I'm lucky enough to live in Melbourne, Florida and watching the space shuttles smoke trail across the sky takes me to an imaginary place of wondering what's out there in the universe. Watching the space shuttle from my backyard is exciting to say the least. . . .

With all the excitement, it was difficult to hold still enough for getting a good shot of the trail of the shuttle. If you every have an oppertunity to be at the VIP center at Kennedy Space Center for a launch, these are the things you should consider for your photo shoot.

If this is the first time for you at the VIP center during a launch, put your camera away and just watch the shuttle install its fiery glory. You maybe saying "Wait a minute here, I want some good photos!".  Yes, I understand but looking down the viewfinder of your camera is no way to see a launch for the first time.  But if your insistant, here is what you do...

Assuming you are using a 35mm digital or film camera, you must have it on a sturdy tripod. With the camera secure on top, you need to install a remote shutter release. Your goal is to reduce as much vibration as possible.

You should be using a lens that is at least 400-500mm. Anything less becomes less effective. (with a 1.5 censor factor a 500mm lens is 750mm)

Well before the launch, auto focus on the space shuttle gantry, then put the auto focus controls on manual.  Do not attempt to use auto focusing because the sensor will not be able to track the shuttle through its movement and you will end up with blurry photos.

Use the "Sunny Day" rule and put your camera on manual mode. this means that you will set your F-Stop on F16, your shutter speed on 1/125, and your ISO on 100 or 200. the reason for this is when the countdown reaches 0 and the engines insight, within about 6 second the shuttle engines will become almost as bright as the sun. So as you rapidly shoot during this time, your exposures start of underexposed and move towards over exposure. In the end, you will end up with 2-3 good exposures. 

Below are some photos my son and took at a day and night launch.

Have Fun.......