Competition entry: Colorado Springs Balloon Festival
Colorado Springs Balloon Festival by Brian Narveson
2016 October Competition - A Open
34 points - Voted Acc.
Judges' comments:
Shadows on the bottom make a frame; would be nice if gondola were above the mountains
Maker's notes:

This was shot in Colorado Springs at their Labor Day Balloon Fesitval. It had the usual challenges of a bright sky, and dark background. I shot this in Aperture Priority setting the aperture at f/9. Because the balloon was moving I needed an ISO high enough to get a 1/500 sec. exposure. That turned out to be ISO-1600. Photo was processed in Lightroom CC. Graduated neutral density filter tool was use to lower the exposure on the sky. The tool mask was removed on the balloon.