Created on Commodore Amiga 1200 with Blizzard 1230 and FPU, at my usual resolution of 1280x1024 pixels with maximum antialiasing. The poor Amiga in question took over 45 hours to complete the rendering! Although I have a more powerful Amiga 1240 Micronik, I prefer the configuration I used for this calculation.

There are two lights, one diffuse and weaker, and one concentrated spot on the hot air balloon, simulating a sunbeam filtering through the clouds. This aspect doubled the rendering time. The hot air balloon is the result of patient modeling work, while the humanoid in the basket is the same character I use in all my creations. Recreating the sea was challenging as I needed to shape the right degree of wave ripples to achieve an acceptable distorted reflection of the balloon. The birds are many, created in Modeler with a low-polygon object to manage them efficiently on the machine, despite the large number of clones. The photo was taken with a Canon 50d behind my house, one evening during a walk with my dog Lola, and then contrasted and gamma reduced with ArtEffect 4.

Hot air balloons fascinate me, and occasionally we see some in our area (Saluzzo) due to its proximity to Mondovì... I had already drawn one with a pencil some time ago.

CONTEXT:
A traveler floating freely and lightly at low altitude over a boundless sea, following an imprecise direction indicated by a flock of seagulls. A sunset with tumultuous clouds and a sunbeam filtering towards the hot air balloon, drawing a rippled reflection on the water. Free thoughts spreading in every direction without the concern of 'doing'!

IFF image calculated directly on Commodore Amiga: DOWNLOAD

Background processing with ArtEffect.

Lightwave foreground.

View of the scene on Amiga 1200.