Gimmicks and Grins

Yes I saw a "lens ball' and yes I thought it was cool... and yes I bought a 6 inch version and yes it was too bloomin big and too dangerous and ... yes I bought a 3 inch version for 15 dollars that worked much better and yes... its a gimmick.

Ah... and you thought the banner would be a lens ball shot.... fooled ya! No really this was Saturday and Mo was driving across a field at about 4mph while all the other balloons were screaming past at above 15mph... It was a nice shot. So I took it..... hahaha... Like all the shots I take..

So there was no blog post last weekend......   It was all personal so I took it off.

Baaack to the lens ball thing.... Its fun.. With the Sony RX10V4 camera I learned another thing.

Clean it off real good before shooting.

I thought that the soft black plush leather bag would be great to clean it off with...... Not so much.

The Sony is so terribly good and detail it picked up all the black microscopic lint left by the bag!! I have to bring along a lint proof wipe to clean it with before shooting.

I did some test shots at work and then ballooning and it can be fun if you want to get a little weird. I can sit here and say that it was well worth the 15 dollars. Go to... anywhere but the "lens ball" place online and you can get it cheap. Why spend 50 dollars for a brand name ball when they are the same clarity.

Here are some shots from Saturday to show you what you can do....

Distance to camera lens is a bog thing. It can change the depth of focus as well as the focal diffusion around the ball. Decisions on weather to have the background part of the ball shot or not come into play..

So the main focus is in the ball as the balloon envelope rises... but the secondary is Mike and Eric on the crown line. I like the duality of this shot.

As Jennifer lifts over Greg's balloon the capture was perfect but upside down. I wanted it to be right side up... soooooo.... enter Gimp. This only works in some situations and you have to make sure you have your fingers back from the ball.. this causes no problem in the ball itself but a lot of practice on holding. Clip, Flip, Rotate...  Nice sun burst in the corner.

Here is a non flipped version of Greg's balloon. Useful... meh. Looks nice.. yeah.. ish... Got my fingers nicely positioned.. and yep.. I ahve a rub on my hand at the base of my thumb.... So when you are using this thing you have to remember to have nice hands or crop them out. Fun huh!

Flipped and rotated. Works because my fingers were back far enough. I could edit it even if my fingers and thumb were forward but its more work.

Flipped the whole picture here since it looked more interesting. I really hate taking pictures everyone takes. I want something different.... its just me.. Nothing on everyone else..

Great shot of Mojo ( Ytivarg ) in the air. Perfect capture but upside down. This would be easy to flip.

A good shot of Greg's balloon and the full shot flipped. Surreal somewhat and what I look for in a picture. Its balanced and its novel and bright.

If you have not noticed I am very symmetrically obsessed. If its not centered its gotta be weighted to one side or the other... or I hate it. I wont tear it up but you wont see it unless I can fix it. The above shot make me happy.

Its fun and I will use it when I think its worth it. It will go in the bag along with all my filters and fisheye attachments... to be used here and there.

Also this Saturday I wanted to capture segments on ballooning from setting up to putting away.....

I almost succeeded...

Very cool wind levels with streaking clouds... iffy day to fly. Low was light but uppers were very fast.

Dropping the basket off the truck with a lift gate. Easiest way but a trailer allows you to haul lots of stuff and never have to unload it when you are done for the day.

Burners go on poles and poles into the top of the basket. My burners weigh 54 pounds.

Poles to sockets and cables and carabiners to loops in the burner frame. Balloon Dog for fun.

Carabiners connected and screwed down almost all the way.

Dry bag with envelope bag inside. Nice one off by Matthew at AERCO. Much cheaper than a rainbag and no water is getting in it.

Envelope connected up to the basket and laid over to be cold inflated with the fan.

Hot inflation to stand the balloon up. Nice tight flame from those Thunder and Colt burners.

Multiple inputs while you are doing this. Flame location. Wind direction, envelope position, crew position, Shifts in all the aforementioned.

