Photography Fails

Most people post their photography wins. Today I’ll post a photography fail.

I went to Port Canaveral to watch the USSF-52/OTV-7 launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. I had an opportunity to see the first Falcon Heavy launch in 2018:

While I’ve seen most of the other SpaceX launches from further away, I wanted to see this one as both boosters were landing at the cape vs. on the drone ships, which is an experience in itself, and best viewed from Jetty Park in Port Canaveral.

I got there 3 hours early to get a parking spot close to the water, and wandered around the jetty and beach, and snapped a few shots.

Eventually it got dark and people started to accumulate along the water with their blankets and chairs, so I decided to set up before I lost a clear view of the area.

We were treated to a nice moonrise over the ocean – had I checked ahead of time I would have brought a tele with me just for that, but I didn’t want to risk losing my spot by going back to the car.

The cloud cover was clearing, the weather was cool, and everything looked great. Dialed in the camera settings in bulb mode, took a couple of test shots and waited for the launch window to arrive.

In this shot there was already a warning of what was happening, but I didn’t notice the blooming of the lights when I was looking at the camera’s LCD screen.

As the launch window approached, just the right combination of temperature and ocean breeze conspired to create the conditions for water to condensate on just about every surface – but I didn’t notice in time. The rocket lifted off, and I took a shot of the ascent, the coasting phase, and then another to capture the booster landings with the expectation that I would composite those together. It was a beautiful launch – the boostback burns were lit up by the full moon and created a show of their own while the main and second stages continued on with their own “jellyfish” illuminated exhaust plumes. The boosters signaled their approach with the first of the deceleration burns high overhead, and then lit up the area as they landed. This was closely followed by the thunderclaps of sonic booms. A wonderful experience overall.

I looked at the pictures on the camera’s LCD and immediately noticed something was wrong. They were a fuzzy, bloomy mess!

I had an immediate feeling I knew what had happened, confirmed when I turned my headlamp back on:

Completely covered in condensation! A moment of disappointment, but I got over it pretty quickly. It was a great viewing experience, and I know I’ll have future opportunities to shoot more of these. This is that kind of failure that stings just enough to make it a memorable learning experience. I won’t forget to have light and microfiber in hand next time I’m shooting a launch in cool weather. Live and learn!