While the composition is good, I find myself wishing it were a bit crisper. I know long exposures can be tough to make sharp, but I think you can post process some more sharpness into this and make it sparkle.

i like it-but i do think it would be nicer in colour!

I'm not particularly good at long exposures, haven't done many, so this looks great to me.

I think this looks nice, but like a previous comment, I think I would like to see what the color photo looked like.

thanks for all your comments. i appreciate it a lot.

1. I didn't like the color version that much. That's when I started processing it as a B&W image.

2. I agree on the lack of sharpness. That botheres me too! Rather than trying to achieve that in photoshop, I would have liked to focus in the right spot to get the maximum depth of field.

Thanks.

sometimes blur can add more to one image than any crisp & sharp elements.
in this case it works, because the mood is created by the hard contrasts...

it looks like a scan from negative.

cheers,
v.t.

for those who missed something in focus, look at this ONE hair :-)

Thanks for your comments. This shot was taken in haste using a manual focus lens - I was surprised that I liked the result in terms of the contrast, shadows etc. I ended up liking the blur, but this was completely unintentional.

Cheers

Chris

I agree with VernonTrent..
In my opinion the deep mood and atmosphere of this image are completely due to the no-focus of the entire photo.

i like the contrast and the grain as well as the point of view-the lack of focus is slightly distracting-but still a great capture

great capture! was is taken from a mountain top or an airplane? that red blimp over the baloon is a little distracting .. but still works :)

Interesting pic. Great colours and composition. Shame the lens flare interferes with the balloon.

I was actually in another balloon at the same time in the air. There were four balloons up that evening and I took a million and one pictures. I've fixed this shot and discarded the lens flare. I agree, it was a little distracting.

interesting composition!

powerful! nice job.