Hot Air Balloon Festival

[TimNYC24]

This is my first attempt at taking shots of this subject so be gentle with me :)

http://image.pbase.com/u30/timnyc24/medium/18435196.9AGoingCold.jpg

The entire series is here... http://www.pbase.com/timnyc24/root

[pappy]

They are all very good photos, Tim. It is amazing that they don't fry their balloons when first inflating them.

Regards,
Peter

[Conk]

You have many better selections than the one you provided. The one that you provided for critique shows a shot that I believe was much too close. I had to keep going back to it before I realised it was a view looking into the ballon as it was being inflated/deflated.
My personal favorites are 16J, 17G and 17I. These shots and many others show much better composition. There are a couple points about these I would consider if you would also like to post them one at a time for critique.

[RedShoesGirl]

Ok, here goes. You wanted a critique.

1. I couldn't see the embedded image here so went to look at the gallery.

TOO MANY PICTURES! Edit, edit, edit to the best 10. Think photo story if you will. Which images tell the story of the event or which ones are just plain artistic in a graphic manner. Too many photos to wade through.

2. Many photos repititous and boring. Good photos show ordinary events in an extraordinary way. Show people something they haven't seen in that way before. A single balloon in the sky says nothing, no scale, no scenery.

3. Many images poorly exposed and then not corrected in your imaging program.

4. Now for specifics:

12G - almost works. The tilted horizon is a distraction instead of adding interest. The guy on the left is a total distraction also. Get closer, straighten the horizon a bit to eliminate all but the essentials.

15B - interesting graphically, but could use some contrast added in PS. I like this one.

12I - is another interesting shot. Would be good as a secondary in a photo package. What we call a detail shot.

16 - I like this one too . Interesting, simple, good composition and tells the story about where you are and what is going on. If I were making a photo package for my paper, this could be the main shot on the page. The others would be supporting images. They work as a package.

The last shot. I like this one too. It also could be a main shot. It is interesting because of the sheer numbers of balloons in the sky at once. It has been done before, but still this is nice.

Most all the images could use better post-shooting work done on them.

So, for what their worth, my opinions.

lara

[TimNYC24]

Thank you Conk and Red for taking the time to look at my shots.

Conk, if you want to critique any on the pbase site, please do so! Or for here for that matter.

Red, it was my first Balloon event and I was excited:) I have been to just about every sporting event, other festivals, fairs, yadda yadda yadda, but not this type before, and they let you stand right next to them while they are preparing for flight! I was amazed. I almost felt in the way some times.
I'll have to take another look at the gallery to see what you meant by focus problems.
I was trying to tell the story of each balloon preparing and taking flight, that's why there are so many "same kind of" shots.

Again, thanks for your critiques!

[Stoneh]

Interesting viewpoints, I went along last week to my local park, didnt think of getting the pics that close up, I waited for the baloon to take off. Sort of typical baloon piccy

http://www.dialasif.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Pages/G2%20Page/Images/baloon.jpg

I think it is better to put a link to just one photo, some users are not on broadband and will def quit your site if it has loads of images/thumnails.

BTW I like the lots of baloons pic

[RedShoesGirl]

TimNYC24 wrote:
Thank you Conk and Red for taking the time to look at my shots.

Conk, if you want to critique any on the pbase site, please do so! Or for here for that matter.

Red, it was my first Balloon event and I was excited:) I have been to just about every sporting event, other festivals, fairs, yadda yadda yadda, but not this type before, and they let you stand right next to them while they are preparing for flight! I was amazed. I almost felt in the way some times.
I'll have to take another look at the gallery to see what you meant by focus problems.
I was trying to tell the story of each balloon preparing and taking flight, that's why there are so many "same kind of" shots.

Again, thanks for your critiques!


You are welcome. It IS exciting to be in that close at a balloon festival, I agree. I don't think I said anything about focus. At least not the camera focusing. Several shots showed a good eye, so keep on shooting!

lara

[gandini]

Got to comment. Living in Albuquerque it's not hard to have some feeling about photographing balloons as it hosts the largest balloon festival in the world, every year (about 850 balloons!) I have made so many balloon photos I don't go any more...
My favorite is 15B--great image with a different view to highlight the shape and color of balloons with a strong graphic quality. I also like the images of balloons against an interested clouded sky. With some re-cropping the one of the transparent balloon might be quite interesting!
My niggles: for a public gallery there are too many images that should have been culled. Be more selective when putting your best foot forward in public. I consider Don Ellis' Kleptography gallery a standout in this regard.

cheers Tim.