Shuttle Launch STS 131 Discovery April 5th, 2010

Made it to another shuttle launch in Titusville, Florida for the 4th remaining launch of the shuttle program. The launch occured at 6:21 am just before sunrise and the weather was perfect.
STS 131 shuttle Discovery, carrying 7 astronauts was bound for the International Space Station. We arrived at the area that we decided to view the launch along with several other thousands of people who came out to view the launch. We scoped out the area and decided on viewing the launch from the Parrish Park area located along the A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway on the way to Merritt Island.
We arrived at approximatley 4:30 am thinking we might be able to get a good spot for viewing the launch but to my dissmay there were already hundreds of people who had staked out their little bit of earth to enjoy the sky show.
A second bit of entertainmet for the upcoming launch was a flyover of the International Space Station about 6:06 am.
Everbody watched as the ISS flew just below the gibbous moon (half moon) and some tried to grab a picture as we all waited for the big sky show.
This was my second launch viewing which is just spectacular in the morning light. It was still dark and provided a spectacular show when the main engines ignited and lit up the early morning sky. I was poised with my two cameras both mounted on their respective tripods, one with the wide angle lense 17-49mm for a time exposure and my 500mm with a 1.4 converter giving me about 700mm reach. I had decided to use the video mode on my Canon 5D MK II with the 500mm and see just how it would work out. I was amazed how well everything came together. I realize to some the launch of rockets may be a little redundant or even boring but for a person who has never see such an event it is really awesome.
At 6:21 the shuttle lit up the early morning sky and everybody broke out in cheers. Below are some selected pictures that I managed to capture during the spectacular sky show.
I will try and post the video here and on youtube to share the experience.

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The below image was approximatley 40 seconds after liftoff

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This image was taken approximatley 55 seconds after liftoff and you can see the shuttle as a streak of light in the lower left hand corner of the picture

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This photo is approximatley 10 minutes after the shuttle lifted off and the rocket exshaust plumes still lingered in the morning sky producing a colorful backdrop to the rising sun.

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Shuttle Launch Endeavor February 8th, 2010

The following is a series of shots I took during the lift off of Shuttle Endeavor at approximatley 4:30 am on Monday morning after a day delay of the actual launch.
All of the following shots were taken at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex. This was the last night time shot of the space shuttle as the program comes to an end with approximately four more shuttle launches set for the remainder of 2010.

Click on each photo for a larger image.

This first shot is just seconds from ignition of the shuttle Endeavor. This gives the spectator an idea how calm and serene it is just before ignition. I took this vantage point to use as a foreground for not knowing what to expect and did not want to shoot into darkness. Only did I know what I was in for when the shuttle actually lifted off. 

This photo shows how the night sky is lit up by the actual lift off of the space shuttle. The distance from where I was at the Visitors Complex is about 8 miles. The camera was set for a long exposure as I was hoping to get a light trail as the shuttle went into space. What I wasn't expecting was the amount of light the rocket created when it lifted off. It went from nighttime to daytime in seconds, absolutely amazing.

The space shuttle is on it's way and the light diminishes as it travels higher into the night sky. By this time you can actually hear the rocket as it increases in speed and altitude.

The remaining photos just give you an idea as to what one might see as the shuttle heads for orbit into the night sky.

This was a real treat and would recommend the experience to anyone

Star Trails another attempt.

17 exposures of Star Trails

International Space Station Fly by on 01/05/2010 at 6:12 pm flying from the ssw. A magnitude -2.9 (very bright) from King William, Virginia

I thought I would post another attempt at shooting star trails this evening. Since I was going to be outside to watch the ISS flyby(the second photo) I thought I'd try another batch of star trails using some different settings.

On this particular evening, another chilly one, I thought I would try using some different setting for the exposure. They were not quite that different except for the duration of the exposure. This time instead of leaving the shutter open for 30 seconds or for 3 minutes (as I did for the previous shot) I used a 5 minute exposure. I was curious to see how the camera would handle it as well as the lighting conditions. The moon had not come up yet so I grabbed the opportunity to grab a few shots.
I took approximately 17 shots (don't ask me why that number) which took a well over and hour (you do the math). The ISO was set to 400 and the long exposure noise reduction and the high ISO speed noise reduction were both turned off. I used a 28-70 mm 2.8 lense affixed to my Canon 5D MK II. I also used the Canon timer remote control. I used an interval between each shot for 2 seconds just to see what effect it would give me for the break in the trails. All in all it came out ok with a little light noise from the neighbors house. Can't wait to get to an area, like the middle of North Dakota for example, where there is no light pollution. Check back later for I am going to head to Nags Head North Carolina and try some other shots with a little better composition for the foreground.

Star Trails

This was my first attempt at photographing star trails at night. I must admit that the conditions were not perfect but for a test run I am quite pleased with the outcome. You notice that the horizon is very bright considering that it is approximately 10:30 at night. The reason for this is because the moon was very bright this evening. Optimal conditions would warrant a moonless night or also known as a new moon. Anything bigger than a half moon will bring a lot of unwarranted moon light into the picture causing it to be brighter that it actually is. This was approximately a 1 hour and 30 minute shoot taking approximately 30 photographs at 3 minute exposures. These setting are always subject to change and one should experiment with their own settings to find the right exposure. I used my Canon 5D Mk II and a 17-40 mm lense at 4.0 Av. My ISO was set at 400 and the white balance was set for tungsten. That was about it with the exception of post processing the images. Since I had about 30 images it is necessary to stack all the images together and flatten them to get a single photo. This was accomplished by using a program that is Mac friendly called Helicon Focus ( www.heliconsoft.com ). The program is not free it is shareware but I found that it is far easier to use it versus try to layer all the images in Photoshop and process them there. Check back for I will heading out for some other locations to try some other ideas on shooting star trails. If you have any questions just drop me a e-mail and I'll get back with you. Thanks for stopping by.... Harry