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© 2016 Helmuth Boeger - All rights reserved.

I shot this from the beach in Vero Beach, Florida. The Atlas V 411 configuration rocket launched the Solar Orbiter. The Solar orbiter is equipped with 10 instruments to study the Sun in great detail. It will orbit the Sun at a distance of about 26 million miles (42 million km).

This is a shorter shutter time photo I took of the SpaceX Falcon 9 as it lifted off on Saturday at 5:51 AM. The shot was taken from the beach at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

We spent a day launching rockets in a big farm field near Helm in the Central Valley of California. Hundreds of high power rockets were launched in daytime. I did a single launch, a rocket made out of corks, which is always a crowd-pleaser. There were night launches too. This is the launch control at a quiet time at sunset.

I processed a realistic, a paintery, and a balanced HDR photo from three RAW exposures, blended them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/7.1, 89 mm, 1/400, 1/1600, 1/4000 sec, ISO 400, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, _DSC1171_2_3_hdr3rea1pai5bal1c.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2023 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

We are on the way to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Balls 24, a crazy rocket launch event with huge rockets. Some people call this event the Super Bowl of rocketry. Many rockets are built in the garage from scratch, including the solid propellant for the motors. First time for us, we are looking forward hearing the roars and sonic booms, and seeing the spectacle. Some rockets are going to explode, the probability is not too small.

You can drive on the playa (dry lake bed) at high speed. It is quite safe, there is no police around, and you can see other moving vehicles by the huge dust cloud they cause. The playa is gypsum, a compressible and very fine-grained material.

See you next week - we will be offline for the next 3 days.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC4316_hdr1bal1f

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

We spent 3 days in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Aeronaut, a rocket launch event organized by AeroPac. I got up early on Sunday to witness the sunrise. The sky was all red 8 minutes before sunrise, as seen from the camp in the middle of the desert .

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC4387_hdr1bal1g

Last nights Rocket Lab launch from Mahia, taken from Atea a Rangi, Napier Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Unfortunately the stage two of the rocket failed and the payload was lost. But I couldn't believe my luck that in the darkness I had managed to line this up so well.

I took this shot from the beach in Vero Beach, Florida this evening. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 54 Starlink satellites. The first stage later successfully landed on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" which was out in the Atlantic.

Artemis I sitting on launch pad 39B close to sunrise, viewed from across the water. Unfortunately the launch was scrubbed due to issues with the third engine. The next possible launch date will be Sept. 2. The crowd on hand to view this launch was huge.

Go Delta! With the clarity of this morning's sky, NROL-68 was easily visible from my backyard, some 46 miles away. This is the penultimate rocket of ULA's largest rocket to date, the Delta IV Heavy, with it and the Atlas V going to be replaced by the Vulcan. Despite being quite sight to see, the payload is highly classified, with it being operated by the secretive National Reconnaissance Office. With this being my favorite rocket, it is sad knowing that they are not long for this world, but it is still amazing to see them before they go.

The view from Vero Beach which is about 70 miles south of Cape Canaveral. Artemis I lifted, off after a short delay, at 1:47 AM.

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

We spent 3 days in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Aeronaut, a rocket launch event organized by AeroPac. These three rocketeers have an impromptu meeting on the playa (dry lakebed) at sunset.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC4343_hdr1bal1e

Taken From Daytona beach

A week ago we attended high power rocket launches at Friends of Amateur Rocketry, a private rocket launch facility in the Mojave Desert, California. On Sunday I was invited to take photos of a test launch by a commercial rocket startup currently in stealth mode. Seen here are the moon and the tip of the rocket on the launch tower, ready for launch. The company plans to launch payload to low orbit of Earth, not the moon.

I processed a balanced and a photographic HDR photo from two JPG exposures, focus stacked them, carefully adjusted color balance and curves, and desaturated the image. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/6.3, 210 mm, 1/1000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 2 JPG exposures, _DSC1859_1_hdrj2bal1pho1h.jpg

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

The view from the beach in Vero Beach, Florida as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral which is about 70 miles to the north. The rocket launched a set of 48 satellites for the OneWeb satellite internet constellation. The first stage booster landed safely back at Cape Canaveral.

11-05-20: SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a GPS Satellite for the United States Space Force. I took this photo from Vero Beach which is about 65 miles south of the Kennedy Space Center.

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First day of rocket launches at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada at Balls 25 is over. People chill in the desert. This group walked away from the camp.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the curves.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC2700_hd1bal1c

Launch of the Atlas V over the Cocoa beach pier.

