Balloon Glow Photo

[jetlag727]

I am going to a balloon glow in St. Louis on Sep. 17th. This is an annual event where just at dusk several dozen balloons fill up with hot air and float. They don't drift, as they are tethered to the ground, I suspect they would be a hazard to the close by St. Louis airport! As you can imagine, these balloons glowing from the propane flames heating the air, on a crisp fall evening could offer some great photos. I am very new to my Canon EOS 50D, I am embarrassed to say on this forum I still have to think about aperture VS depth of field when taking shots. I am wondering what settings on my 50D might work best with: glowing colorful balloons, with a crisp autumn sky at dusk? ISO= 500? or let it float? Aperture= large depth of field to bring into focus all balloons? Time? they're not moving very much and light will be low?? Tripod?
Thank's Jim

[bob_r]

I am going to a balloon glow in St. Louis on Sep. 17th. This is an annual event where just at dusk several dozen balloons fill up with hot air and float. They don't drift, as they are tethered to the ground, I suspect they would be a hazard to the close by St. Louis airport! As you can imagine, these balloons glowing from the propane flames heating the air, on a crisp fall evening could offer some great photos. I am very new to my Canon EOS 50D, I am embarrassed to say on this forum I still have to think about aperture VS depth of field when taking shots. I am wondering what settings on my 50D might work best with: glowing colorful balloons, with a crisp autumn sky at dusk? ISO= 500? or let it float? Aperture= large depth of field to bring into focus all balloons? Time? they're not moving very much and light will be low?? Tripod?
Thank's Jim

Jim,

Welcome to the forum!

The ideal settings would be to have the ISO at 100, aperture around f/11 and a slow shutter speed. The problem is that the balloons will be moving, even though they won't be moving much. If you've ever tried shooting the moon with very slow shutter speeds, you probably know that there's enough movement to blur the image. I think in your situation, I'd start with ISO 400 or 500 and the aperture at f/5.6 or f/8 to see if that allows a shutter speed fast enough to eliminate the movement. I wouldn't drop the aperture below f/5.6, but would keep increasing the ISO setting until I eliminated any blurred images.

Hope that helps and be sure to post some images when you get back.

[jetlag727]

Thanks for the reply! I'll post a shot or 2 after the event. Thanks again. Jim.