Ignition

A high shutter speed macro of the moment of ignition of a match-head. To allow prefocusing and a steady composition, the match and camera were fixed in place and a blowtorch used to ignite the match from above. This is halfway through the first extremely bright flare moment as the phosphorus burns off the surface of the match-head progressively from the point of ignition (at the top of the frame). Once the match began to burn normally the fast exposure would have hardly registered any light at all.