Fancy fireworks!
Dartmouth photographer Martin Thomas
shares his top tips for capturing fireworksartin Thomas takes images in the town
of Dartmouth in Devon. He started
dartmouthphotographs.com and posts
photos of Dartmouth daily to publicise
the beauty of the area. “Facebook has been my
main outlet,” he says, “but @dartmouthphotographs
has become really popular on Instagram.”
This image was taken during the 175th Port of
Dartmouth Royal Regatta, from Kingswear, acrossthe river from Dartmouth. But Martin found the
fireworks weren’t exactly where he had predicted!
“As I pushed the shutter for the first time, I realised to
my horror that the fireworks weren’t over the college:
they were to the right of it. I quickly re-adjusted my
tripod to fit in the area I wanted and continued
shooting. I chose to keep the illuminated ship on
the river in the shot, knowing that I could isolate
the college and fireworks with a crop if I wanted to.”7 | FIREWORKSM
32 DIGITAL CAMERA^ DECEMBER 2019
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The setting
Martin says: “Positioning
is everything. Most people
take photos from ground level. If you
do that you are pointing your camera
at the sky: you might get some nice
pictures of fireworks... but they could
be anywhere! Try and get to height
(this will mean you get the trail
from launch) and distance. Find
somewhere with a landmark or
identifying point in the shot.3
About the scene
“I love Dartmouth,” Martin says. “This was a
first, having the fireworks at Britannia Royal
Naval College. The lights on the college were off: it was
purely illuminated by the display. To the right of the
picture was a ‘Proms’ event in Coronation Park, which
you can clearly see. All these things capture the scale
of Dartmouth Regatta, which so many people love.”2
Focusing
“If there is a focal point
to the picture, focus on it
before the display and switch the
lens to manual,” Martin advises.
“That way you know you are in focus,
and your camera won’t
be searching for a
focus point during
the display.”