Discovery Launch - Port CanaveralFlight shots, night shots, and other challenges

Strong winds and excessive clouds contributed to Thursday's launch abort.

Pre-Launch

Birds in flight is one of the hardest types of image to capture. I've been practising for a few weeks and was finally able to produce a couple of decent pictures. The wind was around 15 to 20 knots, pretty strong. Chasing seagulls at that point was like watching several F/A-18s practising combat maneuvers...only they are a thousand times smaller with no sense of direction. I still have no idea how Constellation was able to produce this amazing shot. The pelicans however, are much more consistent gliders and therefore easier for me to follow.


The more I work with pictures the more I learn to correct strange little defects from the captured image. Take the two pelican images below.

At full resolution, note the cyan fringing at the front outline of the bird, and the magenta fringing at the back.

Aberration corrected.

The one on the top has chromatic aberrations, and the one of the bottom is corrected by slightly desaturating the magenta and cyan channel in Photoshop. I learned how to do it through this page I found on Google. Though the overall vividness of the subject might decrease somewhat, the result is an image that doesn't make you feel like you might be on LSD.

Launch Log - Port Canaveral

The space shuttle launch was supposed to happen at 2047h. Due to the wind I was worried that the launch might be canceled again. But around 1730h I checked the NASA blog and everything seemed to be in order. I phoned my friends to get ready for the drive to Port Canaveral.

I went with Chris, Joe and his sister Anna. Chris and Joe were my classmates while we were in the computer science program.

We arrived at Jetty Park, approximately 1.6 kilometer (15 miles) from launch pad 39B where the shuttle Discovery was poised for takeoff. 39B is a significant area: it was where the last launch of Challenger took place before it disintegrated in the sky.


A large crowd turned out at the park, including several news agencies. Reporters were interviewing spectators at random. Experienced launch watchers brought chairs. Several people were taking countdown information from friends watching the launch on TV.

Please forgive me for the really crappy launch pictures you are about to see. It is sad, but they really are my best ones. To purge your eyes of my filthy images, please visit NASA's mission page for much nicer photos of the launch.

Someone shouted, "TEN SECONDS!", and everyone stood up for the countdown.

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"ONE! LIFTOFF!!!"

There was loud rumble that was heard and felt for miles around. People cheered while the Discovery struggled to free itself from the earth's gravity. The rocket was so bright that for a few seconds, it became a small sun lighting up the heaven above and turning the waters into the colors of lava. It was incredible. 5 seconds into the launch, people fell into an eerie silence. It was a silence of anticipation for the separation of solid rocket boosters. For that few seconds, almost everyone witnessing the event were united in the single hope for the safety of the crew.

When the SRB separated, there was another round of cheers, and shuttle Discovery was on its way to the International Space Station.

I have learned to NEVER try and take picture of the shuttle itself at night. It is impossible with my camera. At the next night launch, I will set up a tripod, high ISO setting and slow shutter speed. At least that way, I can capture the brightness of the water and the sky as the shuttle hurls itself to space.

Post Launch

As soon as the last traces of Discovery vanished into the night, people started to leave. We decided to explore Jetty Park a little bit to avoid traffic congestion. I was still excited from seeing the night launch, and I am looking forward to the launch in March for Atlantis.

The jetty that leads out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The light tower at the end of the jetty.

The last shot was particularly interesting because I took the image in almost complete darkness. I couldn't see anything other than the blinking light from the tower. So just for fun and curiosity, I setup the tripod, change the ISO setting to 400 and the shutter speed to 60 seconds (mwahahahaha!!! :p). The result is an eerie image where the contour of the rocks is visible against the non-existent twilight.

Conclusion

The space program started out as a tool of war against the Soviet Union. Now it has evolved (at least in terms of public relations) into a vision for unity and peace amongst people of different nations. I don't know how optimistic I am about the potential of the space program, seeing that it can be use for betterment (e.g. researching hydroponic farming under low gravity) or destruction (e.g. Strategic Defense Initiative).

Nevertheless, living creatures will never stop being curious. Somewhere in the universe someone will look up to the sky and wonder...

Skylog

Bing learned that:

Sky + (ISO > 100) == VERY BAD

Planespotting: 25 - 26 Nov 2006

Last week while I was planning this spotting trip, I decided that TPA would be a better place for Mito's debut, since it is one of the few airports where we are allowed to take pictures on top of the parking lot. I will be very sad if this privilege is revoked in the future.

Part I: Battery Powered Car

Sunset, taken from the emergency roadside on I-4.

I was approximately 47 miles from Tampa when Schroeder started to sputter and decelerate. I pulled over to the emergency lane, and immediately the car died before I could turned it off. Schroeder is a car that I have had a love hate relationship for the last five years. That day, he decided to become an electric car when his alternator broke en route. Trouble is, he is a 1989 Toyota Celica. He does not run on battery.

