Help Shooting Hot Air Balloons?

[DigitalCoyote]

Howdy!

My college town's annual balloon race is taking place this weekend. I was lucky enough to attend last year and got to ride in a balloon as a reward for taking pictures for the VA. I've since purchased an SLR and would like to improve my skills with what I feel is a challenging subject.

Does anyone have any hints or things that they wish they'd known the first time they did something like this? Are there any pieces of equipment (like a remote shutter release, for example) that they they would feel are indispensable? What about camera settings (IE shutter speed, ISO, aperture, mode) do you think work best?

I have a Nikon d60 camera with 18-55mm and 55-200 mm lenses, a few basic filters (CPL, UV, FLD.), a smallish lens hood, and a gorrillapod at my disposal.

I apologize in advance for being so nosy, but my first low-light (night) shoot was middling at best and I expect to take pictures from a bit before dawn until noon.

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!

--DC

[jdepould]

Is it early morning? I shot a balloon thing a few months ago, and it wasn't really anything out of the norm. I shot everything hand-held, don't think my ISO ever went over 800.

Balloons - a set on Flickr
They're a mix of afternoon and morning shots, but you get the idea.

[DigitalCoyote]

Originally Posted by jdepould

Is it early morning? I shot a balloon thing a few months ago, and it wasn't really anything out of the norm. I shot everything hand-held, don't think my ISO ever went over 800.

Balloons - a set on Flickr
They're a mix of afternoon and morning shots, but you get the idea.

Very early morning in to midday. I plan to arrive no later than 5 AM so I can get shots of them setting up the balloons before the glow session. Last year, it was fairly dark until around 6:30 AM. I am concerned because my fireworks pictures from July 4th didn't come out well and I figured it was because of my inexperience shooting in anything other than bright daylight.

Thank you for the link to your photos: I hadn't thought of framing the shots that way. The third, fourth, and eighth shots are my favorites. In your opinion:

• Are texture and color contrast more important than playing with perspective in pictures
  like this?
  
  
• Is there a point where a scene can be too "busy"? I don't know if having multiple balloons in the air at once against the mountainous landscape of this region would overwhelm a viewer or if a lack of a singular focus would make it less interesting

.
Thanks so far.

--DC

[rpcrowe]

There are few things more photogenic than a mass of hot air balloons. I shot the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta a few years ago and it was absolutely spectacular.

I don't know about your venue but, the public is permitted to be on the balloon launch grounds before, during and after the launch. Shots of filling the balloons are very photogenic. Of course, if you are allowed on the grounds, the actual launch and flyover is great to shoot.

A few things that I learned:

1. Be cognizant of the wind direction. Obviously the balloons will fly in the direction of the wind so you want to be able to intercept them.

2. I shot with a 12-24mm f/4 Tokina and a 24-70mm f/2.8L on a pair of Canon 1.6x DSLR cameras. This was a great focal combination.

3. I shot everything hand held and most often used from ISO 200 - ISO 800 depending on the lighting conditions. A shot in programmed exposure mode. I used no flash but counted on the flame from the hot air generators to light my images.

4. Bring a CPL filter but, don't put it on your camera until after full light. Don't use a UV filter because then you will have to remove the filter as you get ready to place the CPL on your lens.

5. If your camera has the capability to easily shoot AEB (auto exposure bracketing) choose that. I can set up my Canon cameras to automatically shoot 3 images in burst mode with correct exposure, and plus and minus exposure. The number of f/stops to be bracketed is part of what you decide on when you select AEB. I shot with one stop bracketing. Most of the time I was right on with the normal exposure but, occasionally either the plus or minus one stop exposure was the best.

6. Bring enough memory so you don't have to restrict your shooting.

7. Wear layered clothing. It was cold as heck before dawn in Albuquerque (October) and got quite warm after the sun came up.

8. If you can ride in a balloon, great shots can be had from above other balloons with the ground as the background. To me, shots like that are more interesting than shooting with sky as the background.