Mo is so light he can ride his basket up. The crew help the basket upright if the wind is pushing it down from the back. Good indicator it might be a day to stay on the ground... This day the direction was great for hi winds and fast landings.

Standing up and stable. Crew is on a weight on position but crossing their arms on the bolster and their center of weight is on their arms. You cant get hung up this way if the balloon lifts early. If you are standing in the foot step or entwined you will be pulled off the ground or flipped off.

Off and across Rio Rancho South to North at speeds up to or faster than 17 mph reported. They dropped into this valley and were able to drop their forward speed to about 4 mph. Ground tracking across the area while those above and to the East and West were still going faster than 10 mph on the ground.

Brush cutting or rabbit chasing. Its all fun if you can do it.

Popped up to get a shift in direction then right back down.

Bopped the ground right before the road they wanted to lay down in. Too bad the road was going East to West and not the direction of the wind which was South West to Northeast.

Not any traffic on this dirt road so across and up the hill. Rules.. watch out for snakes. Dont drag the fabric as it might be hooked onto dry sage brush which is sharp, Lift gently by the load tapes and roll it towards the center while lifting off any brush. Squeeze the air out... Not that they are doing well in that department it was also a lot of fun.

Park vehicle on side of road so other vehicles can get around. Unfortunately the vehicle was parked to make sure no one ran into the basket or over the throat of the envelope. Driving around on the left was easily done but no one did. We were alone.... in the desert....

Another thing to watch our for is junk other ( pathetic ) people decide to dump. I am always happy to see that balloon crews always police up after themselves and never leave a mess. Pretty cool people that like a clean environment... Makes for fun flying and chasing.

Packing away and picking up. Much easier with a lift gate.

Nasty sharp brush that is everywhere. Pokes holes in things like envelopes and your legs.

Tailgating after is fun to hear how the flight went and what they got up to and learned... because every flight is a learning experience and an information transfer. I always ( almost ) ask what the speed in flight was.. launch site..landing site and anything else that was out of the ordinary... rotors, thermals.....

It was a good day but a fast day.

Today I pulled my system apart and cleaned it up. Washing out the basket and soaking the wicker.... conditioning the leather and polishing the burners.... its all done and drying now. I will put everything back together this week then refuel in the hopes I can fly next weekend.

I have three pictures to share of that but they are not loading right now. i will load them later.

Here is the link to all the shots from Saturday.....

https://goo.gl/JY1iwz

Have a better one!

Uptime! No Balloon, Yes Camera.

Due to a snafu in my paperwork I was pretty much grounded this weekend... and the next few until the docs get through the paper mill. I could explain but lets just say that even if you are not the one who screws up your docs you still go to the end of the line.... which is uncool but who ya gonna scream at?

So since I was not flying it was a opportunity to take pictures of those that were... albeit from the ground....it was still a lot of walking, running, stumbling, wandering around the area..Just not flying over it.. Over 4000 steps by my phone and that does not include all the spins and shuffling to get just that right shot... which I mostly missed.

I had my 10.5 fisheye lens on my Nikon... and also the Sony RX10V4. Swapping out each and deciding what, when and where is always fun. To make it just a bit more novel lets throw about 25 balloons into the mix to get around to at the right time. That time being just as they hot inflate and stand up. The 10.5 lens is great for looking straight up into the envelope. It can get the whole thing is the shot. Problems with this is that you can get in the shot by accident also. Its that wide.

Swapping out the Nikon for the Sony to grab the up close shots and distant shots and launches made for a fun day. I tripped a few times and almost crashed and burned once. 

So I edited almost all the 10.5 shots I liked and then touched the Sony shots. 700 on the Sony and 300 on the Nikon.. no time to go through them all but a few of each are below and some comments.

Preface. These are only a few from a few I cleaned up. The sky was over-bright and colors were off everywhere. Look for a link to my website http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/  for the full list of all the great shots. I promise to load them this week... So some of the select....

The moon! I decided to go the alternate way to the launch field and saw the Moon acting all huge and such. Stopped three times to get a good shot. Sadly there was way too much roiling in the atmosphere for a clean shot of the moon. These are the best I was able to get.