Within minutes of breaking down, an I-4 Road Ranger pulled up behind my car and inquired about my problem. He decided to test out the battery to make sure that the alternator was the issue. While he was running tests, I stood there staring at the horizon, and like an idiot, went into the car and took out my camera. There is no safer place to take photographs than standing on the interstate a feet away from traffic moving at 130 km/h. Everytime a car passed by my car moved a little due to the strong wind.

The Road Ranger accessed that by the time a tow truck comes and take my car away, all the auto repair shops will be closed. So he drove me to the nearest Pep Boys, I bought some oil and a brand new alternator, went back to the rest stop and performed the transplant right there. Many thanks to the one I-4 Road Ranger who helped me get back on the road to Tampa.

Part II: Tampa International Airport - IATA:TPA

A model of 787 on display at TPA with Continental livery

Weather in Tampa couldn't have been more perfect. There was no cloud in the sky, a rare occurance in the bay area. I drove by MacDill Air Force base and stopped on the side of the road to take a few pictures of Tampa Bay, which connects to the Gulf of Mexico. Not surprisingly, this is also one of the dangerous places for hurricanes. Nonetheless, for that day it was a very peaceful and beautiful.

As a quick summary of this spotting trip, here are the statistics:

• 120 - number of photos taken during spotting
• 10 - number of photos of ok, but not great quality
• 0 - number of photos good enough for Airliners.net

Air Canada

Model: Airbus 321 (Tail No.: C-GJVX)
Flight No.: 903, Destination: Toronto Pearson (YYZ)
Departure: 1320h
Runway: 36L

Air Canada visits Tampa only a few times a day, around five arrival/departure flights total as of 26 November 2006. They come from Denver, New York City, and Toronto, Ontario. On December 15, Air Canada will add direct routes to Montreal and Seattle.

AirTran

Model: Boeing 737-700 (Tail No.: N268AT)
Flight No.: 122, Destination: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (ATL)
Departure: 1110h
Runway: 36R

AirTran is a frequent visitor at TPA. Often one does not fly international (or even across the US) without being transferred to ATL with this little Orlando-based airline.

Southwest Airlines

Boeing 737 with new Southwest livery

Originally called Air Southwest, this fairly young low-cost airline is now almost 10 years old. Southwest can be sighted at all times at TPA, sometimes taking off in sequence. One particularly amusing hour was when five Southwest 737s took off within 30 minutes. I overheard a plane watcher say "Oh, it's just Southwest again. This is getting boring."

Southwest is currently an all Boeing 737 fleet.

Boeing 737 (Tail No.: ?)
Flight No.: 250, Destination: Chicago Midway (MDW)
Departure: 1110h
Runway: 36R

Boeing 737, old Southwest livery (Tail No: N650SW)
Flight No.:1576, Destination: Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
Departure: 1335h
Runway: 36R

JetBlue

Model: Airbus A320 (Tail No.: N632JB)
Flight No.: 65, From: JFK
Arrival: 1338h
Runway: 36L

I jokingly call JetBlue the "Airbus counterpart" of an all-Boeing Southwest Airlines, since its fleet consists of only Airbus A320s and Embraer 190s. The principles behind the two companies are very similar, but JetBlue is a younger airline and currently more generous of the two in terms of customer service. One of my friends rode JetBlue a few months ago and came back with the words: "Food! They served REAL FOOD on the plane!!! And it was FREE!!!" From what I've heard, JetBlue is a really fun company to work for.

Unusual Finds

Spirit Airlines, Model: Airbus A319 (Tail No.: N157NK "Spirit of Orlando")
Flight No.: 341, From: Atlantic City (ACY)
Arrival: 1115h

Spirit Airlines is another Florida-based company that provides direct flights to tourist places like the Bahamas and Atlantic City, NJ. I like the livery on the plane, the monochrome steel grey against red gives the plane a very retro-futurist look.

There is only one regular flight with Midwest Airlines, and that is flight no. 805 direct from Milwaukee, WI to TPA, arrival at 1105h. Tail no. for this MD-82 is N814ME.



I also saw a cute, sunny little propeller plane landing on 36R. The livery is eye catching with its liberal use of Caribbean blue.

Conclusion

Photographing planes is not easy. At least with with my camera which has a digital viewfinder, it was hard for me to continue tracing the path of a plane taking off when the viewfinder was still on the previously snapped image. That is the advantage of the SLR, so while the image is being stored, you can still follow the plane with the viewfinder until you are ready to take another shot. Another problem with Mito is that his burst shooting is not very good, but I knew that from reading dpreviews. I used continuous autofocus for this trip, and looking at the results that might not have been the best idea. Most of my plane pictures came out blurry, and even the clearest ones do not look as sharp as some of the plane photos from Airliners.net. It is either the autofocus or my shutter speed was not fast enough.

