(sorry for the terrible pun). We were down at the Balloon Glow at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta last night. It was great, considering all the thousands of people who come out to see balloons not take off.
It’s also a volatile environment if you’re trying to take photos. Tons of people, increasing darkness, and changing lighting situation by the second. You can’t shoot manually, because when you meter correctly on one glowing balloon, the one next to it then starts firing up and it’s twice as bright as it was. But if you use autoexposure, in the split second between when you metered and when you shoot, the light has changed anyway.
So it’s a bit of a crap shoot, but when you get lucky, there can be some great results. Here’s a quick selection.
