Daylight Space Shuttle launch - how to meter?

[Concorde-SST]

Hello,

In May my brother and I will watch the Atlantis Space Shuttle lifting off.

Now I wonder how to meter this? The exhaust flames will be very bright
as I can recall from videos. So shall I expose for the ambient light (before
liftoff) and then shoot off with the manual setting?

I will be shooting with a Leica M9.

Does anyone has some experience doing this? Any comments highly welcome!

Thank you very much,

kindly,

Andreas.

[Jonathan Wienke]

The exhaust flames will be very bright as I can recall from videos. So shall I expose for the ambient light (before liftoff) and then shoot off with the manual setting?

If you do that you will most likely end up with blown-out, overexposed flames. You will want to ETTR so that the flames are just barely not blown out, although that may underexpose everything else somewhat. I would shoot manual, starting with a 1-2 stop underexposure, and then practice chimping as quickly as possible beforehand to get exposure dialed in as fast as you can during the actual launch. I would shoot with low ISO to maximize DR because you will need as much as possible to keep the flames from blowing out without raising noise everywhere else to unacceptable levels.

[feppe]

Shooting a shuttle launch is something I'd love to do some day. I've thought about, and I would bring two or three cameras with me. One of them I would use to create blended exposures, ie. shoot the scene bracketed on a tripod before the launch, then shoot the launch itself, exposed for the trails, blend everything in PS. The other cameras shot "traditionally" as suggested by Jonathan.

[Peter McLennan]

I drove from Western Canada to watch STS 128 launch last August and I elected to leave my cameras in the vehicle and just live the moment.  When I arrived on site and saw the array of equipment set up at the public launch viewing site I was glad I did.  One guy had a 600mm Canon set up on the beach and I asked him if I could take a peek through his viewfinder.  My suspicions were confirmed.  Even with that level of hardware, the image was unsatisfying given the subject distance.  I took 8X50 binoculars and I estimate that the vehicle image in the binoculars was about five to eight shuttles high.  You're a long way away.

The exhaust flame is extremely bright.  Jonathan's advice to underexpose two stops from your basic sunlight exposure is good.   I'd say at least two stops.  Once the vehicle leaves the immediate vicinity of the launch structure, it's all over.  Get your shot during the first few seconds of launch, otherwise, there's no sense of scale to the image.

Sound, however, suffers little from the distance.  It will rattle your ribcage.  

Have fun.  I drove 13,000kms and spent two weeks of my life for a one minute show.   Totally choked with emotion, I called my wife when it was over.  "Call me back when you're coherent", she said.  

All in all a superb ROI. : )

[Dick Roadnight]

The exhaust flame is extremely bright.  Jonathan's advice to underexpose two stops from your basic sunlight exposure is good.   I'd say at least two stops.

How long before lift-off do they light the rocket - is there time to do a test shot and see the histogram?

[Paul Sumi]

How long before lift-off do they light the rocket - is there time to do a test shot and see the histogram?

It looks like they start at T minus 10 seconds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVZ2hBqUAsM

Doesn't give a lot of time to do a test shot, particularly if you want to take more than one frame.

Paul

[MichaelGolob]

Andreas...

I've taken many pictures of the shuttle (a few launches), but I have had access to the VAB area (~3 miles out) for taking pictures.  The biggest hurtle that I've found is haze from heat.  My best picture (yes, one) was done on a cool day, late afternoon.  The light was changing rapidly and I chose to set it for auto, but with spot metering.  Keep that spot out ot the flame though, otherwise you get a cool picture of the flame with shock waves but can barely see the shuttle. In the picture I've attached, you can see that the flame controlled the exposure even though it was mostly obscured by the tower.  

There are so many variables to get the right exposure (changing light conditions, size of shuttle in frame, people bumping your setup, etc.), maybe the following website could help

This lucky photographer has quite a bit of experience:  http://www.launchphotography.com/index.html

Scouring his site may help with your answer.

Good Luck and enjoy the experience.  It will send shivers up your spine!

Michael

[Peter McLennan]

How long before lift-off do they light the rocket - is there time to do a test shot and see the histogram?

It's the solid rocket boosters that are so bright, not the orbiter's more conventional liquid fuel rockets.  The SRB's are not lit until right at liftoff, so there's absolutely no chance of a test shot, histogram review and adjustment.

If you absolutely insist on ruining your launch experience,   I'd suggest two, five shot bracket sequences shot during the first few seconds after liftoff, with a one-stop minus overall exposure correction.

By far the best launch shots I've seen (and there are many for sale at the site) are the low-and-wide images made remotely.  Only those begin to convey the incredible power being dissipated at launch.

[Concorde-SST]

Dear all,

Thank you so much for replying and giving so much valuable
information! I will try to take two cameras (one for me, one
for my brother) and we will just enjoy the spectacle and see
what happens.

Looking forward to getting a good blastful in my ears

all the best - if I may, I will report after successful launch.

greetings!

Andreas.