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07/18/2011 10:46:14 AM |
| Oh, what a fabulous, historic photo. This is one you will be proud to own no matter how it did in the challenge -- but I'm glad it did so well. Its really good! |
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07/18/2011 10:30:36 AM |
Thanks for sharing your historic moment with us. I live about 100 miles from the Cape, and applied for the causeway tickets as well, but missed out in the drawing. I was not able to go up for the launch, and probably would not have, due to the low probability of launch with the weather.
You were very fortunate in many ways to have all the elements line up for you to be there and to be equipped to get this shot. I was pretty bummed that we could not see anything at all from here, though I have photographed several of the shuttle launches from here. I was there for the first launch in 1981, and we waited three nights for the "go for launch" moment.
With the vapor cones, this is one of the best "not NASA" photos I have seen of a shuttle launch. One of my friends, Bill Cantrell, sets up cameras for NASA launches at the cape. I will show this to him.
Congrats on an awesome experience, and on having an excellent story and a keepsake like this one to show your grandkids. |
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07/18/2011 08:19:05 AM |
I guess this tells how many DPCers look up once in a while. :)
Great image, thanks so much for sharing this and including space exploration with this historic image. And don't fool yourself, this is also about the photographer... it always is. I'm sorry it got voted down, way underrated imho. |
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07/18/2011 02:03:17 AM |
Thanks everyone for your fantastic comments, scores etc. I'm glad so many people have enjoyed this image and I've gotten to share some of my experience of the launch - whilst omitting the waking up at midnight and 14 hours spent sitting in traffic and queuing for buses =). It truly was great to see and I's incredibly lucky to get causeway tickets, just 6 miles from the pad. I actually booked my holiday around going out to see this. I's also very lucky the launch happened at all, the weather was terrible leading up to it and I think at midnight when I set off there was only a ~20% chance it would go ahead that day. It did, obviously, but with a hold at 31 seconds before launch which had everyone holding their breath =).
I realise my score for this challenge is really about the content not the photographer, since this shot was all about being in the right place at the right time, nothing I did that anyone else on here couldn't, so perhaps the score dropping a lot in the last ~3 days of voting was a good thing, it means the first time I get a top 10 finish I can feel like I've actually earnt it =).
For those that are interested here's the original image:
I cropped it, increased the contrast in order to cut through the atmospheric haze, and then de-noised (as spotted by giantmike). |
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07/18/2011 12:16:40 AM |
| Beautiful! Awesome shot of the event! |
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07/18/2011 12:14:34 AM |
| Well done - great finish and a helluva keepsake! |
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Comments Made During the Challenge  |
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07/17/2011 07:55:37 PM |
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07/17/2011 04:38:52 AM |
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07/16/2011 09:22:57 AM |
| Orbiter is just a smidge out of focus, but the plume is great. A great shot we'll never get another chance at... |
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07/15/2011 04:57:14 PM |
| Very cool, great capture. |
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07/15/2011 02:39:13 PM |
gorgeous shot. I grew up on the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo missions and when the Shuttle came along it was a dream come true. We envisioned building the Space Station, going back to the Moon and setting up a base. Then about now we would be reaching for Mars.
Thanks for the wonderful photograph. |
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07/14/2011 02:44:44 AM |
| I like that you've caught the vapor cones here, nice job. |
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07/13/2011 06:00:00 PM |
| Amazing and powerful shot. Fits the challenge perfectly. |
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07/13/2011 04:00:25 PM |
| Great salute to the final launch. I'm guessing you had to de-noise this quite heavily which is why the shuttle looks soft? If that were a tad bit sharper, this could have been much more powerful. Still good. |
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07/13/2011 02:13:54 PM |
| Nice capture. Lucky to see this final launch. |
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07/13/2011 11:58:30 AM |
| Bonus points for capturing a historical moment! I attended a launch once, I know how far away they put you, great job in overcoming the obstacles! |
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07/13/2011 03:56:40 AM |
OK, where do I start.
This has to be everyone's 10. Not only because of the historic significance of the last shuttle flight, or for all the beautiful elements of the picture. But most of all, I'd love to see DPC support and live the dream of space exploration.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the moment when the orbiter enters the "maximum dynamic pressure" region of the atmosphere and the engines throttle down. What follows is "go for throttle up", when it blasts full speed into orbit. I love that you caught this particular moment with the mist around the SRBs. Can't wait to read your story about this photo. |
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07/12/2011 12:17:42 PM |
| I wish I could have seen a shuttle launch in person instead of tv |
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07/11/2011 03:02:14 PM |
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07/11/2011 11:25:48 AM |
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07/11/2011 02:16:41 AM |
AWESOME!
Just fantastic timing on the pressure vapor clouds, and beautiful composition and color. |
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07/11/2011 01:01:53 AM |
| Well this will place highly simply for it's historic significance (as I think it should). A great capture as well, though. |
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07/11/2011 12:31:10 AM |
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07/11/2011 12:20:09 AM |
| You are one lucky picture taker !!!! |
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| Photographer found comment helpful. |
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