Hawes Pier and the Forth Bridges

Hawes Pier at South Queensferry, on the Firth of Forth west of Edinburgh, Scotland, is one of the few places where all three Forth bridges appear in a single frame: the 1890 Forth Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge and the modern Queensferry Crossing. The cantilever railway bridge in deep red is the centrepiece, with the road bridge and cable-stayed crossing lining up behind it, so a wide-angle lens captures all three while a 70-200 mm lens compresses them into a layered composition. The pier and promenade provide a foreground of water, moored boats and stone, and trains crossing the Forth Bridge add scale and movement. Check the rail timetable to include a train. Light is best at sunrise and sunset, when the red steel glows and the sky colours, and at blue hour, when the Queensferry Crossing is lit against a deep sky. Spring and autumn usually bring clear air, and showery days can produce dramatic clearing skies and rainbows over the water. The firth runs roughly east to west, so the sun sets behind the bridges in summer, giving silhouettes, while winter sunsets move to the south-west. A tripod is useful for long exposures of the water at dusk. The pier and promenade are public, free and open at all hours, and tripod positions along the pier are easy to find outside summer weekends, when visitors and diners crowd the front. Tripods are allowed provided they do not block the pier, and drones should follow the standard UK rules and avoid the bridge structures. South Queensferry has pubs, cafes and public toilets on the High Street just behind the pier, and rail and bus links run to Edinburgh.