Virgin Money Fireworks Concert 2014

At the end of August I was again shooting the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert from the roof of Boots on Princes Street in Edinburgh. A 45 minute display over Edinburgh Castle marking the end of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which takes place every summer in the city. I opted to go for a left hand position this time on the roof, as last year I was on the far right.

It's true when they say you get better shooting the same subject second time around, as you learn from your mistakes and try out new techniques. I think I improved my images dramatically on last years attempt, I have featured my favourite images in this post.

This year I decided to go for a two camera set up, shooting simultaneously, one with a super wide lens complete with a 10-stop ND (Neutral Density) filter and the other shooting with a standard lens without filters. I took a gamble with the filter which I had read up on as being very effective for shooting fireworks displays. With the ND filter obscuring all view of the scene and exposure, it was a real challenge focusing the scene and calculating the exposures correctly for the display. I found exposures of around one minute with the aperture almost wide open at f3.2 worked best, and of course there was a lot of luck involved! The first two shots directly below were shot with the ND Filter and are a 62 second exposure and the second a 66 second exposure.

In conclusion I found both techniques worked well in their own way, with some interesting results. But I am glad I had two set ups, as for some of the fireworks in the display, the really long exposures did not capture them well. 

Photographing fireworks well is always a challenge and I am looking forward to experimenting more with the 10-Stop ND Filter in the future!
   

Smoking Castle after the displays finale.