Hi

I took a day off at work today in the hope to get a balloon ride. So I returned to Château-d'Oex

1
K-5, DA*16-50, 16mm, f/8, 1/40s, 80iso


I was lucky, I could go on a balloon ride pretty soon.
2
K-5, DA*16-50, 50mm, f/8, 1/80s, 80iso


3 Château-d'Oex
K-5, DA*16-50, 43mm, f/8, 1/125s, 80iso


4
K-5, DA*16-50, 21mm, f/8, 1/125s, 80iso


5
K-5, DA*16-50, 16mm, f/9, 1/125s, 80iso


Unfortunately, unlike an airplane, time flies when aboard a hot air balloon. After 1h20 we land smoothly

6
K-5, DA*16-50, 19mm, f/9, 1/200s, 80iso


7
K-5, FA77, f/9, 1/100s, 80iso


These and more are under Festival International de Ballons de Château-d'Oex (33ème édition) Photo Gallery by Dominique Schreckling at pbase.com

[slowpez]

Dominique, I especially like the perspective on the third one. Enjoying seeing this series. The rest of the photos on pbase are stunning and so colorful. I'm glad you enjoyed your ride.

[tcom]

Thank you Susan.

This balloon ride was truly an unforgetable experience. I will certainly return to this event in the next years and hopefully get press access again to be able to take photos so close. I guess however that presenting them such photos should be enough to get access.

[Kammerer]

I didn't think the first day series could be beaten, but you just did that. I agree that the third one is outstanding. Some of my favorites are on the pbase gallery, but not posted here:

132135466 photo - Dominique Schreckling photos at pbase.com
132135468 photo - Dominique Schreckling photos at pbase.com
132135471 photo - Dominique Schreckling photos at pbase.com

Thanks a lot for letting us ride with you.

[dcmsox2004]

fantastic series.... those colors are striking ... as is the countryside....
did you shoot in raw? and as i hope to own a k-5, did you have to post process much for these shots? thanks for sharing, dave m

[tcom]

Thank you both for commenting.

Kammerer: it was quite difficult to make a selection, out of similar photos, I might not have chosen the best one to post here. As for the last photo you mention, it was taken with Nikon equipment and I try to post only photos taken with Pentax cameras on a pentax forum.

dave: yes, I took all these photos in RAW. In fact, since I switched to the K10D a few years back, I also switched to RAW. I had to process a bit, especially in the photos taken from the balloon. The light was not so good as on Sunday, so the landscape lacked contrast. I pushed a bit contrast and saturation to optain these photos, as well as slight adjustments to the exposure.

[chrisrunnels]

Amazing iq !! fantastic shots of the balloons !!

[Bob Harris]

great photos, I am so jealous. thanks so much for sharing. Bob

[tcom]

Thank you both for taking time to comment.

It was a great festival and I am glad I could get a press accreditation for the event to get so close to the scene.

I do hope being able to get the press accreditation also in the following years, and the photos I do have on pbase do certainly help, especially with the number of page views I do get at the moment (26'000 since last Sunday).

[tcom]

I tried to create a slideshow out of the many photos of the balloon festival:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/v2A1sDTjuDI