Sunday, May 13, 2018

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!