[rortiz]

Hi All,

I'm planning a trip to the Canberra Balloon Festival and was wondering if anyone had any tips for the day. My gear can be found on my signature below plus of course I have a nice sturdy tripod and a couple of ND and polariser filters to fit the primes. I plan to stay two nights so would get two chances at shooting.

How early should I go to the venue? The event site recommends going at about 6:00am but I want to get shots of the balloonists inflating the balloons as well as the balloons flying off.

What is a good spot? Across the water shots will be good for the balloons just getting off the ground. Obviously the pre flight shots will be wherever the balloons are . Are there restrictions on where photographers can go? Do you need to get any permits?

I also intend to do some night sky photography. Does anyone have a place they can recommend where light pollution would be less?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

[seventhdr]

Hi All,

I'm planning a trip to the Canberra Balloon Festival and was wondering if anyone had any tips for the day. My gear can be found on my signature below plus of course I have a nice sturdy tripod and a couple of ND and polariser filters to fit the primes. I plan to stay two nights so would get two chances at shooting.

How early should I go to the venue? The event site recommends going at about 6:00am but I want to get shots of the balloonists inflating the balloons as well as the balloons flying off.

What is a good spot? Across the water shots will be good for the balloons just getting off the ground. Obviously the pre flight shots will be wherever the balloons are . Are there restrictions on where photographers can go? Do you need to get any permits?

I also intend to do some night sky photography. Does anyone have a place they can recommend where light pollution would be less?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

If they say 6am, I'd be there at 4am. Take a flash, if you get the shoot inside a baloon before daybreak and there is no other light.

Wind direction should be your first consideration. Directly down wind, or downwind on either side of the likely flight path would be good.

15mm or DA fish-eye would be essential, and than a longer lens for when they are farther away.

Regards

Chris

[Kerrowdown]

15mm or DA fish-eye would be essential

+1, get in as tight and as wide as possible, fill the frame, these make for really stunning balloon shots.

[Sagitta]

Be prepared for a TON of photographers all jostling for position to take shots. Check the weather, see what direction the wind is likely to blow in, and stake out a spot where you aren't likely to have someone jump in front of you and screw up your chances to do anything.

I went through this two years running - first year I got exceptionally lucky, the second I couldn't get squat - until we gave up and went to the mall for dinner and I caught the late launch as it was heading across the near horizon.

FWIW, you want both extremes - a wide angle (wider the better) and a telephoto for the distant shots. The two most used lenses for me that first year were my 18-55@18mm and my 70-300mm at various places up and down the range. If you have 2 cameras, pack one with your UWA, and another with a superzoom of some sort to cover as much focal ground as possible. If the crowds are like what I experienced, the less fussing with swapping lenses the better when the best shots are available (mostly because you're going to likely be in the middle of huge crowd of people).

Here is the Flickr group for the festival if you want to scope out EXIFs from other shooters besides me there...

18mm using the kit lens...



100mm (using my Sigma 70-300)



37.5 using the kit...



108mm using the Sigma...



300mm using the Sigma...



To get an idea about what I meant about other photographers (and the expected crowds in general)





And to show 'you never know WHAT to expect", these were shot with my point and shoot after we left the mall after giving up the second year.

14.3mm on the point and shoot (1/2.3 sensor, so ~5.5 crop factor or about 80mm in 35mm equivalent)
Not shown: The mall and the big JC PENNEY sign across the side of it just below where I cropped this.



72mm with that same crop factor (hence the blur, these were FAR off at this point - 360ish with 35mm equivalent)

---

Last edited by Sagitta; 02-10-2013 at 03:40 AM.

[gifthorse]

First is dress warm! It will be colder than you think. Dress in layers. As the sun comes up it will warm up quickly and you can remove layers. If the Canberra event is like other ballooning events you can expect three different lighting conditions. Some people sneer at "chimping", checking the shot you've just taken. I call it "I got the shot and you didn't". Check you shots often. Usually the show will begin with a Glow Show. The field will be dark and several balloons will fire their burners to illuminate the balloon, often synchronized to music.


Glow Show

Use a tripod. Your autofocus will be unreliable and autoexposure won't work. If there is no breeze you can make fairly long exposures. After the Glow Show you may have a Dawn Patrol. (I just don't know Australian flight rules so I'm not sure.) Here, specially lit balloons will take to the skies as the Sun is rising.











