1. A flare characterization system comprising: at least one camera for obtaining video images of a flare emitted by a flare stack of a plant; a video analytics module connected to the at least one camera, the video analytics module analyzing the video images captured by the at least one camera to obtain a characterization of the flare, the characterization including an approximation of the three dimensional shape of the flare using a generalized cylinder defined by a medial axis and edges; a control system connected to the video analytics module; and a user interface connected to the control system, wherein video analytics module is configured to provide the characterization of the flare to the user interface via the control system, and the user interface is configured to display a visual sense of the characterization of the flare to a user; wherein the flare characterization system is configured to store the obtained video images of the flare for later retrieval, review, or regulatory purposes.