SpaceX Falcon 9 Iridium 4 Launch from Vandenberg AFB viewed from Avila Beach Friday evening 5:27:15pm-5:32:20pm (305 second exposure, f16 24mm(equivalent)) The bright cloud occurred when the rocket exhaust re-entered sunlight (launch was about 30m after s
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Rafus
June 08, 2018
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
russellgaughen
August 23, 2018
gregedwards A Magnificat Image Indeed!! Thanks for Sharing!! I have never quite seen a launch image I like more!!! Russell
Beautiful-Breeze
April 29, 2019
Fantastic shot. I'm in AG and have never been able to capture one of Vandenbergs launches like this. Very spectacular and incredibly impressive!!!!!!
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Behind The Lens
Location
This picture was taken on Avila Beach, about 20 miles across the water from the Vandenberg launch site.Time
The launch was about 30m after sunset. The exposure was 5 minutes long. The second exposure (not included in this picture) began 35m after sunset or 5m after the launch and covered the second 5m of flight.Lighting
Lighting was from about 30-35m after sunset (5m exposure). 5m was picked to cover the most interesting part of the launch, that is from liftoff until the rocket got about the sunset line. The cloud is in sunlight. The problem was to avoid over exposure. I calculated (correctly, almost, this was slightly over exposed) that 5m and ISO 100 and f16 would give a good exposure. One other thing, not exactly lighting but important, was that I used the camera sideways, in portrait mode. This gave a better coverage of the whole shot. In retrospect I wish I had aimed a bit lower and gotten more reflection off the water.Equipment
Sony RX10mk3 on a tripod. The big 24-600mm zoom was set to 24mm focal length. Remote release In retrospect I wish I had also used an ND filter and several cameras in parallel.Inspiration
I wanted to get a good photo of a liftoff into space. I'd had a chance years ago to see a Space Shuttle liftoff but I was too sick with a flu to see it. This SpaceX launch gave me another chance.Editing
Post processing was to bring the exposure down to a reasonable level. I also composted a faint dusting of stars into the pictures (in real life a 5m exposure would have made them very faint streaks)In my camera bag
The gear in my bag is what I think I'll need for the event and a backup camera. The RX10mk3 was the backup camera as I'd made a big goof and left the camera I wanted to use behind.Feedback
Try the exposure at a similar time of day to check your exposure. You only have one chance at this. Also consider the layout. I knew where the rocket was launching from and where it was going. I set the camera to have the SpaceX Falcon 9 to lift off from the left side of the picture and rise up and a bit to the left. When to start the picture is also important. I didn't want to miss the first few seconds of liftoff. So I listened to an online broadcast of the launch and then started the exposure about 2 seconds before the engines ignited.