Great Texas Balloon Race - 2009

[dixonduke]

Held in Longview, TX this weekend. http://www.greattexasballoonrace.com/

I had a great time, and will come back to it again. I took over 750 pictures and culled it down to these as my favorites. I wish that the "Balloon Glow" event lasted longer which would have allowed me more time to experiment with ISO, Aperture & Shutter Speed. I pretty much shot everything at ISO 100 and was just getting the into the grove enough to start to bump up the ISO so I could speed up the shutter, but by then it was over. Oh well there is always next year.

These are unedited but for minor cropping, C&C is welcomed.:help:

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[xtnomad]

WOW they are awsome! I have allways wanted to do this type of photos. :clap:

[Tracker]

nice job :clap: the third one's my favorite.

were you shooting on a tripod?

[M2]

Very nice! I used to love seeing the hot air balloons in Europe!

I think Tracker asks because a tripod in low-light conditions will help remove some of the slight fuzziness to a couple of your pictures; but thanks for sharing them as it looked to be a great time!

Cheers! M2

[Gilk51]

However, the tripod won't help with the motion of the balloon - if they are firin' them up, they wiggle and move around pretty good.

I really like those shots, Duke! :thumb: There is something about the internally lit colors that is very appealing...

[Tracker]

actually, I was asking about the tripod because I was amazed at the level of focus if you didn't use a tripod. It wasn't a criticism.

I like the two pics where there's a slight blurring of the movement of a single balloon because it gives movement to the picture.

[Gilk51]

Yeah - the last picture is a good example - that checkered balloon is probably spinning as it rises. A really cool effect.

[dixonduke]

Thank you all for the comments. I was shooting at ISO 100 and using a tripod and near 1/3 sec to 1.6 sec shutter speed. I think (but not sure), that if I had bumped the ISO up a bit, I could have speed up my shutter and captured more crisp shots. Never got the chance to experiment because the show was pretty much over then.

I was really surprised as to how fast the balloons actually go up. Maybe a 5 min process once they are spread out and the fan is turned own. Once the fan has puffed up the balloon, it only took a couple of burns on the burner to get it upright.

I really did have fun and will go to it again. Next time I plan to get further away and stry to get all 60+ balloons in 1 shot!

[dixonduke]

Yeah - the last picture is a good example - that checkered balloon is probably spinning as it rises. A really cool effect.

You are pretty much spot on. That balloon would just not stand still no matter what the others were doing. It would "wobble" left to right like it was caught in a breeze, but as you can see the others were pretty much still.

I don't have a single picture of that balloon where it was not moving around..:shrug:

[Sully]

Great pics, Duke. Is this an annual event? I would like to check it out next year.