Where to get new inspiration for your photography?
It just happens sometimes. It’s nice weather outside and you want to go out to take pictures, but you’re fresh out of ideas. I’ve created a small list of subjects from which you could get some inspiration or ideas to get out and do something when you’re out of ideas. Use your imagination when you read through the list and that cool idea might just pop up into your mind.
I want to take you on a short tour of some of the most famous and awe inspiring photographs NASA astronauts and robotic explorers have made. And I also want to give a short look into photography itself.
I always wondered how astronauts are trained to use all the photography and video equipment they take to space. They use professional gear, off course. But they are not professional photographers. So I am still wondering how they shoot their pictures and how their training works and what it involves. I have requested the photography related training manuals astronauts use at NASA. But I’ll have to wait for a reply to see if they are in the public domain, and if I can get hold of them. Mike Massimino (currently mission specialist on STS-125) is the first astronaut to tweet on twitter from space. He said just prior to the launch of atlantis on mission STS-125:
photo/tv refresher class - how to work all of our photo cameras, video cameras and how to downlink all the photos and videos to Earth 8:21 AM May 7thfrom web
Another useful quote I have found was on this website:
Extensive training in photography is available to members of all flight crews, during their general training period and during intensive training for specific missions (Jones et al. 1996). Most photographs have been taken by astronauts on a time-available basis. Astronaut photographs are thus a subset of the potential scenes, selected both by opportunity (orbital parameters, lighting, and crew workloads and schedules) and by the training, experience, and interest of the photographers.
Here are some random things I found while browsing the web.
S125-E-006636 (13 May 2009) --- Astronaut John Grunsfeld, STS-125 mission specialist, uses a still camera at an overhead window on the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle Atlantis during flight day three activities.
S125-E-007334 (14 May 2009) --- Astronaut Gregory C. Johnson, STS-125 pilot, uses a still camera at an overhead window on the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle Atlantis during flight day four activities.
Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, Expedition One flight engineer, prepares to photograph some geographic targets of opportunity through a viewing port on the International Space Station's Zvezda Service Module in December of 2000.
ISS Expedition 13 cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov handles a big (800mm nikkor?) lens with more photographic equipment on the rack.
Cool video - It’s Gene Carnan carrying around a Hasselblad 500 EL. On the moon (apollo 17).
So on to the 10 most inspiring space photographs (according to me, in random order)!
#10
Views from Mars
The Von Braun mound on mars. Taken by mars exploration rover spirit with its navigation camera.
Click on Views from Mars for a larger version
#9
Our sun
On September 30, 2001, TRACE observed an M1.0 flare in an active region very near to the solar limb. Fragments of a prominence hovered above the regions, with filamentary dark (relatively cool) material moving along the field lines, which then spread to form this dragon-like bright outline
Click on Our sun for a larger version
#8
Aurora Borealis from space
This is a time lapse video made from still images taken by astronaut Don Pettit on the international space station.
#7
Our earth
Almost every astronaut says that earth looks fragile from space. Our atmosphere is razor thin when viewed from space (ISS). We should take better care of our planet.
Click on Our earth for a larger version
#6
Jupiter
The great red spot on Jupiter, taken by Voyager 1.
click on The great red spot for a larger version
The Galilean satellite Io floats above the cloud tops of Jupiter in this image captured on the dawn of the new millennium, January 1, 2001 10:00 UTC (spacecraft time), two days after Cassini’s closest approach. The image is deceiving: there are 350,000 kilometers — roughly 2.5 Jupiters — between Io and Jupiter’s clouds. Io is the size of our Moon, and Jupiter is very big.
Click on Jupiter with Io for a larger version
#5
Symmetrical International space station
This image shows the ISS after addition of the final pair of solar wings during mission STS-119 (25 march 2009). The ISS is the best example of what can be achieved with international cooperation.
Click on Symmetrical International space station for a larger version
#4
Our solar system
This is a view of our solar system. These where the last images taken by the Voyager spacecraft. It is the first picture ever taken from outside of our solar system.
Click on Our solar system for a larger version
#3
Sunset on another world
This is an image shot by the panoramic camera on the mars exploration rover Spirit on may 19th 2005. It shows a sunset behind the rim of the Gusev crater on Mars.
Click on Sunset on another world for a larger version
#2
Hubble Ultra Deep Field
The deepest portrait of the visible universe ever achieved by humankind. About 10000 galaxies are shown in this one picture. Mind boggling.
See hubblesite.org for more information and high resolution downloads.