See additional Albuquerque Balloon International Balloon Fiesta images at:

ALBUQUERQUE BALLOON FIESTA 2007 - rpcrowe's Photos

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by DigitalCoyote

Thank you for the link to your photos: I hadn't thought of framing the shots that way. The third, fourth, and eighth shots are my favorites. In your opinion:

• Are texture and color contrast more important than playing with perspective in pictures
  like this?
  
  
• Is there a point where a scene can be too "busy"? I don't know if having multiple balloons in the air at once against the mountainous landscape of this region would overwhelm a viewer or if a lack of a singular focus would make it less interesting

.
Thanks so far.

--DC

I wouldn't say texture and color are more important than perspective any more than I would say perspective is more important than texture and color. Perspective affects color and texture; strong sidelight will highlight the textures, and morning light gives you different colors and contrast than daylight. It's all connected.

There's probably a point where it could get too busy, but you're not going to figure it out by thinking about it. Shoot, experiment, use different focal lengths.

[rpcrowe]

The whole Fiesta was almost visual overload. However, I think a mix of individual balloons and of groups are both good. My best advice is to shoot, shoot and shoot... You cannot shoot too much at an event like this.

I would have loved to frame the balloons against Albuquerque's Sandia Mountain. It would have been a spectacular background. Unfortunately for that idea is the fact that Sandia is directly east of the Balloon Grounds and there is not really enough light until the sun is over the crest of the peak and then you would be shooting into a sun which has been over the horizon (but not the crest) for a half hour and is very bright.

One thing about the Albuquerque Fiesta is that it starts very early and the balloons have quit taking off by about 9:00 am or so. You really need to plan your shooting. The direction in which the balloons float is dependent on the wind and may vary from day to day.

On the second morning of the Fiesta (Sunday) there was not a pre-dawn launch by the "Dawn Patrol". These are the balloons which take off early in order to let the others know how the wind is impacting the launch. There was just too much gusty wind early on and they almost cancelled the mass ascension right after first light.

I didn't make it to the Balloon Glow in the evening because I have family in Albuquerque and they had a party for us.

[Decran]

We have a balloon festival every year here in Northampton, not big to many but can have up to 80 odd ballons of all shapes and sizes, Bertie Basset, Thomas The Tank Engine, a fire extinguisher, the list goes on. What I find is that some of the happenings you can catch as these "flights of Fancy" are inflated, are as interesting and fun to catch.

[kirbinster]

Your biggest problem may be that you have slow glass with your kit lenses, this may make the early morning shots questionable and at high ISO. You will be fine once it gets brighter. I would bring both your lenses. Actually if you could borrow a second body you would be even better off. I typically shoot ballons with either my 18-200VR with a CPL or use my Sigma 10-20mm HSM on one body and either my 70-200 f/2.8 or my 70-300VR on a second body. Pay attention to your surroundings and try to get shots with multiple ballons at different angles. I have two sets of ballon shots on my flickr site you might want to look at and check the exif data (not that I am a super expert on ballons). Here are four shots I grabbed to show you, I really like the one with the up high ballons above the grounded ones which is first:

[Nobody077]

Great tips and great pictures. I am leaving for Albuquerque Balloon fiesta from SoCal on Friday, with a stop at the Grand Canyon. I have friends in Rio Rancho right outside Balloon Fiesta park area and have been trying to make the trip for 2 years now (Vader balloon will be there this year). I will be taking my Olympus E-520 a 14-42 lens, 40-150 lens and tripod all day Thursday for the morning mass ascention and the night glow with the shapes. My hopes are Friday to park off site and get some nice mid-day shots also.

I am headed off to get my remote shutter trigger for the night glow..

[Shokinen]

Originally Posted by DigitalCoyote

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!

--DC

I recently took a few shot of the annual festival near my place so I'll share what I have learned.

1- Be ready for different scenario so bring your 18-55 and your 55-200. I spend most of my time with my 70-300 only because I was not on the site (I was actually following them as they were flying).

2- Try to compose different shots. There is so many opportunies. Fill your memory cards !

3- If your not sure which aperture/shutter speed/iso you should use, the landscape setting is a "safe" choice. Aperture is normally set at f/10 (from what I remember with my D60) so you should have most thing in focus.

4- Have fun !!!









Hope this help