Falcon9 Meets Milky Way part 2
This image comes from my "back-up" camera, stuck in the field 100-feet or so from where I was shooting my planned shot of the Sunday morning (March 14, 2021) SpaceX Falcon9 Starlink launch. You can barely see the shape of a tripod between the trees (frame left), where I was looking east over the Mosquito Lagoon with my main gear.
For this image, I snapped a picture of the Milky Way at 5:59 am, and then I opened the shutter at 6:00 am to capture the 6:01 am launch. Just after I reached my waterfront view, a truck pulling a boat drove right through the foreground of this shot, leaving more than just a rocket streak in the image. I was apoplectic with worry that the headlights would ruin my main photos, but luckily they killed the headlights maybe 10-seconds before the rocket lit up the horizon. For this image, the unwanted head and taillight streaks were easy to remove.
There's a streak of something (frame left) that I think is a shooting star, but I don't know for sure.
I give another nod to those before me who have done a Milky Way and rocket image and done it well enough to inspire me to sacrifice a fair amount of sleep to chase this image. (See: Messrs. Killian, Kraus, and Kuna)
Of note: The image was captured using some of the oldest and most shop-worn gear I own, valued at a fraction of what I was shooting with over by the water. And I have a confession: I may almost like this image more than the other picture I captured.
TL;DR: The newest, best gear isn't always necessary to get a good shot.
Details: Composite of two images shot with a Canon 6d and a Rokinon 12mm fish-eye lens (that I thought was dead after it was drenched while spending a few nights outside for the Crew-1 launch). The first is the Milky Way frame, captured 3 minutes before launch (ISO 3200, f2.8, and 20-seconds). The second frame is the rocket (ISO125, f18, and 472-seconds). Images were combined surprisingly easily in PhotoShop with post-processing in Lightroom.
Falcon9 Meets Milky Way part 2
This image comes from my "back-up" camera, stuck in the field 100-feet or so from where I was shooting my planned shot of the Sunday morning (March 14, 2021) SpaceX Falcon9 Starlink launch. You can barely see the shape of a tripod between the trees (frame left), where I was looking east over the Mosquito Lagoon with my main gear.
For this image, I snapped a picture of the Milky Way at 5:59 am, and then I opened the shutter at 6:00 am to capture the 6:01 am launch. Just after I reached my waterfront view, a truck pulling a boat drove right through the foreground of this shot, leaving more than just a rocket streak in the image. I was apoplectic with worry that the headlights would ruin my main photos, but luckily they killed the headlights maybe 10-seconds before the rocket lit up the horizon. For this image, the unwanted head and taillight streaks were easy to remove.
There's a streak of something (frame left) that I think is a shooting star, but I don't know for sure.
I give another nod to those before me who have done a Milky Way and rocket image and done it well enough to inspire me to sacrifice a fair amount of sleep to chase this image. (See: Messrs. Killian, Kraus, and Kuna)
Of note: The image was captured using some of the oldest and most shop-worn gear I own, valued at a fraction of what I was shooting with over by the water. And I have a confession: I may almost like this image more than the other picture I captured.
TL;DR: The newest, best gear isn't always necessary to get a good shot.
Details: Composite of two images shot with a Canon 6d and a Rokinon 12mm fish-eye lens (that I thought was dead after it was drenched while spending a few nights outside for the Crew-1 launch). The first is the Milky Way frame, captured 3 minutes before launch (ISO 3200, f2.8, and 20-seconds). The second frame is the rocket (ISO125, f18, and 472-seconds). Images were combined surprisingly easily in PhotoShop with post-processing in Lightroom.