Click on Hubble Ultra Deep Field for large version
#1:
Earthrise
The earth rises above the horizon of the moon.
Taken by astronaut William Anders in 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission on a Hasselblad 500 EL with 1/250 at f/11. Manual focus should be pretty fast here. Just rotate the ring to infinity and you are good.
This picture really shows how small our world actually is and opens up the mind for bigger ideas.
Click on earthrise for large version
The only thing I can hope for now is that they will take a professional photographer to the moon (me! me! me!) like they took Harrison H. Schmitt, a geologist, to the moon on December 7, 1972, on Apollo 17.
Beter picture guide to landscape photography by Michael Busselle
I would just like to share this book I found for a bargain price. It’s about the process and technique to get the most out of landscape photographs.
What I like about this book is the way it is written. It has illustrations, process and static info. Firstly it has large wonderful pictures, captioned with the location where it was taken, and the technical details, like camera, film, filter(s) and lens selection. The most interesting part though is the process. Michael has split the photographic process in 3 parts. Seeing, thinking and acting. Each element of the process has a short text accompanying it, with keywords in a larger and bold font. I think that this is a marvelous idea. You can read it in full once. And when you want to fresh up, or want to look up something, you can just flip through the pages and pick up the important keywords in one glance and reference those to the illustration. The largest part of the book is the section about the photographs and the process of creating them. This part is broken up in three parts: subject, composition and light. These subjects are again broken up into smaller parts. But it also contains a bit about equipment, selecting film, understanding exposure, using filters and even has a few pages on presenting your work.
The book also has a small glossary which can be useful of you are not up to speed with all the basics of photography.
I paid a very low price (for photography book standards) for it, it was a very light read, and it has not disappointed me.
I almost never actually do it although I know I really should. Who would want to go out in a 8 bft storm? Who would want to get soaked in heavy rain? Who would want to go out in the freezing cold or snow? Who would like the risk of getting struck by lightning? Bad weather photography can be very rewarding if you’re able to put those discomforts aside.
All these things sound horrible. But you’ll feel differently after going home, taking a hot shower and looking at the really moody pictures you’ve just taken. Bad weather pictures have always fascinated me. Mostly because of the mood of the pictures themselves. But also because people just don’t go out with that kind of weather. So bad weather picture are rare occurrences for amateur photographers.
Rainbow in the morning sun during a fierce downpour.
The moody part of bad weather photography can be enhanced by including people, or making people the subject of your images. People tend to “lock up” in bad weather. They hide in jackets with hoods, take shelter underneath anything that keeps them dry and huddle up beneath umbrellas if they can. Faces of people take on specific “bad weather faces”. Those expressions range from the awe, playfulness, annoyance to outright disgust. The old man holding his hat, overlooking the sea when a bad storm is pounding waves on the dunes. The kid on the breakwater, cheering at the rainbows that appear in the air when large storm waves hit the breakwater. Grown men getting too close to the breaking 5 metre waves and getting soaked. Someone leaning in the wind without falling over. Someone running across the street with his briefcase above his head. The hard expression on someones face while cycling against the wind in the rain.
All these situations can deliver some stunningly powerful and moody images.
Big waves
You can use any stationary object to help steady your camera in stormy weather.
There is also a certain technical challenge to bad weather photography. You need to keep the front element of your lens dry. You need to hold the camera as stable as possible while in a storm, and compensate your movements with high shutter speeds. And al this often in low light. You can’t use a tripod in a storm because they are just as stable as holding the camera, even if it goes low enough so it doesn’t flip over.
Weather and dust sealed lens.
Then there is the gear problem. How are you going to protect your expensive photography gear in those conditions? You can buy the most expensive gear off course. Most expensive camera’s and lenses are weather sealed. They always mention weather sealed instead of proofed, because they never give a real guarantee that it is actually weatherproof. But there are also cheap alternatives. A lot less practical in my opinion though. But they are certainly worth to take a look at. You can create your own rain covers from plastic bags.
Weather sealed camera
You can also buy commercially available solutions like the disposable rain sleeves from op-tech, or you can buy more permanent rain protection for a bit more money. Also good to know is that batteries lose their capacity when handled in extreme cold (think sub zero degrees centigrade). So always bring enough batteries if it is reaaaly cold, and keep them as warm as possible.
You’ll get a feeling of accomplishment just by defying the elements. And it will also reward you with some unusual pictures. So my advice is: overcome the discomforts and difficulties of bad weather photography, and give it a try!
Made while being cold and soaked to the bone with wet snow. Very moody and dark.
NASA: 50 years of photography in space. 
