Great TX Balloon Race -- Balloon Glow

[jaxx419]

Here are a few of my favorites from last night's "balloon glow" at the Great Texas Balloon Race. I really needed a tripod. I'm not sure why some of them look so grainy. My ISO was around 200 during the day/evening and 640 at night. I tried not to make them look too "point n shootish" and tried to capture some expressions, or size of these massive balloons! This was my first time attending and I really enjoyed walking around taking photos!


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[Frequency]

Very colorful and cheering

 

[jaxx419]

They were all around me, verrry colorful!

 

[jamesbjenkins]

Nice shots, Jaxx. I'm sooooo sad I wasn't able to be there yesterday. I was planning to bring my wife, until my grandmother had a heart attack on Monday.

I grew up on Lake Cherokee, about 5 minutes from the airport.

Thanks for sharing these images!

 

[jaxx419]

James-- I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother! Hope she is ok. The heat was rough but by late evening it felt much better. I've missed this the past two years I've tried to attend due to one reason or another. I'm at lake Cherokee right now.

 

[Heitz]

Oh man these pix are SO fun! Sharp, colorful, great time of day... Plus I love pictures of fire. Looks like a great time! Nice job

 

[jaxx419]

Thanks!! I was worried about the sharpness since I don't own a tripod. I hung the camera from my neck and took most night shots like that to minimize shaking. It's about the eye level I wanted to be at anyway. I took some by flipping the screen up so I could see better. I don't really like taking photos with the live view though... Seems to be a delay.

 

[molested_cow1]

There's a local hot air balloon festival going on currently, the only one in the country. The only balloon that is not the usual tear drop shaped is an ice cream cone with a cherry on it. These balloons are just amazing! I wonder if the more complex shapes influence the balloon's stability in the wind.

BTW, I think the photos are well done!. It's a tricky condition. Insufficient lighting means long shutter speed no matter what kind of lens of ISO you got. Tripod's help is limited because people are moving and balloons are swinging in the air with the wind, so tripods will only help get motion blur.

 

[jaxx419]

They called the huge ones "special shapes" and they started getting those up early because it took so much longer for them to "inflate." This was the national balloon championships. They did the competitions during the day and at night they just at tied down. I've always wanted to go in a ballon ride at sunset over somewhere beautiful!

And you are probably right about the tripod. Didn't think about them moving around!! Thank you!

 

[jfrabat]

I went to one of these a while back (4 years?) in Miami, and with my Point-and-shoot I still got some decent images. I wish I was near these again! Very nice shots, by the way!

 

[jaxx419]

Any ideas why my photos are so grainy? Are they grainy because of the darkness regardless of my ISO setting?