Need a bit of help... Hot Air Balloon Festival?

[TheGolfBallKid]

There's a local hot air balloon festival nearby this weekend. They do evening launches at 6:30 PM and a "Balloon Glow" at 9ish. I have never been to something like this and am hopeful that the friendly folks here may have had some experience and give me some pointers for those "magic" shots.

See my sig for equipment I have available. I'm just curious if I need to take my tripod? Also, any suggestions regarding what to look for, cool things that may be photograph worthy, etc. Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks.....

 

[Naptown]

Bring the tripod

 

[JakeEbersole]

We had one here this past weekend. Waste of time. Barely even worth it. Maybe yours will be better. Make sure you take your tripod and enough batteries.

 

[Chris C]

I'll "second" and "third" the tripod suggestion. :biggrin: They don't do the "glow" until it's dark enough to see all the colors of the balloons. Think of it like any night-time shooting. Don't raise your ISO any higher than you have to because of noise. You'll be shooting long exposures. Get a good exposure reading and go from there. It's not real easy to shoot the "glow". Easier to shoot a morning launch. Good luck. Be sure and post your results.

 

[Bob Walters]

I've never been to an event like this, but from watching the evening news it seems as though the most exciting shots are near the gigantic high voltage power lines downwind from the launch site.:373::373::373:

 

[pirahnah3]

the evening glow show its worth it!!!! wide angle nad fast glass will help too. at the last one i was at they let you walk anywhere aroudn the ballons and i had brought my 50 F1.8 and found that it wasnt wide enough for me. I did notice however that alot of the guys had brought tripods and didnt really use them as much asthey thought. my avice is bring it but make it osmthing you can carry with you as you will be moving around some, or if you have a fairly steady hand you can run without it.

 

[MParker]

If you shoot distance shots during the "glow" then a tripod is essential IMO. If you can get close to a crew inflating a balloon, use a wide angle and you can handhold and get pretty fast shutter speeds. I used a 12-24 and 24-60 at my last balloon shoot.

 

[TheGolfBallKid]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'll be sure to post some results next week.