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!