A few ideas

On land

• If you’re looking for a particular backdrop for your take-off pictures, go for a wander around the different launch sites before the start of the event.
• Get closer! Unlike at an air show, you can get relatively close to the hot-air balloons
• Don’t miss the blowing-up of the hot-air balloons—the pilot releasing hot air into the balloon, the flame... To capture these fleeting moments, take a quick succession of shots or set your camera to shutter priority mode.
• To take a great panoramic or wide-angle shot of several balloons taking off into the wide blue yonder, you’re better distancing yourself from the crowd, and getting closer to the control area, for example.
• A hot-air balloon moves around! To get a shot of the balloon and gondola, set your camera to shutter priority mode (Tv or S) and set your shutter speed to 1/250 second. Also set it to continuous AF mode.

In the sky

If you get the chance to take to the skies, bring your camera and two lenses (a wide-angle zoom lens and a telephoto lens) in order to vary your shots at different heights.

• Facing the sun when the balloon lifts off? Don’t fret—the pilot will turn the gondola in different directions regularly throughout the ride.
• With a fisheye lens, you’ll be able to fit the pilot, some of the passengers, the flame and the sky in the background all into one shot. Once you’re up in the air, take a shot of the land below—it’ll look spherical!
• When taking photos of the ground below, choose points of reference and play with the lines of the roads or fields to frame your photos.
• See a cloud? Try to capture the magical moment when a colourful balloon emerges from it.