Every year, weather permitting, there's a spectacular half hour fireworks display on November 5th on the pier at Llandudno on the North Wales coast.
I try and go every year, as the Llandudno display has some unique advantages for anyone trying to photograpgh or video the event.
Firstly, the display uses huge high altitude fireworks which are visible for miles, so there's no need to get close to capture the action.
Secondly, the fireworks are set off from the pier, which sticks out over the sea and thus gives some impressive reflections if the water is calm.
Thirdly, Llandudno Bay is curved, so you can watch/photograph the fireworks from anywhere along its one and a half mile length (if you've got a long enough lens, that is).
Lastly, and most importantly, you can park anywhere along the seafront, with your car only a few metres from where you'll be watching from. So if you get cold or it starts to rain you're not far from shelter.
For this year I decided to shoot the display with the idea of making this timelapse video, thinking this form of presentation would be a bit more dynamic than the usual single shot static images I've produced previously.
Although I reckon I could have done better in terms of framing the action, I'm still vey pleased with the final result and adding a backing track (Kalimba by Mr Scruff, included as a sample file with Windows 7) make the fireworks seem to almost dance to the music.
Filename - llandudno fireworks 01.mp4
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 100-400mm zoom
Exposure - 3.2seconds @ f11, ISO200
Location - Llandudno, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p
Music - Kalimba by Mr Scruff
A higher resolution streaming version of this video is also available on my 
gallery.
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.