Oct 9, 2012 | Landscape Photography
started with a glorious sunrise with an old friend. The Portland Headlight has produced some great images for me in the past and today, it did not disappoint! What you see is a simple click right out of the camera. The key, -2exp comp. The reason, the highlights, that’s the photograph. You don’t need to show all the detail for folks to know it’s a lighthouse so I went artsy fartsy. It was a glorious start to a day that, well, while I might have been prepared for, I would have never imagined it would have ever happened. In time, I might tell the story. For now, for all those involved in the great gift, thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Oct 8, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Typical Moose style, we were up early and greeting the sun. With the rains during the night, we went chasing fog and light and found some gorgeous stuff to play with! I wanted to see how the D600 would do so did some serious shooting with it and I can tell you, I seriously like this camera! It nailed the exposure, it nailed the focus, quick and easy producing gorgeous files!
These are actually simple clicks. I shot at -1/3 exp comp, starting with Cloudy WB then going to AWB once the light wasn’t as warm. Then for finishing, I showed the group my favorite finishing technique at the evening DD session. With the image selected in Mini Bridge, hold down the Shift key and hit Enter. The image is instantly processed in ACR and you’re done. Wanting blacks a tad stronger, I used levels going to 5 on black. Done…and I love the images. Fog is just so much fun to watch dance and than make glow in the photograph!
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!
