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Don Railton
12-02-2015, 04:57 AM
Hi Guys

I am hoping this might pass as a travel photo.. The Australian Hot air balloon championships were held recently in Northam which is about 1 hours drive away from Perth. A fellow photog and I did a predawn rush to find a photo or two of the mass takeoff. Very spectacular sight. I quite liked this image, wondered what others think..

1D4 and a 500F4 on tripod
Settings were 1/6400 at F4, ISO 1000. Shutter was quickly adjusted to pull back the exposure on the flame, hence the high speed. Shutter seems to be my first adjustment when I am pushed for time...
This is ~70% full frame, I had to straighten the image, I also added a slight vignette & desaturated the red channel slightly in the flame. Processed in ACR except for the straightening and a bit of sharpening to finish off.

Don

Diane Miller
12-05-2015, 01:44 PM
Wonderful composition and what gorgeous lighting!! And the flame is perfectly exposed. I always wind up with the flames blown out.

Rachel Hollander
12-05-2015, 05:21 PM
Hi Don - I think it fits this forum quite well. Great job on the exposure and I really like the way the flame is lighting her face and the side of the basket. Only thing I wish for is a bit more of the basket at the bottom of the frame.

TFS,
Rachel

Don Railton
12-06-2015, 11:23 PM
Hi Diane & Rachel, Thank you both for the comments...

Diane, I will have to admit the first couple of exposures had "hot" flames, I had to pull the exposure back quickly before the next burst of flame. Even now the red channel is a bit OTT..

Rachel, I think most of the light on her face is from the sunrise actually. I lost the bottom of the basket during the straightening and subsequent cropping, I will have a try at reconstructing it as I agree it would be better with the basket complete and isolated from the border...

regards to you both

DON

Diane Miller
12-07-2015, 12:00 AM
Fast thinking!

Instead of straightening and then cropping, sometimes it works to go into PS and do Edit > Transform > Distort and pull a corner down (or up) (or in or out). It may not work here because of the distortion but it's great with landscapes.

Then go to Image > Reveal All if you pulled some of it out of the frame, and see if you can clone or content-aware fill. You probably made a BG copy to do this so turn off the original BG to see what you need to fill in.

Don Lacy
12-08-2015, 07:11 PM
I really like this Don the composition and lighting make it.

Don Railton
12-08-2015, 11:10 PM
Fast thinking!

Instead of straightening and then cropping, sometimes it works to go into PS and do Edit > Transform > Distort and pull a corner down (or up) (or in or out). It may not work here because of the distortion but it's great with landscapes.

Then go to Image > Reveal All if you pulled some of it out of the frame, and see if you can clone or content-aware fill. You probably made a BG copy to do this so turn off the original BG to see what you need to fill in.


Thanks Diane.

I knew more could be done to recover what was lost and i will have a go as soon as I get a chance... Silly season is upon us so social commitments are stacking up Merry christmas to you ..

Diane Miller
12-08-2015, 11:35 PM
Let us know if it works for you -- great image worth another look.

Ditto on Holiday Madness. Makes me want to go with Happy Winter Solstice! (And I'll bet eggnog isn't much of an offsetting factor with your reverse climate!)

Wait -- Winter Solstice is only a northern hemisphere thing -- this time of year, that is?? You're coming up on Summer Solstice -- right? OK -- gin and tonics!

Don Railton
12-09-2015, 11:22 PM
Let us know if it works for you -- great image worth another look.

Ditto on Holiday Madness. Makes me want to go with Happy Winter Solstice! (And I'll bet eggnog isn't much of an offsetting factor with your reverse climate!)

Wait -- Winter Solstice is only a northern hemisphere thing -- this time of year, that is?? You're coming up on Summer Solstice -- right? OK -- gin and tonics!

Yep, Summer Solstice very soon.. & Grin and tonics all round..

Andrew McLachlan
12-22-2015, 05:31 PM
Nice work Don...love the details in the flame!