Finally getting some pictures taken... of rockets!

Turns out I need to clean my lens :( At any rate I finally got some pictures done. I went out solo on 6/16/08 and do some long exposure shots of some Estes Model Rockets launching at night.


I ended up doing a lot of test shots without launching, to try and get the timing down. This first shot is with me using a wired remote and pressing that and launch at the same time. 1.3s exposure on my Canon 30D with the 17-55 F/2.8 IS lens at 17mm. You can definitely see the dirt I need to clean, but overall it worked well.










The second picture is a 4s exposure with the camera moved back about 20ft. I set the wired timer for a 10s delay, then walked back to the launch controller just out of frame while counting down from 10 and launched.












This third picture is similar to the second. I just adjusted the angle of the camera some and it captured the full burn/eject of the motor.














The final picture was with the camera placed near the launch pad pointing almost straight up. The rocket was on a larger C6 motor vs. A8 for the earlier flights. With the darkness, higher flight and wind I did not locate the rocket after this flight. You can see the DoF is a bit off as well for this shot, but it was my first try.









I think these turned out well and I'm looking forward to doing some more like this, hopefully with a friend to help. The day before Kevin, Shawn and I went out to the park and did several flights, I picked to of the launch shots to include here. Again this was my first time out doing the launch/flight photos.


Overall I'm happy with how most of the shots turned out, I learned a lot and what goes better with the LightGrenades domain than rockets?