Night launch of Discovery
I was recently blessed with the opportunity to photograph the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery when it blasted off on a spectacular night launch on the STS-128 mission to the International Space Station. The above photo composition was taken from the beachfront boardwalk at a park in Marineland, Florida, about an hours drive due east of where I live. I felt especially compelled to go since this may have been the last-ever night launch of a Space Shuttle. After shooting the night launch of Endeavor last year, I promised myself I’d try to get to as many of the remaining launches as possible. Sadly I have only made it to one of the four since then.
My strategy for the photo was to shoot it like a fireworks display. (Here’s a recent fireworks set.) The recipe I use for that is:
- Tripod
- Canon Digital Rebel XSi camera
- Ultra-wide zoom lens (my Tokina 11-16mm f2.8)
- Wired remote control for camera.
- Exposure of eight seconds at f8 at ISO 100 with shooting mode “continuous” and the remote locked once I started shooting.
- All were shot in camera RAW mode and processed identically.
The above is a composite of 14 shots the session. You can see each piece on the Flickr set. The workflow in Photoshop was
- File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack…
- Select “Create Smart Object after Loading Layers”
- Layer > Smart Objects > Stack Mode > Maximum
The next launch is now scheduled for November 12. If I can make it, I want to shoot it from my kayak in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
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