Pommyboi
newbie
Reged: 12/06/2008
Posts: 7
|
|
Hi,
Not sure where to post this but I have a question about settings on my A300 for the up coming Bristol Balloon fiesta.
I'm going on the first evening to see the balloons tethered to the ground with their burners on. I have a 70-300 G and the smaller kit lens, I assume I will be using that as its wide angle. I don't have a tripod which I think will be an issue.
What sort of shutter speed, white balance, ISO etc should I use to get the most out of my photos?
Heres an example of photos on their website: http://www.bristolfiesta.co.uk/gallery.php
Many thanks in advance.
|
Roy5051
Reged: 02/09/2001
Posts: 713
Loc: Somerset UK
|
|
In my experience, taking still photographs of the balloons during the nightglow is fraught with problems; there is so much contrast between the dark areas around the balloons and the glow of the burners themselves, that 'correct' exposure is extremely difficult. My most satisfactory results have been with video on a digital compact.
During the daytime, and especially during the mass ascent, the biggest problem I had was with under-exposure, especially with lots of bright sky in the shots. You need to compensate for the bright sky by giving extra exposure (approx + 1 stop). Alternatively, as under-exposure is not such a problem with digital cameras as with slide film, you may be able to add some exposure compensation in Photoshop (it is often said with digital cameras that it is better to under-expose than over-expose, because you can generally bring some detail out in under-exposed shadows, but once the highlights are blown out, there is nothing you can do).
--------------------
Roy
Why do people with expensive cameras say you don't need one to take good photographs
|
Pommyboi
newbie
Reged: 12/06/2008
Posts: 7
|
|
Thanks for the information, thats an excellent point about over exposing during the day something I had recently learnt on a photography course and promptly forgotten - £300 well spent!
|
Bettina
Kein Titel
Reged: 12/02/2004
Posts: 4101
Loc: London
|
|
Underexposure - I hate it because it creates lots of noise in the shadows. You should be fine for a mass ascent when there's some blue sky with the sun behind you. You could always replace the sky afterwards - maybe take a photo of the sky without any balloons in it and then play around with it. Also, consider taking your biggest wide angle. These balloons are huge. I was struggling with my 17-40mm lens (on a full frame camera).
--------------------
Bettina
http://www.vibrantpictures.co.uk
Vibrant Pictures on Flickr
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
