Balloon glow photography with film

[WilliamK1974]

Hello everyone,

Hopefully this is the correct spot for a question like this.

Next month, a hot air balloon festival is taking place in my city at one of our parks by the river. From what I've read so far, they're not publicizing any early morning launches or anything like that, but are highlighting the 4pm til 11pm timeframe, with emphasis on the balloon glow that will take place as the sun's going down.

My night photo experience is limited. I've done a fireworks show with some success, but the balloon glow thing is new. I have a pretty varied assortment of equipment, so I'm not worried about not having something useful, but I don't know much about the best color film for low light and after dark.

From what I've read, it might be best to take my Nikon F90X camera and use a zoom lens. I have a Sigma 28-70mm 1:3.5-4.5 that's been good for alot of other projects. I also have an AF-Nikkor 1:1.8 50mm. I also have my grandfather's vintage Nikon F with lenses ranging from 35mm 1:2.8 to 135mm 1:2.8 and a Vivitar 85-205 1:3.8.

The problem is the film. If I thought Ektar 100 would do the trick, I would love that because its colors are so good. But it doesn't do well with exposures over a couple of seconds and tends to cyan shift after four or five seconds. So, the film will probably need to be higher ISO even though that seems to mean less color and more grain.

Now, in the event that there is an early morning launch and flight, what gear and film would be good for that?

Thank you,
-William

 

[Designer]

But it doesn't do well with exposures over a couple of seconds and tends to cyan shift after four or five seconds.

I've never done this, but it seems to me that if the exposure is four or five seconds, you're going to get motion blur. Find out what other photographers do and do that.

No recommendation on the film.

 

[wfooshee]

Depending on the light level of the glow, it may not actually be "night" photography.

 

[Derrel]

The last balloon glow I shot was in 1985 and I photographed it on Ektachrome 100.

 

[WilliamK1974]

The last balloon glow I shot was in 1985 and they photographed it on Ektachrome 100.

This might be a bit much to ask, but do you by chance remember the lens and camera settings you would have used?

 

[Derrel]

Well the majority of my photographs were made with slow speed ISO 100, but today you have the advantage of much faster film technology with pretty good quality. I'm sorry but I cannot remember what my exposures were like back then. I remember that the vast majority of my daylight photos were shot on ISO 64 Kodachrome Professional.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I've done holiday lights, candle light, so a balloon glow should be do-able being a larger sized lighted subject. I probably used 400 speed film.

I suppose if I wanted to try 100/125 I'd think about two bodies that use the same lenses, one with slower film and one with faster. I've found it's hard to get much if any of a meter reading if it's dark enough out, but the camera's film will record the light.

It might be more a matter of going early and figuring out good vantage points where you can frame and be close enough to get light coming into the camera. I'd take the sharpest lenses you have. Lens length depends too on if you want close ups of one or pictures with maybe a 50mm of possibly more than one balloon.

 

[Dao]

It's all depends on the shots. I did couple times about 10 years ago here in St. Louis. There were different situations.
- All balloons lit up at the same time (they blow a horn to once in awhile to do that) wide shots
- Individual balloon lit up wide shot or closer shot
- People inside or near the basket when they fire up the burner head shots or full body shots with basket and burner.
- People or workers at or near the food vendors with lights from the food places (plus some other added lights in the area)

All these actually have different settings so it is hard to say. Monopod, high ISO in some shots and fast lens helps.

 

[Geenphoto]

PlanoBalloonFest - geenfoto

This link is to one of my shots for an early morning glow. In this case I focused on just one balloon as he was firing up.

IOS 800
F 5.6
1/60 second

I performed this one at high ISO setting (digital) to get that moment in time when the flame fills the envelope and to capture the definition of said flame.

One could experiment with long shutter for a different effect.

 

[dxqcanada]

The problem is the film. If I thought Ektar 100 would do the trick, I would love that because its colors are so good. But it doesn't do well with exposures over a couple of seconds and tends to cyan shift after four or five seconds. So, the film will probably need to be higher ISO even though that seems to mean less color and more grain.

35mm Slide Film Guide | Cultured Kiwi

 

[WilliamK1974]

The problem is the film. If I thought Ektar 100 would do the trick, I would love that because its colors are so good. But it doesn't do well with exposures over a couple of seconds and tends to cyan shift after four or five seconds. So, the film will probably need to be higher ISO even though that seems to mean less color and more grain.

35mm Slide Film Guide | Cultured Kiwi

I have a roll or two of Velvia 100 in the freezer, but it's likely past its expiration date even though it's been frozen the whole time.

Even without the potential trouble with expired film, it seems that slide film would add an extra element to this challenge that I might not be 100% prepared to deal with. I've shot it before, and got some good images. But there were also my fair share of not so good ones.