Random Shot

[spoilers4me]

Hello, Just wanted to share a photo i took while out walking the dog a couple of weeks ago. I saw this balloon coming in really low as we were driving back home. These hot air balloons are pretty common here on the weekends. I decided to pull over and get a shot. I just recently purchased a Sony Cyber Shot H55 and decided to take it with me to try it out. I am just a beginner in photography and hope one day to get alot better but for now i will just experiment. I try to visit here at least once a day to get help! LOL

[Fuzz62]

thats a great photo!

a slight touch of pp will make the photo ping, slight levels adjustment, more saturation and gradient filter to make the sky more prominent, can be done in 5 mins.

im a complete novice but getting to grips making ok photographs alot better and thats all that i would do to that as everything is perfect from my level.

TFS

mark

[boun]

Hi, I+m am not a pro either, but when I looked at this pic, I realised how great would it be to crop off whole lower part, and leave just a ballon and background without this reflection in the water, you maybe won't like this idea, but for me that works much better then with a reflection

[spoilers4me]

Thanks! I haven't really got any editing programs yet, but i can do a little with windows. Just haven't tried yet. Maybe i will try the crop of the bottom and do some adjusting. I really like the close up macro shots, insects especially.
Have A Great Day and thanks for the comments!
Tracy

[Krusty79]

Too bad that standing water in the foreground cuts off the reflection of the balloon. I agree that you can give the colors more "pop" in processing as they are kind of muted now. As navcom pointed out to me, landscapes generally work better in landscape mode instead of portrait. I think this shot would have more of a feeling of wide open spaces if it had been shot in landscape mode, as portrait mode can feel a little confining. A good start for a beginner, though. I'm glad you didn't make the newbie mistake of centering the balloon in the image.

[NgaiHill]

I'm going to disagree with those above and say don't crop the bottom off. As I scrolled down the picture I thought it looked a bit ordinary until I saw the reflection. The colours of the background are rather muted and I find the reflection adds a bit more interest to the shot. I do agree though that some PP with levels and saturation could really improve the shot a lot. If you have PS try the adjustments in that - they are some of the easiest action in PS!

[Michael_2010]

The reflection makes the shot unique. It would have been better if the whole balloon could have been seen in the reflection, but I wouldn't do away with it because it isn't. I agree about the colors. Some very simple, fast adjustments in post would really make them pop.

[Eileen D]

I too like the reflection. It's particularly effective with the texture of the grass in the water. I'd love to see another version after you've worked to make the colors pop a bit more.

[jalal]

I like the picture, its a dreamy picture of a balloon, and in my opinion the subtle colors of the background lend very nicely to the overall effect, the only thing I would do is to crop a little bit off the right side to balance it.

[spoilers4me]

Thank you for the replies! I really appreciate it! I would have liked to of used the panoramic sweep, but only having the new camera for just a couple of days i didn't know how to use it yet. I did make a couple of adjustments using only picasa. I don't have photoshop yet but maybe real soon. Here is another shot after some adjustments. Thanks again for giving a newbie some helpful hints.