Carolina Balloon Festival

adbsgicom

Not sure if this should be here or in Journeys, but figured this one wasn't about the trip but rather the destination. I almost got to go up, but an octogenarian bumped me, and who can tell a grandma that she can't get a balloon flight... Perhaps next year... Thanks for looking and any C&C are always welcome.

The day was perfect, and the evening glow was amazing!

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9. Thanks for looking this far down the thread... I really love the pool of light from the balloon.

R.Jay

Hi Andrew, very nice series of shots here - I like #3 & #4 the best.

Cheers, Richard.

black mamba

Well done. Some very good scene selections....and nicely composed. The scenes in the dark ( very early morning, I suppose ) were handled really well.

Tom

adbsgicom

Thanks, Richard & Tom. The glow shots were actually dusk into the early evening. I was really very dark once all the glows were done.
I had never been to one of these, and it was really great. At least at this one you can be up very close to the balloons as they prepare and launch. I had my 70-200 in my pack all day, and never used it. The close-ups are at 120 on the 24-120 f/4 and the WA shots are with the 16-35 f/4. All using the D700.

rainbow

Wonderful set of shots! Like angle of #5.

Question: Do they launch at night or is this post flight?

Must be like a kid in a candy store for you...

adbsgicom

Totally ditched my family...

No, they don't launch at night. What they do for the glow is come back, set up and inflate. Then they do burns to make the envelope glow. Works really nicely on a cool night (in the low 50's) since the air cools off faster and they don't have to wait too long to do the next burn.

Being in the middle of 50 balloons all launching and prepping, there wasn't a direction you could turn and not find something interesting or an new angle to try. Definitely plan to go back next year.

Cornflake

Fine images. Good work.

adbsgicom

Thanks for looking.

GSPeP

Great pictures

Are those all private balloons? Over here in Belgium (and Europe) most balloons are sponsored by some company that have their logo on it (except the special shapes). I hardly see any ballons with company logos in your pictures.

Elaine

Love 3, 4, 5, 6, 9. I'm so jealous! I've wanted to shoot in a setting like this but haven't had the chance yet. You did a beautiful job!

adbsgicom

Peter, thank you. Yes most are privately owned. There were probably less than 5 corporate balloons.

Elaine, thanks!! We almost made it to the New Mexico festival back in 2008 but there was some gusty winds from the remnant of a hurricane blowing through and nothing flew the couple of days we were there. We made up for that with some other trips around Santa Fe... Apparently this was the first time they got to fly in the past 4-5 years here, so I feel doubly lucky -- it was close and they flew! The New Mexico festival is the largest and oldest in the US. This one is the second-oldest. The experience far surpassed my expectations so I highly recommend going if you can. If the weather holds next year, I definitely want to get up in a flight!

00SS

These are really good Andrew.. enjoyed viewing all of them

NatashaC

Love all of them too. Fantastic work!

Mitchell

#3 for the win!!! Great shooting, Andrew.

leilanimr

Wonderful series! So colorful, I feel like I'm there! Thanks for the mini vacation!

adbsgicom

Devin, Natasha, Mitchell & Leilani, thanks!!! Ended up with about 100 images that I didn't want to part with at the end of it all. Submitted 3 to the festival...

jiro

Loved your excellent control of exposure and depth of field. Not to mention that you composed the shots pretty well. thumbthumbclap

redleash

Terrific series, Andrew! I like 3 and 4 the best. I almost wish there were no trees in #3, although they do provide context for the scene since you can see how high some of the balloons are above the ground. Trees or not, I think #3 is a wonderfully composed shot with great color. Well done!

When did you leave Austin?

Lauren

adbsgicom

Thanks, Jiro!
Lauren, thanks!! We moved to NC in June. Needed/wanted to get closer to our families and had an opportunity to relo and keep working from home for my company (based in CA). Though this isn't a standard crop, here's 3 without the trees (I guess some copious cloning could have accomplished the same thing...):

redleash

I like it better this way. I wonder how it would print with that crop? As you say, it's not standard. But I do like it better w/o the trees. Thanks for showing it to me.

adbsgicom

Okay, the content-aware fill got me 95% of the way there, and the a little bit of cleanup...



Do the balloons that aren't vertical bother you? With a little bit of work, I could rotate them to get a more perspective-corrected image from the original..

redleash