Sunrises in Albuquerque are always wonderful. Almost always... This went on for a while but from the field location you have to try and crop out all the buildings... Somewhat successful.

Hot Air Balloon Dogs are awesome! They are calm around the crowds and the loud burners and fans. Just enjoying the day like we were. He is skeptical about the winds but they turned out very nice. A box on the West side!!

A direct upshot. Very very hard to do. Winds have to be slow and you have to skip about here and there to line up where you think they will cross above you and then shoot like mad to get it.

Very bright.. so many pennants... so many crews. Lots of people stopping by on their way here and there to see it go up.

When you have a good 600mm you can almost get in the basket... This was about half that.. and yeah I tripped getting it.

I did not intentionally cut Katrina's head off. I have the shot before with a full view but this was just wonderful to me and I had to post it. Katrina is holding the red line and turning vent lines so they do not get burned in the hot inflation. She also has her check list attached to her belt loop. Awesome!

Jennifer and Mike's new to them balloon... Named... You Kitten Me... as all their balloons have a cat reference... You have to be here to understand.... Striking colors and bold with the mesa backdrop.

Okay.. Not a balloon pic. Just a frustration pic of trash some "winner" decided to dump instead of paying 5 dollars to dispose of correctly at the dump.  You have to wonder about some people..and I use the term people loosely.

Eric's baby is gliding around on rails. Another awesome envelope that just grabs your eye and drags it with it.

When you want to hit a road to land and you really want to stop on it.. you hit it.. hard. The upswing of the hit. Yes, they did stick to the road after this.

Even though we don't notice it there was a lot of dust in the air today. A nice diffused view of the Sandia's back there. Two Rainbow Ryder ride balloons working North before descending and heading South to land.

One Classy, Sassy envelope. In the blue blue sky. Overhead with no reference to be had.

You Kitten me with Mike at the controls this time I think. Low and slow short of the houses. A good layer type shot.

I really like this shot and I don't know why. I shot five of this type and this is the only one that sits with me.

A nice burn! Closer and closer. There is nowhere to hide from 600mm.

So that was the Sonys shots.. now for a few of the fisheye...

All of these are straight up into the envelope shots. This lens requires you get up as close as possible to what you are shooting. Sorry if I bumped you when I took it.

A totally fun morning. Followed by a totally semi fun of deciding which to post and which to hold onto for now. Boooo....

There was something else but I have forgotten...

Well I was going to break down my balloon basket and get it cleaned up but its too late to do that and I'm too happy sitting here posting pictures.

Have a wonderful remainder of your Sunday and try not to let the thought that Monday is right around the corner depress you in the least bit....

The Down Weekend

Yeah.. not so much....

Off of flying this weekend. That is as far down we go. Since we had such a great flight last weekend and this weekend seemed to be going South as it came closer ( proven right but the crummy and weird weather ) and in the end was two days of standing in the dirt if that got you going ( It does most times ) . I stayed home.

My waterfall on my in ground pond after I cleaned it. Set to half speed or it would spray across the whole thing. Unfortunately that meant removing the pump box, cleaning all the muck out of it, removing the dead filter pad, washing down the pump, washing down the filter balls, dropping pump box on ground splashing muck in my eye, cutting my finger and blistering another hand, cutting new filter, reinstalling all that stuff and strapping it closed.

Eye washed out multiple times but if it hurts I'm heading to the optometrist asap Monday. All so that it can run clean until I get it shut down and the fish transported to the above ground pond. Yeah.

I really want to move to a efficiency condo with no outside work as I hate it so... What possessed me to buy a house with a double lot and so much ground.. oh.. yeah.. Kids and a balloon system...

The interesting thing about the above picture is there are two perfectly circular holes in the water of the falls.

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This week its busy with visitors and then I have to take Patturns Highperactive in for her annual inspection. yep.. Just like a fixed wing aircraft she has to be examined top to bottom every year or 100 hours. As she is in such good condition and there are no issues it should be pretty straight forward. Drop off at Aerco on Tuesday afternoon.. pick up either Wednesday or Thursday. Aerco is great for processing them in and out. Like I said.. she is a fantastically built Lindstrand from Lindstrand USA so I have no worries.

