Oct 4, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Ok, with the “distraction” of the big launch over with, I got back down to telling a story. One element I wanted to tell was the early morning launch. These folks got up (and us up) really early to photograph the launch. I wanted that in the photographs. How to do that? How do you make the uncommon out of the common? With the sunrise on the horizon, I used the tools I know so well. I underexposed -1.3 to bring the sky and clouds down and then used ACR to bring up the value of the balloon. I ripped the motordrive to be sure I had the blower going so the eye would suggest the bright balloon is from it and not my lighting the balloon in ACR. After just feeling the frustration of not making good images, this felt good to be back on task!
Oct 4, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Oct 3, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Wait for it…The 5th Dimension starting…Once you can pull yourself away from all the fire, you see balloons taking flight. It is really cool, the sound and sight as they balloons simply lift into the air. There is no way you can cover all the liftoffs, you have to make a choice and go for it. I simply looked for a pattern in the balloons I liked and went for it.
I went for one of the 5-6th balloon to go aloft. I did that because I wanted some flat, some inflating and one balloon going up. I lucked out! The balloon I locked onto went floating right one by as if it were scripted.The basket was heading for a hole in the background so I moved to keep it in that hole hoping it would turn on the burner. That burner not only help with the feeling of hot air lifting the balloon, but being bright, it take the eye right to the basket. My luck had run out, it lifted off without any more assist.
It no sooner got past the spot I wanted with the burner going and it lit up! At that point, the symmetry of all the balloons as lost so while I have flame (I like flame), I had lost the shot. The D4 / 24f1.4 combo though was perfect, between the fast FPS and narro DOF, I thought is was the perfect combo. And I loved working the framing with my feet, it’s a great challenge! So while I like these photos, none knock my socks off, they are just a cool remembrance of a fun morning! Oh, the image finishing…all done in ACR.
Oct 1, 2012 | Landscape Photography
They initially “blow up” the balloons with large fans, inflating them but giving them no lift. The lift comes from the heat created by the blowers. It all really takes just moments. One minute the balloon is just material on the ground and the next it is towering overhead. It was really cool to see the field all come to life at once as balloon after balloon stood up in the sky. There was a carful balance in how much heat was blown into the balloon to get it up while not enough to launch. The crews were fun to watch, you knew they’d done it before as each knew their place and role. The ambient light level was still low enough so the flame could give the balloon and those folks in the basket a slight glow. That’s what I wanted so I moved quickly looking for the right basket and background to bring that out. I still shot with the same basic MO, blasting the D4 with the 24f1.4AFS (I so love that lens!). Seriously, fun like this almost seems sinful!
Oct 1, 2012 | Landscape Photography
I had the opportunity Friday morning to go out with some of the good folks from the 4C convention to the Posner Balloon Festival. I yearly festival that’s been held for decades, it’s a great event where I’m told 30 hot air balloons come to have fun. Arriving in the dark, my favorite time to start, we wondered over the field where the balloonist had parked.
I talked with some of the folks to get an idea of how they would handle the launch and then just started to watch. Knowing their general MO, in the dark of morning I looked for those with their baskets set up first. This takes a little time, hauling it our of the trailer, getting the rigging set up and clear in the dark getting ready for the preburn.
It was pretty simple really, you want to show that fire, you need a dark background. So once I saw the first basket ready to warm up the burners, I positioned myself with a background that told the story, was dark yet showed a little of the predawn light and waited. People are part of the story, so I wanted to include them as much as I could as long as they were active in the launch process. I tried to move about though to eliminate others who were just watching.
Anybody who knows me knows how much I like fire, so I was a kid in a candyshop! I mean, the sound, the length of flame, makes you want to grab a hotdog on a wire and cook! Now just like shooting blurry water, to make the shot I ripped the motordrive on the D4. This is because you just can’t see the pattern the burn is going to make, recognize it, tell your finger to shoot and the camera to fire fast enough. So when just as the big burn would go, I let the camera rip off 15-20 frames and then selected my favorite flame pattern back in the computer. I shot with fixed lenses, doing all my “zooming” with my feet. I did this because I wanted to shoot at f1.4 to make the most of the available light and minimize DOF for crowd control. These images were taken with the 50f1.4AFS and the bottom with the 24f1.4AFS. On the tech side, WB set to AWB, metering Matrix with Exp Comp at -2 to -1.3. While from the time when we arrived till the time we left was less than 2hrs, it was a great morning off to a great start. mmmm…fire…good!
Sep 28, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Making the drive to the airport yesterday, I was able to survey the fall color scene. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being killer, it might be a 5 this year. Sure, there are some pockets which will be sweet in the next week but generally, the trees are going from green to brown. My favorite grove on Conway Summit is already half brown, this scene from 2010 might happen in small sections in the next week to ten days. But don’t let that stop you from going out and shoot fall color. Look for those small splashes of color and work them. Find just one tree on a blue sky day and exploit it with a polarizer. All it takes is that one, perfect leaf and you’ll have a great day of shooting. I would suggest on the Eastern slope, look for the small draws that still have water running for the best color and photography. But any day outside beats any day inside, especially if you have a camera with you!
