KME11

I was surprised recently with a bucket-list trip to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. It was truly a photographer's (which I am not) dream. I am looking for any tips on what you think of these shots and what I could have done better. I am using the Olympus OMD EM10 micro four thirds camera and definitely enjoying the size.

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Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

Really like the 1st one, both are great.

ppage Loc: Pittsburg, (San Francisco area)

The top one is excellent. The bottom shot needs the shadows bumped significantly to bring out the details of the balloon and the background. The background is giving the shot good perspective.

ppage Loc: Pittsburg, (San Francisco area)

You also have a distracting pole in the lower left part of the shot that should have been cropped out and another object close by that should have been cloned out.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

The first shot is reasonably well exposed. It's actually quite good, considering you were using a camera phone!

The second one is seriously under-exposed. The lighting conditions look difficult, but it was also in part due to a bright sky "fooling" your camera's metering system. This is a common problem when there's a lot of sky in an image. Dialing in some + Exposure Compensation would have improved that second shot a lot (getting closer would have helped, too.... though that's not always a possibility). I don't know if that adjustment is possible with a camera phone.

I used to go to a lot of balloon festivals and always got there very early, while it was still dark... There are dramatic photo opportunities before dawn. There is usually a "dawn patrol".... a single balloon that leaves very early. Launching in near darkness , the whole balloon beautifully whenever they use the burners to ascend. If it's a "hare and hound" competition, the first balloon out before dawn will be the "hare", while all the other "hound" balloons launch a half hour to an hour later. The winner is whoever manages to land their balloon closest to the hare. The only way to "steer" a balloon is by ascending or descending to try to find air currents blowing the direction you want to go!

The "mass ascension" events call for either finding a good location where you can see and photograph as many balloons as possible... perhaps a nearby hill top of the roof of a building. Or, get right into the middle of things with your camera and, often, using a wide angle lens.

But it's also often possible to get right in among the balloons during inflation, and that's where the action is.... and there's a lot to photograph.

For shots after sunrise, a circular polarizing filter can be a big help. It darkens the sky, lessening the need for Exposure Compensation. However, AFAIK it's not possible to use a C-Pol filter on a camera phone. Also, don't put one on too early, before dawn. A C-Pol reduces exposure by 1 or 2 stops (depending upon how strongly it's effect is dialed in).... so only install and use one once the sun rises and the day starts to brighten.

I also got myself on a "chase crew". This put me right in the middle of the action, first helping out with the balloon inflation... then chasing the balloon to it's landing site at the end of what is usually a half hour to one hour flight. This makes for lots of photo opportunities. A bonus was the big breakfasts we always went for afterward!

JoAnneK01 Loc: Lahaina, Hawaii

Humpty Dumpty is a great capture. Excellent lighting and detail. Mahalo for sharing.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Both say Apple I-phone. Is that what you used to shoot them, or is that label there for another reason (email or editing)?

KME11

Thank you so much for taking the time to look and comment. Perhaps I will get another opportunity to go but I will remember your suggestions moving forward. I was switching back and forth between my iPhone and my camera and I guess I posted the iPhone picture 🙄.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty to do some editing on the 2nd image, so see what could be accomplished.

I lightened the whole image, but did additional lightening of the balloon itself, while also boosting the contrast. I also cropped the image in a manner that looked better to me. Finally I cloned out a telephone pole near the bottom of the image, applied a little sharpening and added a slight warming filter to the image overall.

Here's the result:

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KME11

I took photos with both my iPhone and my camera and it looks like I posted the iPhone picture. I get nervous that I will miss a shot because I used the wrong settings so I find myself bouncing back and forth between the two. Hopefully I will learn from all of you and develop a little confidence and put the iPhone down :)

KME11

No, I don’t mind at all and love the result! I see what you are saying and I also see I have lots to learn. What post processing software do you use?

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I used Photoshop CS6. I could have lightened the image more, but it would have started to "fall apart" and lost the "feel" of the blustery looking weather conditions.

However... for anyone who has little experience with post-processing, I strongly recommend Photoshop Elements instead of Photoshop. It's cheaper, a whole lot easier to learn (has built in support) and is a stand-alone, fully licensed software.

I've been using Photoshop since the mid-1990s. It's extremely complex and has no built in support, so a stack of books and a bunch of classes are usually needed to truly get up to speed using it. Photoshop is also now only offered via a subscription ($120 a year, versus less than $100 to buy Elements outright). Finally, Photoshop is only half the package... Lightroom is the other half that you get under the subscription. The two are designed to work together and complement each other. Elements, on the other hand, is all in one.

Take the money saved by getting Elements instead and put it toward a computer monitor calibration device. The majority of computer monitors are way too bright to do accurate photo adjustments. That causes people to make their images too dark. Monitors also usually benefit from fine tuning their color rendition. A calibration device helps a lot with both. Re-calibration is needed periodically, too... because monitors lose brightness and shift color rendition gradually over their lifetime. (I calibrate mine monthly... some people do it more often).

A calibration "suite" (software and hardware device) cost a little over $100 for the basic ones. But if you do many prints, it will pay for itself in savings of wasted ink and paper, or by saving the cost of having reprints done if outsourcing your printing.

ppage Loc: Pittsburg, (San Francisco area)

That's just crazy talk right there. If you are worried about sabotaging yourself over settings, put your camera in the green auto mode. Any picture it takes that way will be usable. Your camera's sensor is much larger than your cell phone. The camera wins every time!

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

IMHO you are better off to put your phone away and use your camera in Auto mode than jump back and forth, increasing chance of missing a good photo or forgetting what settings you are using... or even which photos you are posting. <grin> Then you will become experienced and confident enough to start trying manual settings.

Also your first photo is nice but try to imagine how you can take something different (directly underneath, close up, zoom on burner, etc vs the standard "balloon in the sky" shot. (Hope you understand this is encouragement, not criticism)

KME11

No worries. I certainly understand that your comments are constructive and appreciate that you took the time to help.