Shuttle Endeavour and Spectators

[J_Thompson]

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Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles. The space shuttle Endeavour flies behind the Hollywood Hills accompanied by a NASA T-38 chase plane. I didn't notice all the spectators on the mountain's fire roads and hiking trails until I downloaded the picture to my computer, as they were about 1.2 miles away. V-Lux 2 @ 500mm

[pauledell]

John,

 

An exciting shot of the Endeavour nearing its final resting place. There was obviously a lot of interest with the spectators looking on.

 

Paul

[stuny]

John -

 

Very nice. Perhaps even stronger with a slight increase in shadow slider.

[J_Thompson]

Thanks, Paul. Yes, there was a lot of interest all around the greater LA area, not just where I was. Children were ditching school while adults were leaving work just to witness this once in a lifetime spectacle.

 

Stuart, thanks for the suggestion but this image is already heavily processed. I added extra contrast and a little saturation just to make it "pop" a little more. I'm guessing that the long distance and atmospheric conditions were just not working in everyone's favor that day as it was also quite humid. Note the blue haze between the foreground ridge and the rear ridge as an example. The next morning had even more haze so we can all feel lucky for the day we were given.