How about a little critique - balloons

[scoolover]

I have been attending the New York State Festival of Balloons for about 15 years and have been taking pictures for about 6. Every year the pictures get a little better but I thought I might speed up the learning curve with a critique.

Here are three pictures that I took with a Rebel. Give me any thoughts.
Thanks a lot.
Scott

 

[DVC Jen]

Thanks for sharing your shots. We are going to the Plano balloon festival in 2 weeks. Hopefully I can get some shots as nice as yours.

 

[rtphokie]

Beautiful shots. One suggestion, if you don't already have a UV/Haze filter, add one, it may help the shots come out less contrasty.

A circular polarizer can help with those early morning shots too.

 

[scoolover]

Beautiful shots. One suggestion, if you don't already have a UV/Haze filter, add one, it may help the shots come out less contrasty.

A circular polarizer can help with those early morning shots too.

Got it! Thanks.
Scott

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Beautiful shots. One suggestion, if you don't already have a UV/Haze filter, add one, it may help the shots come out less contrasty.

A circular polarizer can help with those early morning shots too.

I agree that a circular polarizer would help. I'm not so sure about a UV/haze filter. Those worked well with film because film was sensitive to UV light. I don't think digital sensors are, so you'd be blocking out light that the sensor isn't going to see anyway (although some people like them for lens protection).

I suspect that the problem with low contrast in the second picture is that you were shooting towards the sun. A lot of stray light got into your lens and washed out the picture a bit. A lens hood can help a lot with that as can having someone shade the front of the lens with their hand or something.

Even with those precautions it can still happen when shooting towards the sun. In those cases, I boost the black level of the photograph to increase the contrast. In Photoshop, you'd do that by going into levels and moving the little black marker at the bottom left of the histogram to the right.

Nice pics, by the way. I'd love to go shoot balloons. My favorite are shots of them at night lit from within. They have an annual balloon festival here, but it's in August. You've just got to be insane to spend and afternoon out in the sun here in August. Fortunately this year it was pushed back because of Hurricane Dean and will be in November. Maybe I'll actually go this time.

 

[Suburbanmom]

I think your composition is good. I like the perspective in the first one and looking through the ropes in the last one. Thanks for sharing your photos!

 

[scoolover]

I suspect that the problem with low contrast in the second picture is that you were shooting towards the sun. A lot of stray light got into your lens and washed out the picture a bit. A lens hood can help a lot with that as can having someone shade the front of the lens with their hand or something.

.

The sun was definitely in that direction. I will try that. Thanks
Scott

 

[jann1033]

i wonder if you could pop the color of the balloon on #2 in photoshop or the like since i kind of like the hazy over the landscape area...dreamlike imo...like the rope shot as well...( not that you couldn't do it differently, just mean i like the effect anyway )
they used to have something like that at a local winery but i just took a few unexpectedly at our fair. they took off over a bunch of wires so the background stinks and i was right under them so .....basically balloon and washed out sky probably... i need to get busy converting since i have about 800 photos to do ...i have been lazy lately

 

[SharonLowe]

Great shots. I hope you don't mind but I played with the hazy one. Here is the result of 2 minutes in CS3. If you are interested, PM me and I'll tell you what I did. In simple terms, I found the points that should have been black and white and set a Curve adjustment using those points. Very easy and can make a huge difference. You still get some haze but now your colors pop a bit more. Could have even done more with a second curve.

 

[scoolover]

Great shots. I hope you don't mind but I played with the hazy one. Here is the result of 2 minutes in CS3. If you are interested, PM me and I'll tell you what I did. In simple terms, I found the points that should have been black and white and set a Curve adjustment using those points. Very easy and can make a huge difference. You still get some haze but now your colors pop a bit more. Could have even done more with a second curve.

Wow. I'd say there is more pop. Thanks.
Scott