Playalinda Beach, Florida

We spent a day launching rockets in a big farm field near Helm in the Central Valley of California. Hundreds of high power rockets were launched in daytime. I did a single launch, a rocket made out of wine corks, which is always a crowd-pleaser. I forgot my hat, so I used a rocket parachute to protect my head from the sun.

I processed a balanced and a photographic HDR photo from a JPG exposure, blended them selectively, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/7.1, 55 mm, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 JPG exposure, _DSC0922_hdrj1bal1pho1b.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2023 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

Last September we spent a weekend at Balls 29, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. About 300 rocketeers gathered to launch high power rockets in the middle of the playa (dry lakebed). A few years back I did a photoshoot on the playa with this chair. Since then it became a tradition to bring our throne back to the desert every time we go.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/14, 55 mm, 1/125, 1/500, 1/2000 sec, ISO 100, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, _DSC6689_0_1_hdr3bal1pho1pai5g.jpg

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

The red/orange glow of the Atlas rocket carrying the latest weather satellite into orbit is visible in the upper right corner of this photo taken from our window. The Kennedy Space Center is roughly 95 miles east of here.

We spent a weekend at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Balls XXX, the biggest experimental rocket launch event in the world. The camp is in the middle of a dry lakebed, also called playa, the same place where Burning Man takes place. The playa is big, about 200 sq mi (520 km2). We had time for some model shoots between rocket launches. It became a tradition to take this comfy vintage chair along into the desert every year.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/6.3, 82 mm, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC4755_hdr1bal1e.jpg

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

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

We spent 3 days in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Aeronaut, a rocket launch event organized by AeroPac. I got up early on Saturday to witness the sunrise. This is the view from our tent shorty after sunrise. Nobody was up at this early hour.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from two RAW exposures.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 2 RAW exposures, NEX-6, _DSC3837_8_hdr2bal1d

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.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- 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

We spent the last weekend at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Balls XXX, the biggest experimental rocket launch event in the world. The camp is in the middle of a dry lakebed, also called playa, the same place where Burning Man takes place. The playa is big, about 200 sq mi (520 km2). So many high power rockets are launched that some people don't even turn their head to watch, like this person walking on the playa with his rocket while another rocket just left the launchpad. I took this shot with a long lens that compresses the scene, so it looks like the person is close to the launchpad, but he walks by at a safe distance.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/8.0, 156 mm, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC4422_hdr1bal1pho1g.jpg

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

This is my first attempt at a shot of a night launch since moving to Florida last month. I inadvertently released the shutter release at only 68 seconds so I didn't get the full arch. It was an amazing experience and I look forward to improving my photographs going forward :-)

ISO 100, F 8.0, 15mm, 68 seconds

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We are just back from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. We had a blast at Balls 24, a crazy rocket launch event with huge rockets - pun intended. Some people call this event the Super Bowl of rocketry. Over 300 people attended, there were teams from as far as England and Egypt. Many rockets were built in the garage from scratch, including the solid propellant for the motors.

Quite a number of rockets came down ballistic, either with some problems with the electronics, structural problems at high g-forces and supersonic speed, or parachute deployment problems. You gotta have balls to be there - the probability to get hit by a rocket is tiny but not zero.

This is Richard King's 12 foot rocket, taking of on a sparky N-motor. The propellant contains titanium, which produces the white sparkles. This rocket probably went up around 15,000 feet. Even though there was high wind, the flight was picture perfect.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC7667_hdr1bal1c

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UPDATE 2015-09-29: Flight specs by the owner of the rocket:

DX3 "Massive" lengthened an extra foot to a total of 13' to accommodate the N3400 Skidmark motor. Altitude was 18K' coming down about two miles out. Used a 12" ballistic drogue and 8' main. Loaded weight was 66 lbs. Normally flies on full M motors, so for the N added the removable foot of airframe and two pounds of lead in the nose.

Night launch of Northrop Grumman's Antares Rocket from NASA's Wallops Island facility taken from Virginia's Eastern Shore. This launch will use the Cygnus cargo freighter to resupply the International Space Station.

02Oct2020

Thank you for viewing and make sure to look at my other images.

Prints available at: photosbymch.com

© 2020 M. C. Hood / PhotosbyMCH Photography - All rights reserved.

Three pieces of falling rocket parts can be seen here.

Today we drove to the Snow Ranch located in Central Valley of California, 2 hours east of the San Francisco Bay Area. The ranch owner graciously offers their land for monthly rocket launches, organized by LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry. We launched our cork rocket from the high power pad. Shortly after, this stubby rocket roared off into the sky on a sparky motor. Fun day!

