Photo Phoray

Record setting capture

2008-07-28T14:12:00.007-06:00

The image to the right is of John Wilke's "Casey Mae" setting a new Northern Colorado Rocketry all time altitude record.

It was shot on a Canon Rebel using my EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8IS Lens. I hadn't prepared to take shots like this, it just sort of happened. I was out shooting tight shots using my Canon 30D and EF 70-200 f/4. I decided to set the Rebel up on a tri-pod with the wide-angle lens just to get a different perspective. I hooked up the wired remote and just opened the shutter when the countdown hit "2". I then shot with the 30D while the Rebel clicked away. Turns out the side shots have been very popular, here is what John had to say:

Chris, I wanted to thank you again for the TERRIFIC photos you took of my "M" shot. You had several *excellent* shots, though I'll confess the wide-angle shot was probably my very favorite. I've received many favorable comments on that particular shot, though they were ALL terrific. It was a nice boost, made all the more special by having these photos to enjoy. Several will end up on my wall.

Big thanks to Ray LaPanse of Ray's Rocket Photos for all the help. I had never shot high-power rockets before and he helped out a lot. Without the tips he gave me the sets wouldn't have turned out nearly as well. Two of Ray's pictures are on the front page of the NCR site currently.

I'm looking forward to getting out there and shooting some more HPR in the future

Colorado Track Day 2008

2008-06-30T10:42:00.003-06:00

I attended the 2008 Track Day put on by my friend Shawn S. on Wednesday. I took about 700 pictures and ended up with this collection of keepers.

Finally getting some pictures taken... of rockets!

2008-06-18T09:22:00.008-06:00

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?

Something is starting...

2008-04-03T17:08:00.002-06:00

I've decided to dedicate one night a week to try and produce some quality images. No more large batches, etc. as I did over on Active Optics. Look for Active Optics to get a revamp soon as well.

My first project is going to be the Denver cityscape. Later in the month I will start a project I call Spotlight. Then this summer I'm going to work on some new techniques for improving my car photography, it should be an interesting experiment if nothing else.