Where's the handbrake on this thing??!!!

[Manta]

Had a fantastic balloon flight last weekend with DSLRUser Steve Griffin. Bindii came along as well. As always, Steve put us down gently and safely, exactly where he said he would. Another operator had a tough time of it in the fickle wind. He was lucky Steve was already on the ground and able to run over and add some extra weight to slow the basket as it dragged across the paddock towards trees and fences. A little excitement for the punters!

It's been MONTHS since I've taken a shot so I'm a little rusty. C&C appreciated !!



I only had my 12-24mm with me so I couldn't get very close to the action. It happened fairly quickly. Here's a crop of the above photo:



We certainly had great conditions:

[TonyH]

Simon are they powerlines to the left of shot in the 1st one?

Love the shot of Brissie...... Looks like the ballooning thing is well worth doing!

[Manta]

Yes they are Tony but it's a deceptive viewing angle - the balloons didn't actually cross over them at that point. There were more further on however that necessitated a fairly quick landing!

[Pehpsi]

Love #1 mate. Unusual and great colours.

[CraigVTR]

Sounds like you both had a great morning. Good to see Steve rescuing the opposition, a very selfless act.

Nice shot of the city and so is #1. Clone out the power lines and sell it to the other operator as an add for their business.

[marcotrov]

Lovely contrasty images Simon, particularly in the cityscape image. It must have been scary. looks like Steve was on the job in a timely hashion.
Simon i'll send you an PM. Am heading down to Bribane on my way for a 2-3 week break travelling south-western queensland and North-western NSW. Be in Brissy on Wednesday 26 March. Arrive at about 3.40pm. As i'm heading straight for my sister-in-law's place at Redland Bay near that Black Swamp sanctuary on old Clevland road I believe .
cheers
marco

[Manta]

Thanks Pehpsi. No fault of mine - the D300 renders colours beautifully and the light was just perfect.

Cheers Craig. I didn't hesitate to remind our passengers 'and that's why you fly with Steve and not the other guys!"

Marco - Cool! I can taste the beer at the Grand View already! Might see if Steve, Rel and Bindii can come along too.

[mickeyjuice]

Being a spectator and not in the basket, I was LOL @ #1

And #3 is just superb.

[surenj]

3# is post card material... Great stuff

[AndyL]

Fun stuff

First two are great. First impressions of the third is that the sky is a little out of balance to the rest of the image. It seems to lack the contrast and saturation of the rest of the image.

Cheers

[Manta]

Thanks Mickey, Surnej and Andrew.

You're right Andrew - The was a significant exposure and contrast difference between the sky/buildings and the foreground. The houses below were almost in shad but the city buildings were copping the full balst of the morning sun. I tried selective curve adjustments but clearly it needs some more work. Steve says he frequently has this problem. I suspect the wide angle lens also adds to the dilemma by including so much of the foreground to start with. Thanks for your comments!

[Glen]

Simon, beautiful image of Brisbane, looks like the balloon trip is worthwhile for photographers or non photographers