BALLOON PHOTOGRAPHY

Many good photographs of balloons have been taken with 110, Instamatic and 35MM cameras.  One of the best photographic opportunities is to photograph balloons during a mass ascension.

HERE ARE SOME BASIC HINTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY:

ÞGood pictures are taken in bright sunlight with frontlighting (Don’t aim the camera directly into the sun.)

ÞFrame your pictures with an interesting foreground object (such as a hot air balloon!); you create a sensation of depth, and attention is direction to the center of interest.

ÞWatch the depth of field in scenic views, since out-of-focas foregrounds are often distracting.

ÞPeople added to scenic pictures often add interest, scale and depth to the scene.  For a natural looking scene, the people should be about 25 feet away from the camera, looking at the scene, not the camera.

ÞBe careful of obtrusive objects in the background, such as telephone poles, power lines, etc.  When a background has many elements that could be easily distracting, select a camera angle that will place these elements in harmony with the balloon.

FOR 35MM CAMERAS:

FILM SPEED FOR COLOR PRINTS:

Þ100 A.S.A., best choice for bright hazy sunlight.  Film offers fine grain and very high sharpness that allows for a high degree of enlargement.

Þ200 A.S.A., best choice for weak hazy sunlight or cloudy bright daylight.  Also, slightly smaller lens openings can be used to increase depth of field.

SHUTTER SPEED:

Þ1/125 second, best all-around shutter speed to use for outdoor daylight pictures.  Produces good depth of field with medium to small lens openings under bright lighting conditions.

Þ1/60 second, good shutter speed to use for daylight pictures with hazy sunlight/clouds.

LENS OPENINGS:

Þf8, moderate depth of field.  Good all-around lens opening for outdoor daylight.

Þf4 and f5.6, good for obtaining proper exposure when lighting conditions are less than optimum.

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