The lighting will be changing so check your shots often. Use a tripod. The balloons will be moving. Slowly. But they will be moving and a two or three second exposure will blur them. Try to not photograph from the west. You'll be shooting directly into the rising Sun. Once the Sun rises you can put the tripod away and use autofocus and autoexposure. You might want to slightly underexpose to saturate the colors.







You could also use your normal lens and create stitched panoramas.



Dress warm. Get there early. Use a tripod. Fast shutter speeds.

[gifthorse]

A few more stitched panoramas. For some reason they weren't appearing in my earlier post.

[rortiz]

Good advice! I'm arriving the day before, so should be able to get there as early as I need to be.

Cheers,

Ramon

If they say 6am, I'd be there at 4am. Take a flash, if you get the shoot inside a baloon before daybreak and there is no other light.

Wind direction should be your first consideration. Directly down wind, or downwind on either side of the likely flight path would be good.

15mm or DA fish-eye would be essential, and than a longer lens for when they are farther away.

Regards

Chris

[Jack]

Have fun. Look for different angles and perspectives. Got the chance to shoot some balloons this past June with a club I belong to.

Photos - ATLsalt Photography (Norcross, GA) - Meetup

[rortiz]

It looks like go with the 15mm Ltd for close in shots and put the 55-135mm for those longer shots. Alternatively, if it gets a bit hectic with the crowds, put the 18-135mm on and skip changing lenses altogether. Now if I can only find some money to get myself a nice used second body....

Great shots, by the way. I like the color saturation of your photos and yes, a bit of jostling would ensure better photos.

Cheers,

Ramon

Be prepared for a TON of photographers all jostling for position to take shots. Check the weather, see what direction the wind is likely to blow in, and stake out a spot where you aren't likely to have someone jump in front of you and screw up your chances to do anything.

I went through this two years running - first year I got exceptionally lucky, the second I couldn't get squat - until we gave up and went to the mall for dinner and I caught the late launch as it was heading across the near horizon.

FWIW, you want both extremes - a wide angle (wider the better) and a telephoto for the distant shots. The two most used lenses for me that first year were my 18-55@18mm and my 70-300mm at various places up and down the range. If you have 2 cameras, pack one with your UWA, and another with a superzoom of some sort to cover as much focal ground as possible. If the crowds are like what I experienced, the less fussing with swapping lenses the better when the best shots are available (mostly because you're going to likely be in the middle of huge crowd of people).

Here is the Flickr group for the festival if you want to scope out EXIFs from other shooters besides me there...

18mm using the kit lens...



100mm (using my Sigma 70-300)



37.5 using the kit...



108mm using the Sigma...



300mm using the Sigma...



To get an idea about what I meant about other photographers (and the expected crowds in general)





And to show 'you never know WHAT to expect", these were shot with my point and shoot after we left the mall after giving up the second year.

14.3mm on the point and shoot (1/2.3 sensor, so ~5.5 crop factor or about 80mm in 35mm equivalent)
Not shown: The mall and the big JC PENNEY sign across the side of it just below where I cropped this.



72mm with that same crop factor (hence the blur, these were FAR off at this point - 360ish with 35mm equivalent)

[rortiz]

Yes, unsurprisingly crowds of photogs will be an issue. So I'm thinking get a few great shots close up of balloons inflating then when the light gets a bit brighter, go a bit farther from the crowd and hopefully get shots of balloons taking off.

Hhhmmm, I'm really hoping that the Glow show is part of the Canberra Balloon Festival. It'd be really cool to get a shot of lots of balloons inflated and ready to go just before the sun gets too high in the sky. The Event website does not give detailed information on the various activities on the day.

Check weather - isn't it great that we can actually do this and get a reasonable forecast from our mobile phones nowadays!

UWA - 15mm is a great lens, unfortunately, I don't have a lens in my arsenal that is longer than 135mm. I regretting selling my 55-300 now...

That link you sent is a treasure trove of information!

First is dress warm! It will be colder than you think. Dress in layers. As the sun comes up it will warm up quickly and you can remove layers. If the Canberra event is like other ballooning events you can expect three different lighting conditions. Some people sneer at "chimping", checking the shot you've just taken. I call it "I got the shot and you didn't". Check you shots often. Usually the show will begin with a Glow Show. The field will be dark and several balloons will fire their burners to illuminate the balloon, often synchronized to music.


