Pleased to share my favorite high-resolution capture of the Artemis...

@AJamesMcCarthy
Andrew McCarthy@AJamesMcCarthy
9 views Apr 04, 2026 ~1 min read
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Pleased to share my favorite high-resolution capture of the Artemis II launch- the moment the SLS is clearing the tower, captured by a sound-triggered camera placed near the pad.

I'll have prints linked in my bio for this one, and here's a short thread about how it was captured
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To get pics this detailed, you have to be CLOSE. A telephoto lens from miles off isn't enough. But that distance would severely injure any human. What's the solution? Pre-placed cameras and sound activated triggers.

Strangely- that isn't the biggest challenge of shooting these.
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The plume is BRIGHT. Controlling your exposure to not overexpose it is a huge challenge, especially since you can't take a test photo and adjust your settings mid-launch.

This is how the raw looks. All the detail in the shadows is still there, it just needs to be brightened!
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This is why using quality equipment matters- being able to pull all the information out of the shadows to have a photo that will work as a fine art print and not be too noisy is hard!

Get your limited edition print here for a short time: cosmicbackground.io/pages/the-rise…
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I’m glad nobody noticed this gross artifact (common Photoshop masks glitch) that I caught and fixed 😂
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