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Need Some Advice Please

M

MrWrong

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
1,476
You guys here seem to have some pretty good advice from what I have seen in other threads so I thought I would ask here for tips.

They are having a hot air balloon rally here this weekend and I think it would be a great opportunity to take some cool looking photos. At dusk they are going to have a glow before all the balloons launch. Not only will that be neat to see but I think I might be able to get some nice looking photos while I'm there. I'm rather new to photography and still have a lot to learn so any tips you guys might have would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the gear that I have.
-Olympus E-PL1
-Olympus M. Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens
-Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/4-5.6"R" Zoom Lens

I wish I would have picked up a tripod now because I'm thinking it might help in this situation but I had decided to hold off because I wasn't sure how much I would really use one. The weather is looking good for right now so that's one thing I have going for me. Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide.
 
Ouch, it's funny you mention the tripod because that was going to be my very first suggestion.

If you want to shoot at dusk (a low light situation) and get a nice exposure with low ISO, having a tripod is critical. For the usage case before the balloon launch.

If you're going to be up in the air after sunset, that's when things will get even more tricky, in terms of trying to get good exposures. The only thing I can say is know your LCD screen and know the histogram. The metering will lie to you especially if the balloons are really bright and well of course everything else being black/dark as it will be night. Different metering modes will "help" but I would suggest shooting it fully in manual and not allowing your exposure to bounce around from shot to shot (like it would with Aperture priority or any other semi-auto mode).

This is even more true if you're trying to take shots of your own balloon while say they're firing the torch or whatever it's called. Be careful of blowing out certain sections and remember what it is that makes the photograph that you're trying to take interesting. It's okay to have things fade to black (AKA falloff). The reverse is also true, sometimes it's okay to let certain things blow-out, although generally at night that isn't the case.

Don't be afraid to crank the ISO, not that you'll have any other choice, and also push your settings as much as you can. If you can shoot at your most open aperture, at 180th of a second because it will allow a more clean lower ISO then do it. I'm fairly certain in this case you're going to find you're forced to use your most open ISO for most of the night dusk shots. It's unfortunate that your lenses aren't faster. A 2.8 would help you so much more. If you had a prime that did 1.4 or 1.8 that would be even better. If you can rent/borrow a 35mm prime that is fast, I'd recommend doing that.
 
Yup I knew being a low light situation that the first thing people would recommend would be a tripod. Its also funny that I missed out on a deal on some Sigma Prime lenses a 19mm F2.8 and a 30mm F2.8 Which sounds like would have been a great help here.

I never thought if renting lens but at this point I don't think I have any place to rent one locally. Renting online its pretty much out of the question too because there is no way it would get here in time either. I will keep that in mind in the future thought. It also seems like a good way to try out a new lens if you are not sure about it. I think there was a post a while back on places to rent from online. I'll have to see if I can find that again so I know where to go in the future should I ever decide to rent one.

To clarify a little bit I wont be going up in a balloon just going to watch. I know other people who have gone to them before and said it was a neat experience so I thought I would give it a shot. Plus it seems like a really great way to get some more experience with my camera and maybe get some really interesting shots while I'm at it.

The good news is that they do this every year, so if my photos don't turn out that great I can learn from what I did and try again next year. By then I should have a tripod and maybe a couple faster lenses.
 
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Yeaaaah, but 1 year is a long way away if you're really trying to capture something, especially if you want to do it now. If you can borrow even a cheap tripod from someone, you'll be able to extend what you can do. You have the advantage of using a light u4/3 system so even with a cheap tripod you probably won't have a problem with stability (unless it's tremendously windy).
 
Well I ended up not being able to make it to the balloon glow so I guess I will have to wait till next year for that experience. At least by then I know I will have a tripod, and maybe at least one faster lens.

I did have a chance to make it to a chalkfest though which was amazing. The amount of work some of the artists put into drawing in the sidewalk with some chalk is mind bending. Its one thing to spend that much time and effort on a drawing or a painting, but all that work on a side walk that the rain will wash away shortly thereafter. I still have to go through all my files and do some post processing but ill share some of my favorites when I get done with that.
 
I'll go the other way, depending on how close you expect to get.

A tri or mono would have hurt me or someone I was working around.

100% Hand held and (regretfully) un edited.

Start from page 26 in my link and go to the end. there are some hdr type shots intermingled, just ignore those.

http://www.2000transam.com/gallery3/index.php/MyFamily/Horseshoe-Bay-Baloon-Fest-2013?page=26

All exif should be available on each image.


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These were done early in the morning, about 7am or earlier.

7S8C8138.jpg


7S8C8114.jpg


7S8C8186.jpg



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Yeah this is good information actually i was in searching for this and thinking to make a thread for this information but i have no need to make any photography thread about to get this information anyways thanks for this and have a nice day .;;;;;;;;;;





Modeling Photographers | Gold Coast Photographers
 
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