?

[@SamBischof]

Awesome! How did the photos turn out?? Tag me on instagram so I can check it out. Thanks for watching!

[@1963specialK]

Sam The Vlog don't have instagram look my FB carole charette

[@1963specialK]

Blister on my finger from the wire we used, we had gloves just forgot to put them on

[@SamBischof]

Haha I tried to warn you! I did the same thing though. Blisters on both hands.

[@1963specialK]

Sam The Vlog I added a handle with à swivel hook attached to cable, it makes for a steady spinning. so any kind of umbrella will do ?

[@carlmcneill1139]

Do you use auto white balance, tungsten, or a specific Kelvin?

[@SamBischof]

It depends on the shoot. But on this particular one, I left it on auto because it had no idea how it would turn out. I shot in raw of course so I was able to color correct it the way I wanted in post. Thanks for watching!

[@HarmanBhagat18]

Did the umbrella catch fire ? Did the steel wool create holes in it ?

[@SamBischof]

Yep! Burnt holes right through it but didn’t catch fire. Don’t use an umbrella you care about.

[@cikgumasru7478]

Good

[@SamBischof]

Thanks for watching!

[@bogdan.dobrowolski]

How far should the camera be placed to catch everything in the frame???

[@SamBischof]

Totally depends on the focal length of your lens. Just take some text long exposures before lighting and check the composition and make a mark to go back to when you’re ready for the shot.

[@DKNex]

*I'm your 10000 subscriber!!*

[@SamBischof]

Yesssssssss! Welcome to the channel and thank you for the support! 🙌🏼

[@DKNex]

@@SamBischof you deserve it:)

[@vishwa8204]

Hey Sam how do we light up the steel wool?

[@SamBischof]

Any flame :) just use a match or a lighter and it will light right up.

[@deniza7akt]

Very nice photo but we also wanted to see the photo shooting and not only the editing process!

[@SamBischof]

I explained how it works pretty well in the video. You shouldn't have any issue testing it out. When we shot it was way to dark to film the process. Thanks for watching!

[@carlmcneill1139]

Have you ever done this inside the city limits? Do you have to worry about cops showing up to see what's going on? Do you need to get permission in certain places? Also, have you ever done any exposure blending with long exposure shots to get more light in the surroundings?

[@SamBischof]

Hey Carl, I have done it in city limits. I don’t know that permission for something like this would be granted. My experience was more of an ask for forgiveness type thing. But I didn’t run into any issues. One thing to be mindful of is surrounding fire danger. The steel wool burns out fairly quickly but if you were anywhere near dry combustible material I wouldn’t do it. I have messed around with filling in surrounding areas with light. This shot in particular was done on a ranch in west Texas so there was nothing surrounding. Definitely worth experimenting. You can come up with some cool stuff!

[@carlmcneill1139]

@@SamBischof if I go into any city for this I will definitely buy a fire extinguisher to carry with me. There's an old railroad bridge that goes most of the way across the Tennessee river that they restored for people to walk out onto. A lot of joggers run to the end in back when they run the trails around the bank of the river. I thought right at the front of the bridge would be cool. I'm learning how to do exposure blending so I was thinking I could take shots of the environment after getting shots with the steel wool and blend them together. I've seen some amazing pics on Instagram from some people.

[@Mladenko95]

What about aperture and iso?

[@SamBischof]

Keep your ISO fairly low (1600 or less) so you don't get grain in the image. Keep aperture open to let in lots of light, just make sure the focus is locked.

[@curranmcbratney1686]

why at 0.42 does the colour grade change?

[@SamBischof]

Well Curan. It appears I forgot to add my color grade to that specific clip. Turns out I'm human after all.

[@SC-bd6gm]

What lens did you use?

[@SamBischof]

This was actually taken on my kit lens at the time. Canon 18-135mm.

[@AlemitoFilms]

I liked the before more

[@SamBischof]

The glory of editing. It’s all subjective and personal preference. Thanks for watching!

[@appearingthroughdimensions8117]

Waddup Sam

[@fransheencasison5722]

Ganyan

[@hadleyv]

My sister had me hold the umbrella and do this for a photography project. Lets just say the pictures didn’t turn out to good and I was scared as shit...

[@SamBischof]

Haha sorry she subjected you to that. It’s fun if you nail it! Thanks for watching!

[@remykhaidir]

Are u gibson lover?

[@SamBischof]

Bro you know I love the Gibson!

[@remykhaidir]

@@SamBischof haha...

[@CurvedSlightly]

Aperture? ISO? WB? FFS!

[@SamBischof]

Keep your aperture semi high (9-11) so you don’t have to worry as much about getting focus spot on in the dark. Take your iso up to a point before it starts producing noise. I don’t like to go much higher than 3200. If you’re shooting raw you don’t need to worry about white balance. Just leave it on auto. Let your shutter speed do the work of exposing your image properly.

[@sardond]

The edit made it worse looking, and for a tut, not enough info for settings used.

[@SamBischof]

Go take the shot and upload a video homie.

[@jsvownzu]

Sam The Vlog thats your response? Glad I saw that. Was about to subscribe since I’m in Texas too but what a dick. AND, I totally agree, you didn’t give enough info HOMIE.

[@SamBischof]

@@jsvownzu HOMIES 4 LYFE

[@Fitins400]

It clearly did NOT make it worse. I like how you dont explain how it made it worse just came through to hate

[@mohsinraza2130]

Forward to 3:43

[@bogdan.dobrowolski]

How far should the camera be placed to catch everything in the frame???