Balloon glow tips

[dwil49]

Anybody got any tips for taking great photos at a balloon glow? I'm using a Canon G6. I'd like to get shots of the balloons and also a few of the balloons with the crowd in the shot too.

Thanks :D

[PacAce]

I got a few balloon glow shots with my 10D. The settings I used was 1/50 @ f/5.0 ISO 800. You'll have to interpolate these setting for the G6 since I don't think the G6 can do ISO 800, can it? I was able to get shoots of the people near the balloon lit up by the glow of the balloon. You may have to use a tripod, though.

You can try shooting in Manual mode or you can try shooting in one of the creative modes, metering on the balloon when it's glowing. You'll have to use EC, though, to get the glow exposure just right.

[pradeep1]

At a slow ISO 50 to minimize grain, you' d have to shoot at 1/3 sec. at f/5.0. If you open up your G6 lens to f2.0, you can shoot at around 1/10 sec. Hope I did my calculations right. :o

What I'd do is place the G6 on partial metering (spot metering) mode and meter off of just the balloon at full glow, and then open up a stop or two to expose the foreground. You'll want to use a tripod while doing this, of course. :p

[snibbetsj]

At a slow ISO 50 to minimize grain, you' d have to shoot at 1/3 sec. at f/5.0. If you open up your G6 lens to f2.0, you can shoot at around 1/10 sec. Hope I did my calculations right. :o

What I'd do is place the G6 on partial metering (spot metering) mode and meter off of just the balloon at full glow, and then open up a stop or two to expose the foreground. You'll want to use a tripod while doing this, of course. :p


In addition to this, I'd bracket the aperture, if possible, a stop or stop and a half to find the best exposure. Lighting's tough in these situations.

[lost]

Uhhh OK can someone enlighten me. What is a balloon glow? Man I feel ignorant.

[musthavemuzk]

i am going to take a stab and guess they are talking about hot air balloons and the glow made from inside the balloon when they lite the flames to put more heat in them to make them rise.

just a guess though

i have seen a handful of pics like this...man are they breathtaking to look at.

Monty

[PacAce]

Uhhh OK can someone enlighten me. What is a balloon glow? Man I feel ignorant.
Here's an example of one although it's a bit noisy due to the high ISO I used:

http://tanseikai.com/pacace/images/NJ%20Balloon%20Glow_1.jpg

[JohnEBongo]

Lost---Don't worry, I had no idea what a balloon glow was either. Now that I know, it's pretty cool.

[lost]

That is cool. We dont have that sort of thing where I am from in Louisiana. That reminds me of a Boudreaux and Thibodaux joke.

[PacAce]

That is cool. We dont have that sort of thing where I am from in Louisiana. That reminds me of a Boudreaux and Thibodaux joke.
Try doing a google search for "hot air balloon glow louisiana" and you'll find a couple of hits. Any of those close to where you are? If you get a chance, you should go to one of these festivals. They're pretty cool to watch, especially when they all take off into the sky at about the same time. You'll see the sky littered with hundreds of them (I'm exaggeratng about the hundreds but it sure looks like it). :)

[snibbetsj]

You'll see the sky littered with hundreds of them (I'm exaggeratng about the hundreds but it sure looks like it). :)

Actually, if you go to Albuquerque, that's no exaggeration, that's an understatement.:) :)

[PacAce]

Actually, if you go to Albuquerque, that's no exaggeration, that's an understatement.:) :)
I hear Albuquerque (or at least somewhere in NM) is where they hold the biggest balloon festival of all. So I can believe that they will have literally hundreds of hot air balloons up in the sky. Must really be a sight to behold! :D

[dwil49]

Thanks for all the suggestions. This will be my first try at this. Hopefully I'll get at least a couple of good shots and post them here.:D

[dwil49]

Here's a couple of the shots I took tonight. I think they turned out pretty good, but any suggestions for making them better next time would be appreciated.

[PacAce]

Yes, I think they turned out pretty good, too. Those balloons are supposed to be pretty colorful so you could try boosting the saturation up a tad on the balloon glow shot. You did an excellent job considering it's your first time. :D

[Clark]

Here's a couple of the shots I took tonight. I think they turned out pretty good, but any suggestions for making them better next time would be appreciated.

Could you post your settings for these shots?
I think they turned out pretty well. Would love to have shots like this.

[dwil49]

Here's the settings for the 2 shots I took:

Balloon glow:

Shooting Mode
Manual
Photo Effect
Off
Tv (Shutter Speed)
1/13
Av (Aperture Value)
3.0
Light Metering
Spot
ISO Speed
50
Lens
7.2 - 28.8mm
Focal Length
28.8mm
Digital Zoom
None
Image Size
3072x2304
Image Quality
RAW
Flash
Off
White Balance
Auto
AF Mode
Continuous AF
File Size
5632KB


Filling one balloon:

Shooting Mode
Landscape
Photo Effect
Off
Tv (Shutter Speed)
1/15
Av (Aperture Value)
2.5
Light Metering
Evaluative
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
Auto
Lens
7.2 - 28.8mm
Focal Length
7.2mm
Digital Zoom
None
Image Size
3072x2304
Image Quality
Superfine
Flash
Off
White Balance
Auto
AF Mode
Continuous AF
Color Space
sRGB
File Size
1913KB