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/6.3, 199 mm, 1/640 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC9398_hdr1bal1pho1pai5d.jpg

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

We spent a day launching rockets in a big farm field near Helm in the Central Valley of California. Hundreds of high power rockets were launched in daytime. This rocket blew up at launch -- the motor retainer failed, and the thrust pushed the motor up through the body tube. With that, the nosecone shot up, and the motor started to spiral in the air under its thrust.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/7.1, 210 mm, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC1041_hdr1bal1pho1d.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2023 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at 12:07 AM on 11-07-23. The spacecraft was carrying 23 StarLink satellites into orbit. The first stage booster landed on the drone ship Just Read The Instructions which was just north of the Bahamas. This image was taken in Vero Beach, Florida which is about 70 miles south of the launch site.

In September 2022, we enjoyed a weekend at Nevada's Black Rock Desert for Balls XXX, the world's largest experimental rocket launch gathering. The event takes place on a vast dry lakebed (playa) spanning approximately 200 square miles (520 km²) - the same location that hosts Burning Man. After the rocket launches, we traveled to the playa's edge and soaked in the Frog Pond natural hot spring. Riding in the back of a pickup truck at high speed was fun, as we watched dust clouds billowing behind us.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/6.3, 55 mm, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC4745_hdr1bal1pho1d.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2022 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

Last September we spent a weekend at Balls 29, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. About 300 rocketeers gathered to launch high power rockets in the middle of the playa (dry lakebed). A few years back I did a photoshoot on the playa with this chair. Since then it became a tradition to bring our throne back to the desert every time we go.

A Jeff Bezos puppet sits in the chair. Our rocket buddy Erik Charlton put the puppet as a payload into a rocket. It came down ballistic, and buried itself into the soft ground. We measured with a wooden stick, the rocket with Jeff Bezos and Kate (the talking onboard computer) were literally 6 feet under (see photo essay in comments).

I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from three RAW exposures, blended them selectively, carefully adjusted the color balance and curves, and desaturated the image. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/8.0, 68 mm, 1/500, 1/2000, 1/4000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, _DSC6945_6_7_hdr3bal1pai5g.jpg

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

My son and I decided last Friday to attend the historical launch of Starship 5 on Sunday. The historical SpaceX mission had the goal to catch the Super Heavy booster on return with the Mechazilla arms, nicknamed "chopsticks," an as it seemed like almost impossible task. They succeeded! Congrats SpaceX team! This is moments before liftoff, where the 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy booster were under full thrust of 74,400 kN. The rocket weights 5000 tons at liftoff. This gives a trust/weight ratio of about 1.48.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/7.1, 750 mm, 1/400 sec, ISO 1600, Sony A6400, Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC8532_hdr1bal1pho1g.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2024 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

On Saturday we drove to the Snow Ranch, located in Central Valley of California, 2 hours east of the San Francisco Bay Area. The ranch owner graciously offers their land for monthly rocket launches, organized by LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry. Over 100 people gathered, you can see the camp with cars on the right.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/6.3, 16 mm, 1/500, 1/2000, 1/4000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-P1650, HDR, 3 RAW exposure, _DSC9477_8_9_hdr3rea1pai5l.jpg

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

Re-positioning an oldie but goodie --- can't beat the most famous sight of the southern Lompoc hills which of course is the various rockets and missiles overhead flying rapidly south.....

This was from the old days (4 years ago) when SpaceX landing their launch vehicle was so new and risky.....

Thank you for viewing this little series of the southside of town

We spent the last September weekend at Balls 29, a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. We camped in the middle of the playa (dry lakebed). At sunset we drove to the Mad Max camp at the edge of the playa -- see other posts on that.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/5.6, 145 mm, 1/100, 1/400 sec, ISO 250, Sony A6000, SEL-55210, HDR, 2 RAW exposures, _DSC7346_7_hdr2bal1pho1i.jpg

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

I am preparing for a presentation about hobby rocketry in the USA, so I looked through my large photo collection. I took this sunrise shot at Balls in September 2016. It is a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. About 300 people camped in the middle of the playa (dry lakebed), so that it is easy to drive to a rocket to retrieve it after launch. The playa is very flat and large, so shadows at sunrise are very long, perfect to have some fun!

