Video or stills for Saturn V rocket launch?

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eurotrash

Senior Member
I have a rare opportunity to shoot the SaturnV rocket going into space tomorrow night from the Lincoln Memorial in DC. I just can't decide weather to do video or stills. I've never shot a smallish moving object like a rocket in the dark, against the lit up Washington Monument before. Any tips? Or should I just do video and pull stills from the video afterward?
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
a SaturnV rocket going into space tomorrow night from the Lincoln Memorial in DC? Don't they have to have a launch pad like The space center in Florida?

And I would find a way to get a video camera so I could shoot both.
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Sandpatch

Senior Member
I did a double take too -- a Saturn V stands over 360 Feet tall and has more than 7-1/2 Million pounds of thrust on tap. Funny how numbers stick. I built a scale plastic model of it when I was a kid and still recall some of the statistics. An awesome and beautiful machine with phenomenal reliability.
 
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480sparky

Senior Member
Um.... there's only two Saturn V rockets still in existence..... and neither of 'em are flight certified.

And the launch facilities that NASA used to launch them in Florida have long since been abandoned.
 
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eurotrash

Senior Member
Past the Engrish langrage formalities, anyone have advice on metering, etc? Should I just shoot a long exposure to catch the trail?

It's just one of those things where I'll be taking metro in (at least 45 mins) then walking 7 blocks to the site (another 20 mins) then waiting for an hour or so, then going back (another hour at least) and I basically just don't want to miss the shots. The rocket only appears for a few seconds so I want to go in there with a basic idea of wtf to do instead of winging it like I normally can. Sheesh, even worse than shooting a wedding!
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
eurotrash said:
Past the Engrish langrage formalities, anyone have advice on metering, etc? Should I just shoot a long exposure to catch the trail?

It's just one of those things where I'll be taking metro in (at least 45 mins) then walking 7 blocks to the site (another 20 mins) then waiting for an hour or so, then going back (another hour at least) and I basically just don't want to miss the shots. The rocket only appears for a few seconds so I want to go in there with a basic idea of wtf to do instead of winging it like I normally can. Sheesh, even worse than shooting a wedding!
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Way to many variables. You are going to have to make a lot of decisions at the last minute. I assume you are talking about a model rocket but how big is it? Some of these go pretty fast so I would shoot at a fast shutter speed and shoot on the continuous mode and get as many shots as you can with the D7000. You might be tempted to shoot in JPEG to get more shots but don't. Shoot RAW so you have more leeway to fix any problems you might have with exposure.

Have fun
 
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eurotrash

Senior Member
No, I'm talking about the huge NASA launch off the eastern coast of Virginia, not model rockets

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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
eurotrash said:
Never mind. I'm not getting anywhere. I'll wing it.

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It looks like it should be fun. I read up on it here Spaceflight Now | Minotaur Launch Report | Mission Status Center

You really are going to have to wing it. I have no idea how you would shoot that. get there is time and get an exposure that show the sky good. Probably what you are going to see it the trail so you want to make sure it has a good contrast.

Have fun. If you get good photos it will be worth it. If I lived in the area I would be there beside you.
 
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eurotrash

Senior Member
Great success!

I can't seem to get the monument a little less exposed, but that's not really the focal point of the picture anyhow. I guess I'll live with it because watching that rocket blast through the stratosphere was AWESOME! There were about 400 others on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with me, cheering the little rocket on. It was pretty cool and definitely worth the 2+hours of travel to get there!
NoVA Traffic + Metro = :(


LADEE Rocket over Washington's Skyline by stupidphotoguy, on Flickr
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
Nice shot.

To not have the monument overexposed and the rocket properly exposed you would have needed two shots (one exposure for the monument) and then stack them.
 
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eurotrash

Senior Member
Yea, that was the original goal, but for whatever reason it didn't happen. Its OK, still makes me smile :)

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PhotoAV8R

Senior Member
Really nice shot!

Sandpatch said:
Saturn V stands over 360 Feet tall and has more than 7-1/2 Million pounds of thrust on tap. Funny how numbers stick.
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Yup. In the Apollo configuration, the thrust from four of the engines simply countered the weight of the entire launch system. The fifth engine provided the acceleration. I gave a report on it in school.
 
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