Citrus Classic Balloon Festival 2010

Last weekend, Santa Paula experienced an influx of hot air balloons for the third Citrus Classic Balloon Festival. About 16-18 balloons showed up for a soiree of color. I caught a few photos as the balloons were rolled out and set up before the sun set:

Taken with the Canon 5D Mark 2 (the only camera I use anymore), Canon EF 24-105 L.  f/7.1 to get a good amount of focus, at 1/80, ISO 100.  Cropping and color correction done in Lightroom 2.

I liked focusing on the guys that were working with the balloons to get them up and running for us to enjoy.

I played around a bit with this photo, keeping in mind the recent Creative Live weekend with David DuChemin, "Vision-Driven Photography":

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, Canon EF 24-105 L. f/5.6 at 1/25, ISO 200. This particular photo didn't go along with my original vision, and I wish I would have done a few things differently with it, but I knew that it was important to the story of the balloons. In terms of editing, I used Lightroom to direct the eye a little bit by using some gradient filters.

In terms of the vision I had for this event, these photos are the closest to what I wanted:

The colors and the detail of the balloon are pretty much what I wanted (the execution to get exactly what I wanted was just a bit off).

I love this photo because it shows the wonder and awe that goes along with seeing these huge balloons lit up. It also looks a bit like the Wizard of Oz to me.

This little guy was tuckered out before night even fell:

I had to get his picture, his face was perfect.

Check out the rest of the set here , I really like how a lot of these photos turned out, and can't wait for the festival next year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Project 365 Day 40

And Day 40 it is! Bad weather started here in Southern California again today, so I am noticing every day objects. I went to lunch at a tea house and noticed that the little teapot warmers had an artistic quality about them. So I whipped out my point and shoot and framed them up:

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD780 IS Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20) Aperture: f/3.2 Focal Length: 5.9 mm ISO Speed: 400

No flash, just ambient light from the window behind the camera.

I liked the curves and clean white color of the little warmers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project 365 Week 3 (Days 19-25)

I know I know, I have not posted in a week! Honestly, I am a sunshine lovin' girl, and the rain gets me down and feeling like a big slug. So, since it has been a week, I am going to pick my three favorite photos from the week, and give you the story and metadata behind those. Of course, you can check out my Flickr set for the week's photos, but I do want to tell you about my favorites so please make sure you keep on reading.

I made my favorite photo from this week on Day 22

I call this one "Mama's hands" because it is of my mama's hands. My mom has used her Brother sewing machine since 1968. Her hands are older now and have arthritis in them, but they are beautiful to me. That coupled with the light from her sewing machine created a perfect photo opportunity. I had her use the green fabric because I liked that pop of color, and noticed that her nail polish and the fabric complemented each other.

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, Tamron macro 90mm, 1/320 at f/4.0. Small tungsten light from sewing machine, no flash, ISO 4000 (The high ISO just isn't getting old for me!). Cropping and color correction in Lightroom 2.

I made my second favorite photo on Day 23 (I was on a roll this weekend!)

I just love walking around my neighborhood in the afternoon (around 4'ish) when the light has this gorgeous golden quality. My neighbors just cannot think I'm normal (but what photographer is?).

Initially I was trying to get this beautiful golden light bouncing off of the branches with the moon in the background. Then I shifted the focus to the moon, and I just loved this image. The branches and crisp moon against the vivid blue sky...magic!

Taken with Canon Rebel XTi at 1/320 at f/5.0 with Canon EF 24-105mm lens, at 105mm, ISO 200. Light editing in Lightroom 2.

And I made my third favorite photo on Day 25

Since was so cold here in Southern California (below 50 degrees, good heavens!), I got to sit by the fireplace a lot. I LOVE the way subjects look by firelight, and I LOVE reflections. So, I put some water in a Waterford crystal bowl, and had a little mirror that I set under the bowl on the hearth for reflection from the bottom of the bowl. Joe McNally suggests to place subjects near/in water, so of course I incorporated water into my little experiment.

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, Tamron macro 90mm, 1/30 at f/4.0, ISO 3200. Lighting sources fireplace and tungsten light to the right side of the camera.

As always, thank you for stopping by!