Atlantis Launch on Friday

kgarrett11

I took a trip after work on Friday and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Titusville for the launch. I got there about an hour before the launch and had plenty of time to set up my two cameras. A D200 with my VR 80-400mm lens and my D100 with my VR 18-200. I was all set. The evening was perfect for a launch. I just knew that I was going to get some great pictures. The next time that I go down I will have to make sure that I have my cameras pointed at the right launch pad. I managed to get two half way decent ones with my D100 but nothing with my D200. Here are a few of the ones that I did get.

#1 D100 18-200mm Aperture priority 1/640 @ f8


#2 D200 80-400mm VR Aperture priority 1/1000 @ f7.1
I don't know what causes the shadow from the vapor trail pointing to the assembly building but I thoutht that it looked interesting so I snapped away.


#3 The traffic wasn't moving so we just stood around after the launch and I took a couple of the pad and the assembly building after dark.
This first one is with the D200 18-400 Aperture priority 25s @ f7.1


#4 This is 30s @ f7.1

Rhuarc

I really like those night shots you've got! I went to school in Daytona Beach for 4 years, and I never got the time to get down to Titusville for a launch.

Thanks for sharing!!

kgarrett11

Rhuarc wrote:

I really like those night shots you've got! I went to school in Daytona Beach for 4 years, and I never got the time to get down to Titusville for a launch.

Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks, This is the second launch that I have gone down to Titusville for and both have been Atlantis. The first time I got better shots of the liftoff . I've had my D200 for almost a year now and this is the first time that I have tried any night shots with it.

wxwax

kgarrett11 wrote:

Thanks, This is the second launch that I have gone down to Titusville for and both have been Atlantis. The first time I got better shots of the liftoff . I've had my D200 for almost a year now and this is the first time that I have tried any night shots with it.

I was sorely tempted to go down there on the spur of the moment. What do you expose for? Things get pretty bright when they set fire to the fuel.

Skippy

kgarrett11 wrote:

I took a trip after work on Friday and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Titusville for the launch. I got there about an hour before the launch and had plenty of time to set up my two cameras. A D200 with my VR 80-400mm lens and my D100 with my VR 18-200. I was all set. The evening was perfect for a launch. I just knew that I was going to get some great pictures. The next time that I go down I will have to make sure that I have my cameras pointed at the right launch pad. I managed to get two half way decent ones with my D100 but nothing with my D200. Here are a few of the ones that I did get.
#1 D100 18-200mm Aperture priority 1/640 @ f8
#2 D200 80-400mm VR Aperture priority 1/1000 @ f7.1
I don't know what causes the shadow from the vapor trail pointing to the assembly building but I thoutht that it looked interesting so I snapped away.
#3 The traffic wasn't moving so we just stood around after the launch and I took a couple of the pad and the assembly building after dark.
This first one is with the D200 18-400 Aperture priority 25s @ f7.1
#4 This is 30s @ f7.1

It must be an awesome sight to see, and I imagine you could hear quite a roar from those engine as the show gets on the road.
The lights in image #3 look great
Glad you got to see it launch, thanks for sharing..... Skippy
.

kgarrett11

wxwax wrote:

I was sorely tempted to go down there on the spur of the moment. What do you expose for? Things get pretty bright when they set fire to the fuel.

In September, I let the camera work on it's own and the pictures came out dark. This time I thought that I would go with an EV of -1 and I still wasn't very happy with the lighting. The shot of the liftoff was with my D100 and I lightened it some in PS. The trouble is that there is such a long time between launches and the time of day makes it hard for an amature to know how to expose. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them.

kgarrett11

Skippy wrote:

It must be an awesome sight to see, and I imagine you could hear quite a roar from those engine as the show gets on the road.
The lights in image #3 look great
Glad you got to see it launch, thanks for sharing..... Skippy
.

Yea Skippy, unlike a lot of people in this country, I still get goose pimples when I see one of them go up. And now I only live 2 1/2 hours from the launch pad so if it goes up when I am not working I get a chance to go. Where I was it was about 6 miles away. It takes the sound a few seconds to get to you but when it does it sounds great and then you feel the waves. Awsome.

Harryb

kgarrett11 wrote:

In September, I let the camera work on it's own and the pictures came out dark. This time I thought that I would go with an EV of -1 and I still wasn't very happy with the lighting. The shot of the liftoff was with my D100 and I lightened it some in PS. The trouble is that there is such a long time between launches and the time of day makes it hard for an amature to know how to expose. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them.

I was off in my settings too. I had set my EV to -0.3 and -0.7 for the expected brightness from the ignition. My shots were too dark on the shuttle and I had to brighten it up in my post processing. There's no way that you aren't going to blow the ignition trail and the next time I'm going to expose for the shuttle and not worry about blow outs because there's no way to avoid them.

kgarrett11

Harryb wrote:

I was off in my settings too. I had set my EV to -0.3 and -0.7 for the expected brightness from the ignition. My shots were too dark on the shuttle and I had to brighten it up in my post processing. There's no way that you aren't going to blow the ignition trail and the next time I'm going to expose for the shuttle and not worry about blow outs because there's no way to avoid them.

The other problem is the time of day and where the sun is located at launch time. It's not like the alligator farm where you can check everything and if something is wrong, fix it and go back and shoot some more.