You need something bigger than a crane for this perspective of the roads around Lake Lanier in Georgia. (Nikon D3s 28-300mm, ISO 400, f/8, 1/30)

A new high-quality lens usually costs between $500 and $15,000. Sports photographers use many long telephoto lenses on the sidelines, and nature photographers use 300mm f/2.8, 400mm f/2.8, or longer. Many folks would be better served to take a trip to Africa or Asia with their present gear than to buy another lens. Two people can take a balloon or airplane ride for about $300. You can take a helicopter ride for about $400 to $600. For about $3000 to $5,000, you can travel overseas to exotic places and see something different. The different perspective is what some folks need to improve their photos. You have seen earlier posts about getting a worm’s eye view and a bird’s eye view. I found you had to fly like a bird for all these photos to get these bird’s-eye images. One of the things my wife had on her bucket list was a hot-air balloon ride. We may have to do this one again. We both had a lot of fun, even though we got up before dawn to drive to a parking lot near Lake Lanier, Georgia, to get on board a balloon designed for up to eight people, plus the pilot. 

Two things made this a great way to make photographs you would want to frame and put on the wall. 1) a different perspective than walking around with a camera. 2) Early morning light looks fantastic. You can immediately get up before the crack of dawn and, having previously scouted a good location, wait for the sun to rise. You will be surprised at how different the area looks compared to midday.

My friend Bill Fortney, who published two books photographing America from 500 Feet (Book 1 and Book 2), jokes that you have more problems than photography if you have focusing issues. Most lenses are in focus at 153 feet or greater, so if you have the lens focused on infinity and it isn’t sharp, you are too close to the ground.

Another interesting phenomenon is that the angle of the light source hitting a subject relative to the camera position can affect the exposure.  You get some of the light bouncing and creating flair, exposing the photo.  You could make it a little darker by underexposing or using a Polarizing filter to help cut down on the glare. 

While in the basket under the balloon, I used three lenses: 1) 28-300mm Nikon, 2) 14-24mm Nikon, and 3) 16mm full frame fish eye Nikon lens. For 90% of the photos, I used the 28-300 mm lens to show the landscape.  I used primarily the 16mm fish eye for the pictures of us in the balloon.  

Can you think of something you can do to get a bird’s-eye view? We were unsatisfied with a balloon ride and took a biplane ride.

One of the best ways to improve your photography is to plan a trip and do something fun to photograph. Too many photographers spend more money on lenses when spending money on a fun location will give them better portfolio results than a new lens.