Unanticipated piece of art

This weekend we'll be at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry, a private rocket launch facility in the Mojave Desert, California. I am invited to take photos of a test launch of a commercial rocket company.

 

This photo is from the same place in November 2018. My son led a student team that built a big two stage rocket that was scheduled to reach 150,000 feet (46 km), about half way into space. The first stage performed as planned. The second stage did not ignite, came down ballistic, and exploded on the ground, creating an 8 feet (2.5 m) crater! Not much left of the upper stage, this is the biggest piece that we recovered.

 

I processed a balanced, a photographic, and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them selectively, and carefully adjusted color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

 

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-- ƒ/5.6, 102 mm, 1/200 sec, ISO 100, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC3426_hdr1bal1pho1pai1f.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

Done