space shuttle launch

Holy crap, Erich...that IS cool! ; Looking forward to seeing more as soon as you are rested.

 

that is so cool

 

Dude that is ; awesome!!

 

Here's the first run-thru of the ascent images. I decided to change the white balance so it looks like it would during the day instead of the yellowish it actually looked like. Lots of tweaking to do yet. The gallery as of now is at: http://gallery.mac.com/erichlinder#100135

I used my D90 and the new 300mm f2.8 with the 2x teleconverter. The view thru the camera was way more detailed than the naked eye. Even without the heat of the day, you could still see the lights and shuttle shimmer slightly due to the distance. The people who went had a TON of cameras and tripods. You name it, I saw it; it was like walking past a smorgasbord.

Erich

edit: Ack, the .Mac gallery upload must have resampled the images. I'll post when the final versions are up.

 

Awesome. ; Wish I could have been there.

Very nice, Erich.

Boris

 

Awesome - I'm so jealous!!!

 

Thanks for all the comments.

Yes, the lens combo with the crop factor is the equivalent of 900mm on a full frame camera. Thank God for the VR image stabilization. Even with the tripod head locked down as tight as it can go, and with the lens braced with my hand on top and cheek pressed against the camera, I can still see slight movement without the VR on. And hand held, well forget about it, at the shutter speeds I was using. I doubt any of the later ascent images would have been useable without the VR, and even with it on not all of them turned out.

I am very very glad I practiced before hand. I had the camera on the tripod until it went out of the top of the frame, then I took it off the head and hand held it as it tracked up in flight. If I hadn't practiced that, I never would have gotten any of the later shots. As it was, it took a lot of effort to keep the shuttle in frame as it moved. And that camera got heavy real fast!. If I hadn't practiced several different holding positions, I never would have found one that worked at the spur of the moment. Despite the practice, I also managed to bump the focus ring, just like I had done during the Delta launch. But the new lens has a programable focus position memory button that I had set before ignition, just in case, so I only lost a few seconds while I reset the focus. Things were happening so fast, with so much movement between me, the camera, and the shuttle, that there is no way I would have been able to manually refocus and get anything useable.

I took a bunch of photos on the pad before launch at different long exposures and apertures, VR on and off, and just about any combination I could think of. Now I just have to figure out how to combine the bracket sequences into HDRs.

Erich

 

Awesome! ; Nice work Erich!

 

Heh, so much technical discussion I forgot to talk about the experience itself. Which is sort of appropriate, I guess, since my focus on taking photos did change how I perceived the whole event.

It was a long cold night. I left home at 10pm to make sure I didn't get stuck in traffic, as my info package said I had to be there by midnight. The visitors center and shops were open (they made a mint on coffee alone!). However, by the time I got there, a few people were already camping out in line for the busses to the causeway. It was first come, first on, for the busses. Since I absolutely wanted to be at the forward ropes with nobody in front of me, I got in line too. Just about everyone had folding chairs, blankets, and I saw a few air mattresses where people literally bedded down for a few hours sleep! We were told we wouldn't board the busses until 3:30am, so about 2:30 I went to the rest room. And just about had a heart attack when I returned to find the line area empty and no sign of my equipment. Fortunately, the people I had been talking to had picked up my stuff and headed for the buses (another line as it turned out, but I didn't know that at the time). We had talked about how they too anted to be right up front along the water, and figured that if I missed the bus they were on, I would find them out at the causeway. A few heart palpitations later I caught up to them in the next line. All in all, I did prefer what they did to just leaving my stuff there for anyone to pick up. So, another 45 minutes waiting before getting on the busses.

On the drive out, the driver told us that there were going to be about 5,000 people on the causeway. I'm really glad I got in line early, as it filled up fast! I did indeed get a spot right up front, so I set up my chair and tripod and stared to click away. Being able to stay sitting later during launch without a doubt enabled me to get the later shots during ascent. There is no way I would have been able to do it standing up.

I definitely can understand the advice given that if this is your first launch, just sit back and take in the experience. My focus was on photography, so I ignored that. ; I have seen launches before, just not from that close. It was an incredible experience, but I was really only half way taking it in. The whole time during launch I was looking thu the view finder, checking framing, thinking about where the shuttle was going to be moving, when to take the camera off the tripod, when to rotate the camera to portrait position, checking if the focus was still sharp, when the SRB separation was coming, etc. In a way, I didn't really "see" the launch, I saw a series of still images.

Just at ignition, the sky was starting to brighten up. By the time the SRBs had separated and it was on only main engines, it was high enough to be in the sunlight. The exhaust was lit up by the sun, and it was gorgeous. I tried to get a photo, but it was just too faint. The lens combo and zoom and my camera just couldn't capture it. By this time the contrail clouds were lit up by the sun, and they were absolutely beautiful. I tried to get a few photos, but by this time they were telling us we had to get back aboard the busses. Some garbage about acid produced by the SRBs drifting our way and we needed to reboard the busses. Balony. All the concession stand people were still there, as were the security guards, and everyone else working there. We got back on the busses, then sat there for another half hour before driving back to the visitor center.

With all the traffic on the roads, my slightly over 1 hour commute there turned in to a 3 hour drive home. And it was absolutely worth it. If I can, I'm going to try to catch a day time launch from the same place.

Erich

 

Erich,

Thank you for the technical and experience accounts. ; Your photos look great. ; It pays to be prepared and you were. ; Most excellent.

 

Awesome ; :bstar: :bstar: :bstar: :bstar: :bstar:

 

Excellent write up! ; I wish I had been down at the time of a launch. ; We were going to see one a few years ago, as it was scheduled while we were in Orlando, but, alas, it was rescheduled.

I really like the ones where the shuttle is emerging from the vapor cloud.

Boris

 

AMAZING set of shots!!!!! ; WOW ;

 

WOW!!! ; Did i say WOW!!! ; How in the world did you know how to expose for such great shots?