Quechee VT Hot Air Balloon Festival

rustic

After hearing about it for years, I decided to stop by the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Quechee, VT, this year.

Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate when I was there for the ascention (too much wind kept them grounded), but I managed to catch a few shots at the "glow" where a few balloons were lit up at night, but never took off.








Getting any sort of decent exposure was a bit tricky, as they were only lit up for a few seconds at a time, but shooting RAW helped me to pull these off.

Any comments, criticism, or suggestions for better ways to capture these would be great!

Richard

I think you did great. The exposure seems spot on to me and the colors are vivid. I like the deep blue to black gradient on the sky in #1 and the silhouettes add a sense of scale in #2. Well done.

00SS

Richard wrote: »

I think you did great. The exposure seems spot on to me and the colors are vivid. I like the deep blue to black gradient on the sky in #1 and the silhouettes add a sense of scale in #2. Well done.

+1 - really like the first one

rustic

Thanks to both of you!

HaveCameraWillTravel

Great job on all, but #1 is my favorite. (I went there this year myself) I like how the colors at the bottom of the balloon near the flame are still intact, and nice composition.

I'll be posting some of this year's Quechee pictures soon, but for now, I thought I'd share some I took in 2008 and 2009. Been going three years now. Worth the trip! Every year they have one specialty balloon, usually as some creature or animal. The morning launches are often better than those in the evening, because the crowd is much smaller, the wind is calmer, and the lighting is great if it happens to be sunny. Moonglow at Quechee is only on Friday night.

1. "The Purple People Eater" and others during Moonglow (I just happen to prefer a warm white balance on night shots.)


2. Reflecting Balloons on the river during a hazy morning.


3. Just a 'capture-the-spirit' photo that just happened to win 1st place in their 2008 photo contest, and was on the cover of the Quechee Balloon Festival's brochure in 2009.
I shot it on Flag Day, which just happened to fall during the festival.