Some Advice - Space Shuttle Landing

Garrie

Garrie

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Garrie
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Hi,

I am looking for a little advice.

Whilst I'm away in Florida i'll have chance to see the the space shuttle land and I would like to photograph it.

The landing is around 04.50am, unsure if it will be light or dark then, if its kinda light I'm going to try and photograph it landing.

What settings should I be using to try and capture it? I only have a 150 zoom lens but with crop factory is 300mm. Am expecting to much with this lens?

Any advice would be great. (gutted I missed the lauch though)

Cheers
Garrie
 
Im not really sure on settings, but im guessing tripod is a must, and i would try panning seeing as your probally going to be in low light, high ISO, slow shutter speed, wide aperture...
 
Hmmm, tricky I'd imagine. I don't have much to suggest. having practice some steaming star shots recently I'm thinking you could try pointing upwards if the sky clear, get the trail running in ...possibly, can that be seen? must be 50 miles up ... 20/30 minute exposures with star trails when dark works well.
Just a mad passing thought. :D
 
Hi,

Thanks for the replies, it looks as though I'll not be able to catch it landing as it'll be really dark still at the time..

Was worth a shot and will be get and see what happens anyways..
 
The usefullness of this or that lens depends on the distance to subject.
Tripod is a given.
I wouldn't track and expose. Too many things that can go wrong. And no second chances. So I would prefocus, meter globally, correct exposure by +1,5 stops (the shuttle is white), and fire off an entire sequence – as many exposures as my buffer would accomodate – when the shuttle traverses my field of view. All in RAW, of course.
And I would pray.
 
Novel perspective here maybe, but i'm assuming that it's still bound by aviation authority requirements to have landing lights? Why not go for a long exposure with light trails - like this HolyPloppers

Clearly this is take-off, not landing, but still love the effect :)
 
What sort of access do you have? Will you actually be within the Kennedy Space Center?

The shuttle comes in at a ridiculous rate of knots, so U can imagine this being one hell of a challenge... good luck!
 
I've been lucky enough to see it take off twice now, both at night. I think you'll struggle with the 300mm.

On take off the closest point you can stop is literally miles away. It might be less restrictive for landings.
 
lol - believe that started life in Saigon
 
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