Festival fireworks: Grant's spectacular image from the finale Pic: ©: Grant Ritchie
Living in Edinburgh gives many decent opportunities for fireworks photography. Asides from the 45 minute Festival closer there are also fireworks at Hogmanay, after the Torchlight Procession on Calton Hill and, indeed, every night of the Military Tattoo. All of this going on in iconic locations across the city makes for some great photo opportunities.
To get the best shots possible it’s not all about camera settings and techniques, although that does help, it’s more about careful planning and research to make sure you get a prime location. You ideally want a great view first and foremost; a picture that would look great even without a firework burst. This is Edinburgh; the place is bursting with these locations especially if the display is at the castle.
It’s pointless to photograph just the firework bursts, those could be anywhere. You want to make sure you get a good chunk of recognisable city in the shot as well to give it some context. This is why I elected to try photographing this year’s Virgin Money firework concert from the Radical Road on Salisbury Crags, a perfect elevated location with a clear view to the castle and most of the city. Of course Inverleith Park, Calton Hill, Blackford Hill, Bruntsfield Links and other city centre spots would all have been good locations as well.
Equipment-wise, a digital SLR is desirable although any camera you can tripod mount and have some degree of control over the aperture and shutter speeds will be capable of decent pictures as well. I like to use a two-camera setup, one with a big zoom lens on and another with a shorter wider lens so as to get varied shots from both.
As for technique, I use one of two methods which both work well for me. The first is to use a fairly low ISO, around 200 to 400, a wide aperture, around f5.6 to f11, and a shutter speed of around two to three seconds is optimal. Any longer and you will just burn out all the fireworks.
I’ve also experimented using natural density graduated filters to dim the bursts but let in the light from the city which works well but not essential. A remote control or using your self timer is essential as is a tripod to eliminate any camera shake.
The other method that works is to stop the lens down all the way to f22 and set a shutter speed of around eight to ten seconds. You’ll get longer light trails and less risk of burning out sections of the shot, the only downside is less shots and you might not be able to react quickly to a particularly spectacular burst.
For a long display such as the Festival closer you have loads of time to experiment to see what works best; for shorter displays such as Hogmanay I’d recommend the shorter shutter speed method. Above all though, have fun trying it. Fireworks are a great, exciting subject to photograph and even
more so with the backdrop of one of the world’s most recognisable cities.
For photographs you can look here:
http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/galleries/edinburgh-festival-fireworks-2011/
