Sometimes, when gazing at the stunning images of Earth taken from the International Space Station (ISS), have you ever thought that you could capture such pictures too, just by going up to the ISS? In reality, taking impressive photos of Earth from the ISS is a challenging process.
Astronaut Thomas Pesquet has shared many beautiful images of Earth captured from the ISS, but contrary to what many might think, creating these images is not as simple as just strolling around the space station and snapping pictures.
Astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Pesquet shared the above image along with a few words (in both French and English) about what is necessary to create the stunning images he often shares on his Flickr and Twitter accounts.
“Half of the job is to plan the shot well, and for us, that starts with navigation software,” Pesquet stated. “It allows us to catalog our targets (even though I had prepared many targets before leaving Earth).”
Capturing a beautiful image from space is not a simple task.
Pesquet mentioned that the software he and other astronauts have access to informs them about the positions of day and night on Earth and also provides predictions about cloud cover. However, most importantly, he noted, it shows the future orbit. While this information is useful, it is still not enough for Pesquet to ensure the quality of the images.
“Many people think we can take pictures of specific locations on Earth at will, but it’s much harder than that. First, we only fly over specific areas periodically. Second, even if we fly over an area of interest, it might be at night, so there’s nothing to see unless it’s a city with bright streetlights. Morning or evening light is generally not good enough either. Then, clouds can obstruct the view,” he explained.
The software helps predict location, time of day, lighting, and weather.
“Ultimately, we often miss areas… when we are working. For example, we can’t just drop everything we’re doing at 14:35 because we really want to take a picture of a city, mountain, or other wonders of Earth.”
One final noteworthy point is that even when astronauts are aware of their position relative to what is below them, they still have to work hard to spot it from an altitude of 400 km and set up the camera.
Regarding the photography equipment, Pesquet uses a Nikon D5 and a 70-200mm lens.