Glow Show

Use a tripod. Your autofocus will be unreliable and autoexposure won't work. If there is no breeze you can make fairly long exposures. After the Glow Show you may have a Dawn Patrol. (I just don't know Australian flight rules so I'm not sure.) Here, specially lit balloons will take to the skies as the Sun is rising.











The lighting will be changing so check your shots often. Use a tripod. The balloons will be moving. Slowly. But they will be moving and a two or three second exposure will blur them. Try to not photograph from the west. You'll be shooting directly into the rising Sun. Once the Sun rises you can put the tripod away and use autofocus and autoexposure. You might want to slightly underexpose to saturate the colors.







You could also use your normal lens and create stitched panoramas.



Dress warm. Get there early. Use a tripod. Fast shutter speeds.

[rortiz]

Great shots Jack. Did you use a polarizer or was the color saturation tweaked in PP?

Have fun. Look for different angles and perspectives. Got the chance to shoot some balloons this past June with a club I belong to.

Photos - ATLsalt Photography (Norcross, GA) - Meetup

[Jack]

Thank you. I have a polarizer on the Tammy 18-250. I might have boosted the satuaration with the 10-17 inadvertently. This is my workflow.
The Making of "Toms Branch Falls" - Pentax Camera News & Rumors - PentaxForums.com

[Mike L]

I haven't been home or bothered to get out of bed for the last few years so some things may have changed since the last time I went along in 2006.

The balloons normally inflate on the lawns across from Old Parliament House, there will probably be a lot of people around for that time in Canberra but you'll be pleasantly surprised how much elbow room you have compared to if the event was somewhere else. Personally, I certainly wouldn't be getting there at 4am unless you want to be standing around in the dark by yourself, try 5am the first day and get up earlier or sleep in the next day accordingly.

Once the balloons get into the air across the lake near the end of Anzac Parade is a nice spot, if there is little to no wind you can get some nice reflections in the lake and include some of Canberra's landmarks for context (there's a handy carpark you can access coming west along Parkes Way).

Autumn is the best time of year weatherwise in Canberra so expect blue skies (polariser will be handy) but the mornings will probably be a bit fresh if you are coming from Sydney.

These are a few shots I took with a Olympus P & S (wife wouldn't let me spend $2000 for a Pentax dSLR) back in 2006. Exif says they were taken just after 8am but I expect I forget to adjust the time back at the end of daylight saving so probably just after 7am

[rortiz]

Thanks for the detailed tips. Yes, the event is still held in the same place. 5:00 am seems a reasonable starting time as I will have a second go the next day anyway.

Anzac Parade after balloons take off - check!

Glad to hear that autumn brings good weather, hate to have spent almost $200 in accommodations only to find a miserable wet day not suitable for the balloons.

Point and shoot as an second camera when you find yourself with the wrong prime lens mounted seems a good way to go. Definitely less stress on the wallet compared to acquiring a second body

I haven't been home or bothered to get out of bed for the last few years so some things may have changed since the last time I went along in 2006.

The balloons normally inflate on the lawns across from Old Parliament House, there will probably be a lot of people around for that time in Canberra but you'll be pleasantly surprised how much elbow room you have compared to if the event was somewhere else. Personally, I certainly wouldn't be getting there at 4am unless you want to be standing around in the dark by yourself, try 5am the first day and get up earlier or sleep in the next day accordingly.

Once the balloons get into the air across the lake near the end of Anzac Parade is a nice spot, if there is little to no wind you can get some nice reflections in the lake and include some of Canberra's landmarks for context (there's a handy carpark you can access coming west along Parkes Way).

Autumn is the best time of year weatherwise in Canberra so expect blue skies (polariser will be handy) but the mornings will probably be a bit fresh if you are coming from Sydney.

These are a few shots I took with a Olympus P & S (wife wouldn't let me spend $2000 for a Pentax dSLR) back in 2006. Exif says they were taken just after 8am but I expect I forget to adjust the time back at the end of daylight saving so probably just after 7am

[gifthorse]

If you've never been to a balloon festival, you have got to be on the field to see a Glow Show and the mass of balloons taking off. Having said that, away from the field will give you some shots that are different from the thousands of others that are being taken.








If you do get away from the field, try to get some elevation, on a hillside or a highrise building. Come back and show off some of your shots after the festival.

Oh, one more tip....if you see a balloon descending towards you, move out of the way. These thing can't be steered very well and that "lighter than air" balloon actually weighs several hundred kilos.