Here we may need to capture images of fast moving objects such as racing cars or much slower moving objects. In general, zoom lenses can be an advantage as it will allow for the subject to be captured at varying distances, also a fast lens with an apreture of f/2.8 may be of advantage to utilise fast shutter speeds.

Effective images can be made at night time using a tripod and leaving the shutter open for several seconds to capture light trails of the moving lights from transport.

F111

This F111 image requires a long lens and accurate focus tracking

Bike rider

Bike rider crossing stream

Mercedes

Mercedes Logo

Helicopter

Helicopter on millitary manoeuvre

Train at Night

Train at night using tripod and star burst filter

Inflating the balloon

I was recently given a gift of a hot air balloon ride by the family. It was a very interesting experience, the balloons are extremely colorful and beautiful to photograph. The balloon trip was with Balloons Down Under, Gold Coast Australia, http://www.balloondownunder.com/ the people there were great, and so was the family for the gift.

You are able to photograph the whole sequence from unpacking, inflation of the the balloon, lift off, the flight, the scary part of landing and then the deflation and packing up. The flight was in the area of Canungra to Mount Tamborine

Some of the images in this blog cover all those aspects.

The balloon is first inflated using a fan, then the burners are fired up to warm up the air, everyone is loaded on board and then lift off after several minutes of heating the air.

A vibration reduction or image stabilised lens is very suitable for photography from a balloon to reduce any camera movement. I  used a 24-120mm lens for the images.

I would thoroughly recommend this experience to any photographer.

The landscape

Balloons Aloft

Deflation of the balloon