Themes of fire and light are at the heart of photography, which traditionally has a difficult time representing these visual phenomena as they truly are. Using HDR, some photographers are able to depict everything from sunlight to firelight in ways that are hard to catch in most media. A range of techniques is needed to show the range of visual possibilities of everything from devastating fiery disasters to amazing smoke, sun and light phenomena.

Smoke adds yet another dimension to the theme of light – the naturally occurring byproduct of the brightest-burning of earthly phenomena: fire. As the saying goes, where there is smoke there is fire – or in this case perhaps a volcano or some other heated formation or phenomena. In some cases clever photography can also blur the boundary between smoke and clouds. Click to enlarge:

This concludes week three of a four-week four-elements series, including terrifying heat disasters from volcanoes to forest fires and stunning natural fire and smoke phenomena from sun flares to lightning and meteors. Next week WebEcoist will feature three new articles revolving around air, from amazing air and cloud formations to terrible air and wind disasters and compelling air and aerial photography.

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