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/5.6, 50 mm, 1/250 sec, ISO 100, Sony NEX-6, SEL-P1650, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC2798_hdr1pho1bal1f.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2023 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

A week ago we attended high power rocket launches at Friends of Amateur Rocketry, a private rocket launch facility in the Mojave Desert, California. On Sunday I was invited to take photos of a test launch by a commercial rocket startup, currently in stealth mode. The team is carrying the rocket with Q size motor from the trailer to the launch tower.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/6.3, 55 mm, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200, Sony A7 II, Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC1762_hdr1bal1pai5h.jpg

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

~ Jennifer Aniston :p

On the second Saturday of January we drove to the Snow Ranch, located in Central Valley of California, 2 hours east of the San Francisco Bay Area. The ranch owner graciously offers their land for monthly rocket launches, organized by LUNAR, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry. Snow Ranch has also been the backdrop for many movies including, The Big Country, Sam Whiskey, Little House on the Prairie, and Shout.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/7.1, 50 mm, 1/250, 1/1000, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200, Sony A6000, SEL-P1650, HDR, 3 RAW exposure, _DSC9491_2_3_hdr3bal1pai5h.jpg

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

I am preparing for a presentation about hobby rocketry in the USA, so I looked through my large photo collection. I took this blue hour shot at Balls in September 2016. Balls is a big experimental rocket launch event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada - the same place where Burning Man takes place. About 300 people camped in the middle of the playa (dry lakebed), so that it is easy to drive to a rocket to retrieve it after launch. Participants have time for leisure after launching rockets throughout the day.

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

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/1.8, 50 mm, 1/40 sec, ISO 100, Sony NEX-6, SEL-50F18, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, _DSC3266_7_8_hdr3bal1pho1h.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2023 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

I was invited to take photos of a rocket launch at a private launch facility in the Mojave desert in Southern California by Evolution Space, a space startup. The team moves the 21 feet tall rocket from the workshop to the launch tower before sunrise. The flight turned out to be their first space flight, reaching 125 km, and a top speed to Mach 5.2. Congrats team!

I processed a photographic and a balanced HDR photo from a JPG exposure, blended them, and carefully adjusted the color balance and curves. I welcome and appreciate constructive comments.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- ƒ/4.0, 41 mm, 1/4 sec, ISO 6400, Sony A7R II, FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS, HDR, 1 JPG exposure, _DSC8840_hdrj1pho1bal1d.jpg

-- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, © 2023 Peter Thoeny, Quality HDR Photography

the big bertha of the rocketsphere finally lifted off after about 5 delays.......

Again not SpaceX but it'll still draw folks -------- I don't think there's a UAL group out there.....

June 16, 2025: Falcon 9 Block 5/SpaceX launch from Vandenberg AFB as seen from Newbury Park, California. #flickrfriday #one

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Yay, my son did it! He had a successful level 3 certification flight on an M motor. Level 3 is the highest level for high power rockets. The rocket reached 23,500 feet, 23 G acceleration, top speed Mach 1.7. Good preparation and a long checklist pay off. Well done, and congrats Alexis!

To reduce drag, the rocket has no rail buttons. Instead there is a flyaway rail guide, a plastic piece with rail buttons that encloses the rocket; once it leaves the rail, the rail guide snaps open - zoom in and see orange pieces just below the rocket.

I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and carefully adjusted the curves.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC3056_hd1bal1f

We spent 3 days in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to attend Aeronaut, a rocket launch event organized by AeroPac. We are now back from the wilderness. We were disconnected from the internet, which felt good.

Our friend Steve Jurvetson launched a high power rocket at night. On this long exposure you see just the trail of the fiery plume of the rocket, and a halo caused by the exhaust smoke. The fiery plume illuminated the surrounding ground. It was blue moon, so you can see the blue clouds as well.

Someone else launched a rocket at night with hundreds of LEDs as payload. Each LED had a tiny parachute. It was a magical scene, it looked like the Milky Way slowly descending to Earth!

I shot this in manual mode using a fast prime lens with f/1.8. This allowed me to use a low ISO of 200 at night on a 5 sec exposure. I used a 2 sec timer delay to avoid camera shake, and pressed the button at count-down T minus 2 - low noise is important for good HDR processing. I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure.

Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC4382_hdr1bal1b

Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.

We are at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada again. This time for the Mudroc rocket event organized by Aeropac.

We had heavy traffic on the way, the drive took 9 hours instead of 6 hours. We arrived shortly before midnight, everybody was already asleep. I took this shot after we arrived. The moon is almost full and illuminated the playa (dry lakebed.)

I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, selectively merged them, and carefully pulled the curves..

-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC8532_hdr1bal1pai1c