Up,Up and Away Photo

Photographer’s Note

I was using a polarizer which gave me a very dark sky and still the highlights are a bit blown out. The scanning that was done made the dark blue sky black but I had it scanned some time back. Anyway this was part of the balloon festival held each October in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

sevy, feather, Charo, bakes888, dareco, AROBN54, nchen2000, ManuMay has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

setsun (77) 2008-11-28 9:21 [Comment]

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fkostas (401) 2008-11-28 15:07

Hi Phil,

I like the balloons against the very dark sky. They resemble sea urchins. A very common theme on TE, but your version is fresh. I like how the lighting is so bright on the balloons, too. It looks like a modern art.

Farah

Cormac (26449) 2008-11-28 15:47

Fantastic effect! The shot is totally eye catching and unique, with that black sky making the balloons stand out extremely well. Excellent work!

jonathan_hart (22564) 2008-11-28 17:59

interesting angle, nice result, unusual composition with balloons, maybe the colors add to this feeling
regards
jc

gneufeld (15055) 2008-11-28 18:15

Hi Phil,
I like it. The perspective is unusual but renders a very effective and compelling image. Great colors and the black is fine, but I would have liked to see the blue sky version. Well done and TFS. Gerald

feather (49848) 2008-11-29 4:12

The composition couldn't have been better if you had arranged the balloons yourself. The three small ones emerging from the left bottom corner are arranged perfectly to lead the eye to the bigger ones. The sky is still a bit noisy, probably due to the scan, but it is a fantastic sight.
Kath

fulvio52 (8314) 2008-11-29 11:52

Hi, Phil.
I've been several times in Albuquerque, but never at the time of the Balloon Festival... This is a very original picture, unusual and unconventional. A great angle and a fine array of colorful balloons, almost floating like jellyfish in the depths of the ocean. Good scan & cool shot, TFS!
Have a great weekend, see ya soon.
Fulvio.

Charo (31651) 2008-11-29 16:41

Hello Phil,
Magnificent and impressive collection of balloons, which under that dark sky dark out more. Excellent color and composition. Congratulations!
Best regards,
Charo

bakes888 (18055) 2008-11-29 20:14

Hi Phil. On first sight I thought this was taken at night. I went to a balloon festival here where the balloons were inflated in the dark, very spectacular. This is a well composed shot with the balloons in a nice formation. Nice capture and thanks for sharing.
Have a good Sunday, Paul.

dareco (17024) 2008-11-29 23:07

I love this dark background. These balloons are perfectly arranged. Good timing and awesome color. TFS

gunbud (27585) 2008-11-30 6:06

Hi Phil,
You have caught these colorful orbs ascending at an interesting angle that give a differnt look to this typle of shot.
The vibrant colors stand out wondefully against the dark blue backdrop.
Regards, Tom

divail (1395) 2008-11-30 17:05

Bonsoir Phil,
Superbe rendu des couleurs, et les ballons sont magnifiques.
Diane

Gerrit (35499) 2008-12-01 2:51

Hi Phil,
interesting POV showing these balloons as balls of various measurements. The colors are very good.
Regards, gerrit

Cretense (54954) 2008-12-01 13:10

Hi Phil!

amazing photo! Trully spectacular, fantastic colours on the baloons, great composition and framing, fantastic use of the polarizer, this dark sky, brings out better those brilliant colours! Congratulations!

Hercules

rodgerg (23207) 2008-12-03 3:54

Hello Phil,

Very nice! The colours arise very well in the black of the BG. I like too the balance of the composition with the ballons well located in the image. A very nice photowork and a very good scanning.
Best regards,
Roger

Wandering_Dan (3191) 2008-12-03 12:15

Hi, Phil -

The black sky treatment makes this look completely abstract, which is fine. The balloons look more like marbles or paperweights on black velvet. And well arranged, too. Good scan job.

Best,
Dan

AROBN54 (10705) 2008-12-04 10:56

Hey, Phil,
I LIKE that black sky. The colors stand out like they are lit from within. Great composition and wonderful contrasts. Love the view you got from where you were standing, too. Outstanding shot! Many thanks and hope you are well!

Shelly

xavis (3174) 2008-12-05 13:57

A very nice coloured composition. I think it was great to see all this balons on the sky.

Nice one,

Hasta la vista,

javier

batalay (20712) 2008-12-12 8:28

Hello Phil,

In a few minutes I must leave for Aspen (ostensibly to give some talks at the Aspen Institute). But when this gorgeous photo of yours came up in the random order you've arranged for images on your Intro page, I had to comment on it, lest I lose track of the photo. I've seen images from the Albuquerque balloon festival before, but this is certainly the most original, most interesting. Just a fabulous shot of the hot air balloons ascending. Very good composition, light management, and resolution.
Warm regards,

Bulent

danyy (68088) 2008-12-17 5:48

onjour Phil,
un traitement spectaculaire, je connais l'effet magique du filtre polarisant. Ici, en obscurcissant le ciel, les ballons ressortent et leurs couleurs d'autant plus fort.
C'est très graphique.
Best regards.
Daniel.

sevy (12961) 2008-12-18 4:02

Hello Phil,

I can also experiment the strong rendering of the polarizer in mountains at high altitude.
Here, the effect is valuable drawing a dark sky as background and so putting in evidence the colors of the balloons. The composition is very good, well balanced driving this photo toward a very graphical point.

Yves.

nchen2000 (102) 2008-12-27 8:15

Hello Phil:
This is the first time I saw colorful balloons with background by dark sky. The creative is worth learning.The photo shown that nothing is impossible and the only limitation of life is imagination.
Happy New year.
Best regards,
Nelson

ManuMay (10348) 2009-01-21 9:33

Hi Phil!!

Great image, nicely composed and very well treated sky colour contrasts are wonderful...and obviously a great point of view!!!

Have a nice day...
Manuel