Hopefully with practice I can take better pictures on my next spotting trip. May be next year I will produce something that I feel worthy to be submitted to Airliners.net. Any suggestions are welcomed.

No More Red Lights

Riding a scooter and/or motorcycle in the US can be a real pain, especially at various traffic lights where there are sensors beneath the asphalt to trigger a change in the signal. Scooter riders like myself get stranded constantly because the light simply will not change color when we are at an intersection. Contrary to popular belief, the sensors do not detect the weight of the vehicle, but rather the metallic content of the vehicle itself (specifically iron). Scooters and motorcycles do not have as much iron as a basic car, so the traffic lights do not acknowledge their existence.

OhGizmo! recently posted a neat tool that will save us two wheelers from checking for cops before going straight or turning left on a never-changing red light. Signal Sorcerer is a device that allows the sensors to detect you regardless of your vehicle's metallic content and triggers the timer for the traffic light. It is not illegal, and it is very, VERY handy for scooter riders.

Click here for the website.

Skylog (a cold day in Melbourne)

It is rare for southern Florida to go below 10 degrees, but when it does it is fantastic (at least for me). My co-workers were griping about the cold, but I used to live in places where sheets of ice form on the sidewalk. During snow days, when you cannot walk (unless you have ice shoes), you sit down on the sidewalk and slide down the slope. Florida winter simply cannot be called harsh.

Today I tried shooting everything in RAW. I figured instead spending the time on the spot trying to figure out the best settings (and there are so many), I might as well just concentrate on the fstop and shutter speed and tweak the images later. A few of my photography friends suggested it, and in the end I think it is a better idea. Plus I just got my 4 GB SDHC card...can't let it go to waste now can I? ;)

New Haven, 192

I ran out after work to the bridge in order to practise on taking sunsets. The precious twenty minutes I had on the bridge, I was able to literally witness the sun sinking into the horizon. It was pretty cold (especially when you're close to the ocean) and after 20 or so shots I couldn't really feel my hands. It was worth it though. How can you die and not see something like this?

Skylog

This photo was actually an accident. I meant to focus on the sky in the background, but I ended up focussing on the silhouette of the leaves. But I wasn't really awake at 700h this morning when I stopped the car at a nearby retirement housing to take a few shots on my way to work. The fstop I think was too small...

Skylog & The Carnival

Joe and Anna took me to the Space Coast Fair at Cocoa, FL. Though I'm not one for carnivals, I haven't been to a fair since I was 12. Luckily for me, the sky was beautiful and I took several pictures en route to the fair.

Interesting "fish-eye"-ish effect...without the lens!

The sky is always changing...

Silhouette of the rides against the majestic sky.

One of the patrons. Her eye makeup was interesting...

This photograph actually demonstrated how powerful these cameras can be: When you view the image at normal size, you'll notice that there are small dots scattered around the sky. At first I thought the lens was dirty, but there was nothing on it, not even a speck of dust. It turned out that those specks were little birds flying...and I didn't see them when I took the picture because they were so far away.

I would've taken more pictures of the carnival, but currently I am using the stock 32 MB SD card that came with Mito...which unfortunately, means that I can only take up to 12 photos at 3 MP.

Meet Mito, My New Friend

4:3 aspect, MF

If you've seen Nausicaa, Valley of the Wind, then you would get the reference to Nausicaa's loyal one-eyed steward. The etymology of his name means "to see" in Japanese. Mito arrived via Fedex at 1220h. I specifically used my lunch hour to drive home and sign for him. He traveled two long days from New Jersey to Orlando, then to Rockledge where they deploy the packages to the residents of Brevard County. Mito is a Panasonic Lumix FZ50K. For a camera with a lot of manual settings, he is surprisingly easy to use. The secret to Mito is the Leica lens that gives him an edge in the competitive field of digital cameras.

As soon as the work day ended, I took some test shots on 192, a bridge that connects the barrier island to the rest of Florida. I used to jog there because of the scenery but I had to stop when my knees started to hurt. The sunsets on 192 are incredible.

16:9 aspect, MF, on bridge 192

16:9 aspect, MF, Indian River

I'm considering getting some filters for the light shots, and maybe a telephoto lens for planespotting. Hopefully I'll have the latter before the next spotting trip, which will be in Rockledge, FL.

4:3 aspect, AF, probably faster shutter speed for better image resolution?

16:9 aspect, AF, boat fishing

4:3 aspect, AF

Coming from someone who has used a poor resolution palmcorder for most of her photography, this is a huge leap for me. This is my inaugural posting to Mito. May this be a start of a long and beautiful relationship.