Education: Tom Fisher Flying Events: Keith Lutz
Paul DeBerjeois came to give a presentation on photography, GoPro, and live streaming as it can apply to ballooning. The presentation was streamed live on Paul’s channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/colorbandit. He is an official photographer of the Balloon Fiesta. He grew up in Colorado and started with photography when he was young and played the drums. He started taking pictures of his drums and then moved onto landscape photography. After he got into that, he started taking pictures of balloons. He entered the photo contest for the Colorado Springs rally and after he won a few years in a row, they asked him to become their official photographer. He also does photography for big commercial/government meetings and events. Still Photography: There are 4 main aspects to still photography: composition, context, depth of field, and telling a story. 1. Composition a. The Rule of Thirds: imagine vertical and horizontal lines dividing the frame of the picture into thirds from top to bottom and from side to side. The points where the lines intersect are called power points. b. The best way to compose a picture is to have the subject of the photo aligning with one of the vertical lines (so that it is off center) and to have the most interesting part of the subject (the balloon basket, the widest part of the envelope, etc.) sitting on one of the power points. c. If you are trying to emphasize something that is on the ground, line the horizon up with the top horizontal line, and if you are trying to emphasize something in the air, the horizon should be along the bottom line.
2. Context a. You always want to capture enough in the image to give it context. b. There should be a way to see where the photo is taking place. c. This can be done by using reflections off of windows. 3. Depth of Field (DOF) or Aperture a. This is what determines what part of the picture will be in focus. It determines the amount of light that is let in through the camera lens. b. DOF is determined by the F stop of the camera and there can be many F stops to play around with. For point & shoot cameras, there are two setting which are illustrated with either a Portrait icon, representing shallow DOF, or a Mountain icon, representing extreme DOF. c. Shallow DOF will have only the subject of the photo in focus. This setting also has a much quicker shutter speed because the camera lens is letting in a lot of light. d. Extreme DOF will have every part of the photo in focus, no matter the distance. This setting will have a slower shutter speed as the lens is letting in a very limited amount of light. 4. Telling a Story a. The picture should be able to convey what was happening in that moment. b. Capturing facial expressions is the best way to do this.
GoPro: GoPro cameras are small portable cameras that have become very popular in ballooning and other sports. 1. They are very useful because you can set the camera to take pictures at intervals, such as 1 per second or 1 every few minutes. 2. You can easily edit the photos into a time lapse video. 3. Paul recommended Corel Videostudio X6 which is what he uses.
Live Streaming: Live streaming is a great way to share flights and other events with the world. 1. Paul recommends two sites which are both free. a. UStream.tv