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a few pics from a hot air balloon ride while in canberra last week

all with nikon d200 and 20-35/2.8

Awesome stuff!

#2 is a standout favourite for me, gorgeous colour also as your notice the little man, the sense of scale is fantastic

#3 is the other standout, great perspective of a commonly photographed Icon but from a very different point of view. (You weren't temped to spit on the pollies below? j/k)

#4 and #1 aren't as strong for me but still help tell part of the story.

amazing composition on the 2nd pic reat work

the 3rd and 4th is an original view of canberra i have never seen and the early mornign light is gorgeous

i guess that's one way to take a overhead shot of a government complex, i'm surprised you weren't intercepted by a surface to air missile

James - great work!! I also favour the 2nd one - brilliant. The contrast of the colours against the sillhouette effect of the person is a nice effect. Any more?

James - I have to agree with the others on the composition in #2. Plus the colours and sharpness are brilliant.

Nice series. #2 definately the standout. Vibrant colours and great composition...and the little dude in the background gives us some perspective as to how big the balloon is. Awsome.

Great set and 2nd is my favorite for well framing and colours

#2 is sensational. I love the way my eyes follow the radial lines and end up with this little man giving a sense of how big the balloon is.
The colours are dazzling - great photo!

You certainly get a different perspective of Canberra than the usual with pics 3 and 4. I like them a lot.

Great work with No. 2 as well.

Two is very effective in both style and providing a sense of scale.

Love the third. That's such a unique view. Is there more to the photo that was cropped from the bottom?

Fourth one is also nice - that's Old Parliament House at the bottom left, isn't it?

WOW

The 2nd is well how can I put this, BRILLIANT you've captured something truely amazing with that shot!

also you know how to make me salivate with those D200 images!

thanks all ....

that was my first hot air balloon ride and won't be my last but next time I will make sure the battery is fully charged in the camera.

James, thes pics are very nice lots of colour and yeh must have been good, not sure if i would go up but yeh spectacular view. One way to get some shot from above.

I have to agree that number two is wonderful. Scale , colours, sensational.
Also as others have said I love the new view of parliment. Great stuff, I think I will have to go for a ride in one of these!

I keep coming back to #2 I reckon there is a good market for this shot out there. The colours are so vibrant, things come to mind like the Hoya filters packaging, colour pencils, even the random photos on tissue boxes or exercise books. Meh, anyway I reckon if you wanted to you could find someone that would pay for it, I'd consider a blown up version for a Nursery or as a gift.

Nice shots.
I hope you don't mind but I sent a link to the thread off to your pilot.

Canberra is in for the spoils this year I gather with not 1 but 2 balloon festivals

James brilliant photos

Number 2 is very very saleable. I have seen many takes and variations on that shot but yours is a standout! 20-35mm is a good bit of glass and a hot air baloon is the perfect camera platform. Good stuff!

I can't add a single thing - number 2, bloody brilliant (hope I don't offend any pommie sensors here )

2 and 3 are great - number 2 in particular. I love the colours, the sense of scale...it's all already been said, but it's fantastic.

Wow, that second shot is absolutely fantastic! The colour, composition and exposure are simply spot on.

The 2nd one is stunning.

Alex

Alan your pilot was quite impressed by your shots!

Yep, have to agree. Awesome shots with # 2 the standout. Brilliant colours and composition Would have been a great morning's outing.

Def 2 and 3 are the mony shots. The colours and patterns are mesmerizing in no 2. Love the warm light on parliment house. Its ironic because that place is full of liers.

Missed these last week JAmes. Excellent colour rendition and terrific composition and sharpness. #2 really does standout. Awesome.
cheers
marco

#2 for me as well not only fantastic colours but it also gives you a good idea of the size of thes things

Cheers
Rod

Wonderful colours and clarity!

Someone was mentioning restricted airspace over government buildings. There is no restricted airspace above parliament house, so you aren't going to get shot down if you fly over at 1,000' above ground level. Here's a map of the restrictions in Canberra:



Canberra airport is that target thing in the lower middle of the map, and the city is off to the left. There are three resticted aeras:
R425, which is listed as a radiation hazard. I'm not sure what's there because I keep away!
R455 which is a firing range. It's fun to depart Canberra heading north when the control tower offers to deactivate the firing range so you can go through!
R424 is listed as a radiotelescope. I thought it burned down a few years ago, but it's still listed on the maps.

Of course, if you buzz over Parliament House at 500 feet, who knows what could be aimed at you?

Who am I to disagree. No 2 just sensational.

Site R425 has got my interest, radiation huh. Interesting, and so close to the murrumbidgee

Second and third for me, like everyone else

Further OT speculation on restricted areas from the map:

R425... no idea. And now curious.
R455. As mentioned, it's a military firing range. At night if the weather conditions are right and they're blowing stuff up, you can hear a number of explosions and a reflected flash glow from the clouds out the back of my place.
R424 - It's too far NE to either of the two known astronomy installations (Mt Stromlo and Tidbinbilla Deep Space Station). I initially thought it was Captain's Flat Weather Radar but it's too far S.


On Topic:
All are fantastic images. It's reaffirmed why this year during the fiesta I should be up in the balloon looking down rather than on the ground looking up!

R424 is " The Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) is operated by the School of Physics of the University of Sydney. The telescope is located near Canberra, and was constructed by modification of the East-West arm of the former One-Mile Mills Cross telescope."

Images available here
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/astrop/most/

http://www.atnf.csiro.au/news/newsletter/jun02/Flowering_of_Fleurs.htm

Sorry Garry

Cheers
Rod

Bit of googling...

R425 – electromagnetic radiation hazard H24, SFC – 3600
R426 – laser space tracking NOTAM, SFC – FL120

YMMM/R425 TIDBINBILLA
RADIATION HAZARD
LATERAL LIMITS: A circle of 0.5NM radius centred on
35 24 07S 148 58 48E ()
VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC - 3600
HOURS OF ACTIVITY: H24
ADMINISTERING AUTHORITY: Dept of Education, Science & Training

YMMM/R426 TIDBINBILLA
SPACE TRACKING
LATERAL LIMITS: A circle of 2.0NM radius centred on
35 24 07S 148 58 48E ()
VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC - FL120
HOURS OF ACTIVITY: NOTAM
ADMINISTERING AUTHORITY: Dept of Education, Science & Training

Duh! (to me) It's the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Complex where there's a big radio telescope and a giant laser pointer that they use to measure the distance between celestial objects.

Sandy Feet wrote:Sorry Garry

No worries Rod. Thanx for the propmpt fixup.

what awesome shots, i know someone on another forum who lives down that way and shoots the baloons almost every weekend he too gets osme pretty amazing shots.

Love #2. Like Craig said the figure gives a sense of scale and really makes the shot, don't think it would work as well without him. well spotted

I like #'s 1&2.
The stark features of #1, the brilliance of #2.
Fantastic James.
Regards Colin

Number 2 is just brilliant.

Alpha_7 wrote:Site R425 has got my interest, radiation huh. Interesting, and so close to the murrumbidgee

Yep, this is what I found:

IMG CLICK

LINK

Looks quite big of a radiation hazard