nikon long island

Photographing the night launch of Space Shuttle?

I’m going to attempt a long exposure photo of the Space Shuttle Discovery’s night launch. I am going to be located several hours north of the launch at St. Simons Island, GA. What would be the best settings on my camera to get this shot? is it best to have the aperture wide open? Should I use the ‘bulb’ exposure? I’m using a Nikon d70.

Well, for a shot like that (where you will see little), you’ll want to make the shot using your sharpest aperture, f/8 or f/11. I wouldn’t go beyond f/11 because you don’t want diffraction to ruin what little you’ll get from photographing the shuttle launch from that far away. Which would be a waste of time, really. I mean, you could, if for no other reason than to say you did, but the problem you’ll face is the fact that the exposure doesn’t really need to be that long to capture it, unless you want a bright streak across the frame. I’ve seen shots of the shuttle launch from that distance, and you can’t even make out the shuttle itself, just a streak across the sky – unless you’re using a 1000mm telephoto lens or something. If you used a long exposure, all you get is the brightest part of the rocket plume across the frame. So you’re better off with a normal exposure to capture the thermal stages of the entire plume as the shuttle ascends. Anyway, that’s just something for you to ponder.

time lapse from Newport RI to Long Island, Nikon D2h

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