Shuttle Arch

[Harold Davis]

i was fortunate enough to get tickets to the causeway for the space shuttle launch this past monday morning. being this close was a huge treat! i had to rent a camera just to do everything i wanted to do and this is one of them. a 7.25 minute time lapse exposure starting at T-10 seconds. that is the moment they fire it up.

D300, 18-200mm at 18mm, 435s, f/22, ISO 1EV under 200. .....i was kinda winging it with these settings. i did some research online and the settings i was seeing looked mighty suspect to me. i went with my gut and it worked out great!! the exposure started at 6:21am which was about 40 minutes before sunrise, but we still had some new light coming from the right.

thanks for looking. comments and critiques much appreciated. btw, i hope this qualifies for a landscape. it has some nice water and a couple of cool clouds and a really nice arch!:D

[Dave Mills]

Hi Harold, IMO it sure does qualify for a landscape. Very unique and a well handled image technically. I'm curious about the arc. Is that an illusion that it appears to be falling? Glad the shuttle didn't end up going out of the frame. Not sure about the building on the lower right...see how others feel. Nice job on this...

[Harold Davis]

thanks dave, the shuttle orbits the earth. earth is round. hence the curvature of the arch!!:D seriously, it doesnt launch straight up. maybe for the first few 100 feet, but it starts to head northeast soon after launch. he was hauling butt trying to catch the international space station that passed overhead at 6:03am travelling at 17000mph or 5 miles/second!!!!:eek: dont stick your hand out the window!!:D

[Lana Hays]

Harold
Well if this isn't just about the coolest image I've seen of the shuttle launch. I was just about ready to email you asking where the images were. Hmmmm....did you set up a second camera for some other shots?

[Harold Davis]

lana, shoot me a PM with your email and i'll send you the whole lot. there aint many. it didnt last long!! :D

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Awesome Harold

[Kobus Tollig]

REally nice shot here well done. Im with Dave on the building

[Ed Vatza]

Awesome shot.Like the symmetry at the pad and curvature of the arch. I would also jettison the structure in the LR but otherwise, perfect!

[Dave Mills]

Thanks for the explanation Harold...good job!

[Harshad Barve]

terrific image Harold
TFS

[Bob Miller]

Well done! A shot to be proud of for sure! I vote for taking the building out on the RHC.

[Gerald_Gilligan]

This is really cool...there will not be many more chances to get an image like this.

The arch draws the eye nicely through the image.

Jerry

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Harold,
Must have missed this in the slow down time! While part of me agrees with the building in the LR.....it is there and I would leave it...but a crop would work too! Nice job composing this as you never know where the arc would be!