I'm planning a trip which will include a 1 hour hot air balloon ride. Any suggestion for getting images and tech priority, such as lens and shutter speed.

If I had to guess right off the top of my head, I'd say a 1/250th or faster (generally) and a 200mm minimum?

Use a zoom and look for patterns on the ground that will make for interesting compositions. But in general, I've always found it more interesting to take pictures of balloons than from balloons. This probably won't apply but but most balloon events have the balloons taking off at sunrise so some really interesting images can be captured close up with extreme wide angle lenses. And if there is more than one balloon, try to silhouette the balloon by the sun.

Go check out Vincent Laforet's website, under "Perspectives" you should find some inspiration for aerial shooting. He has captured some great patterns and scenes.

Take warm clothes, it can be cold up there.

1) Absolutely positively try and get a balloon ride near dawn or dusk. The low raking light will make everything on the ground "pop" into relief, contrast will be reasonable, and you might get the bonus of some fog. Shoot at mid-day, and it'll be dullsville.

2) One camera body with a longish lens (like a 70-200) and another with a wide zoom, like a 24-70 or 16-35, both secured to your person. You can actually get some cool shots with the horizon and sun in the frame with the wide end. You really don't want to be changing lenses or juggling equipment very much, and you absolutely don't want a camera bag in the balloon with you getting in everyone's way. And God help you if you drop 6 pounds of lens & camera from 200 feet over an inhabited neighborhood.

3) Balloons aren't like light planes; there's basically no vibration whatsoever, and they drift along at a pretty modest pace, so a super fast shutter speed is less of an issue. Whatever shutter speed you usually need for "sharp enough" at a given focal length will generally do the trick.

Take-off is great. Flight is wonderful. Silent! Landings are another story all together. It's a controlled crash. Be prepared to to secure your gear.

Long lenses and high shutter speeds for sure.

Even better: take pictures of balloons from a balloon!



Cheers,

Andrew

Normal photography rules apply, take everything from ultra wide to tele. If you need to shoot slow speeds shoot lots. I've managed 1/25th from a helicopter with a gusty wind, about 1 in 30 frames was OK, at 1/100th most were good. I did have a gyro fitted though to my smkIII, but that isn't necessary for a slow engineless balloon ride.

Kevin.

I agree.

Taken last weekend at the Gatineau, Quebec hot air balloon festival...$190 a ride, incidentally. Actually the air temperature wasn't all that cooler up in the balloon and there is obviously no wind chill. Only problem was landing in a mosquito infested field at dusk.

Thanks for those images. I didn't get a chance to make the ride, as my 1DS3 broke (err: 001) while on vacation. However, you're images have inspired me to try again soon after my camera returns from the Canon repair facility--if it ever does.