Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
It’s a sight that few people can see with their own eyes: the sun rising above the curvature of the Earth. NASA has released a spectacular series of images of an orbital sunrise from the International Space Station (ISS).
The images were taken as the ISS was 262 miles above the Pacific ocean, starting over Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and finishing up over the Aleutian Islands.
Other than capturing stunning photos of Earth, astronauts, of course, do so much more up there on the ISS. Have you ever wondered what their typical day looks like? Thomas Pesquet has squeezed it into a short video that shows a year of the ISS life in just one minute.
Exploring space requires a whole lot of high-tech gear. But there’s something you’ll find on space missions that also connects all of us on DIYP: cameras. In this video, Scott Manley guides you through the history of cameras in space. From 1961 to the more recent years, these were the cameras astronauts used to capture iconic space photos.
If you’ve always wanted to own one of the photos taken in space – well, now’s your chance. Christie’s has put a huge collection of space photos up for an auction: there are 700 lots with over 2,400 separate items in total. The collection includes iconic and rare images, such as the only photo of Neil Armstrong on the Moon.
We’ve already seen that astronauts can be darn good photographers. They show us what our world looks from “out there,” but it’s not just about the photographic skill. They feel the responsibility and motivation to document it. In this great video from MotivationHub, Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield talks about his images from space. He shares his motivation behind them and some more life wisdom that we all should listen to.
I can’t remember if I’ve ever thought of a selfie: “Now, this is what I call an epic shot!” Well, two recent snaps from NASA astronaut Jessica Meir made me change my mind. She recently tweeted two spacewalk selfies from outside the International Space Station (ISS), and they are out of this world, both literally and figuratively.
On 20 July 1969, astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first men to set their feet on the surface of the Moon. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Hasselblad has re-issued the original press release for the 500C cameras that were used to capture these historical moments.
50 years ago, the crew of Apollo 8 took the iconic Earthrise photo. In this video published by Nostalghia, you can see how exactly the famous photo was taken. It contains a visualization of the entire process, with real voices of the Apollo 8 crew as the Earth appeared behind the Moon’s surface.
NASA’s Apollo Program was an audacious mission to send astronauts to the moon – a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy’s in a bold speech in 1961 that was an ongoing part of the Cold War. NASA’s use of photography aboard spacecraft originated during the Mercury Program when John Glenn carried two cameras during his Mercury-Atlas 6 program: 1) a Leica 1g for ultraviolet spectrascopic photos, and 2) a modified Ansco Autoset (which was a rebadged Minolta Hi-Matic by the Ansco Company) which took the first human-shot, color still photos.
This is proof that astronauts are just the best. The team aboard the International Space Station decided to kill some time by releasing a large ball of water into the spacecraft and sticking a GoPro inside it. Because they are in space, the surface tension of the water caused it to take on a spherical shape, allowing enough room for the action camera to fit inside as it floated around in the cabin. There’s also some really cool footage of the astronauts attempting to handle the sphere. Their reaction to the experience is almost as fun to watch as the GoPro water ball itself.
As further proof that astraunts rule, NASA even filmed the entire thing in 3D for our ultimate viewing pleasure (so long as you have the appropriate 3D eyewear to make it work). But, even if you don’t have 3D glasses, the 2D version is pretty rad, too. Take a look at the awesome footage, below. It certainly puts a whole new perspective on underwater photography.[Read More…]
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