Oops.. forgot I have to remember to take down my Flytec turtle as I took it off to replace the battery and have yet to reinstall it. No biggie there. Just have to remember to do it.

Patturns In Czech Envelope ( AKA Terpsnickery ) ( Love that name too ) goes in in May and that is a pretty quick annual inspection. Again. No issues at all. Love this envelope.. Just wish I could fly her and take pictures of her in flight at the same time.

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There was talk a few weeks ago about where to locate your fan so its safe to the people around and the crew-member managing it and the Pilot in the basket. I took a picture of where my sits.

Cover on the ground so it does not pick up dirt and rock and is secured and not flapping, Fan cage just beside the bolster but not touching. Crew-member on the fan. Fan checked for loose parts and blade checked for wear. I have a P tip on this and its a very good blade.

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I at last sat down and uploaded last weekends pictures to my website at 

 http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/

I have to do more because I am so far behind its just sad.

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I did try something new with the photographs this week and tell me what you think... Ill tell you what I did at the end.

Pancake cactus from the Santa Fe Airport. I ran over it ( it was tiny, about 2 inches tall and only one little pancake ) brought it home and planted it on my waterfall and it blossomed nicely. I have to dig it back up and replant it here soon.

Some ribbon reeds. I will also dig this up. The guy who planted it called it Japanese ribbon grass.. I've never looked it up.

My neighbors tree drops stuff in my yard constantly. I have sprouts of stupid trees everywhere. My pond gets choked with the silly circular things too... Though the tension on the water looks great.

So many pictures of clouds out there I rarely take a shot but this was as a storm was brewing to the left. I should have take a pano of it as it would have been super dark on the left and super light on the right.

World balloon fly's... and when I looked at this shot a day or so ago I saw three ultra light craft flying around. Pretty clear but not easy to see. Two on the left one on the right.

 A good progression of balloons... or promenade of balloons as that is what they were doing... To the right.. then the left.. slide South and repeat.

The outcasts.. hahaha... No.. more like finding a spot and with the winds reported to be heading East this morning... it was a good place to fly from.

Shadows of In Czech and Kisses. Love balloon shadows.

Mesmerizing sand drifts. I had to shoot this and look away or I would plow into the ground. Its a great eye candy shot.

Love the colors on this envelope. I wished we didn't get so dusty out here in the desert as the black fabric just sucks it in.. still looks great.

World dominates the valley. They normally take off down by the river so they can get their passengers into or very near the Rio Grande.. I  haven't flown down there in an age. I think after In Czech and Highperactive come out of annual and past a check out flight I want to go down and join them for the fun. It could be a fantastic video and photo day.

Floating over the deeper part of the arroyo. Edges of the volcanic rock outcroppings below. Fun place to fly into and out of.

Another of my fav shadow shots. If only the road were straight but then the shadow would not be there. You work with what you got.

Straight up past the Lindstrand burners is always a nice shot. Semi abstract and eye drawing on any balloon. The soft colors just ring with the chrome burner cans.

So do you line up the balloon in the center or go with the thirds rule or just throw up your hands. I went with the center the closest balloon and keep the interesting shape down in the bottom.

So what did you see?

All shots were taken with the Sony RX10V4 with 20 meg pixels.

Okay.. what I did was create 4000x2000 frames to put the standard 5472x3648 shots into. Allowing for a bit of maneuvering of the subject but the 4x2 frame looks great to the eye. It really changes the way you look at the shot and it also allows for the removal of distracting items.

I will keep this in mind when working on more shots later.

Need to work on the outer frames next.

So that is what I got up to other than the damage from the pond and other stupid stuff... Another week down and a new one coming up.. much closer to real summer and close to the Top Gun Rio Grande Classic... Target rich for photographers. Camping at a target will always get you a good action shot.

Think about it.

http://www.riograndeclassic.org/

I may have forgotten something but this is long enough already.