Dec 2, 2014 6:30 AM

Gallery: The Nerve-Wracking Process of Shooting the Very Last Space Shuttle Launch

Dan Winters
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Shooting a shuttle requires Winters to work backwards. He mapped each shot out in storyboard form.
Dan Winters
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The diagrams help him visualize what he'd like to capture in the frame.

Dan Winters
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Winters mapped out the location of each of the 11 cameras he used to document each launches, as well as the corresponding focal lengths he wanted to use for each.
Dan Winters
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Shooting the shuttle head-on is one thing. It's more difficult to capture the shots as the shuttle flies out of the frame.

Dan Winters
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Winters mounted five cameras close to the launch pad to capture the firey liftoff.
Dan Winters
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The corresponding tight shot.

Dan Winters
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Others were farther away on the mounds
Dan Winters
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Which resulted in looser, full-shuttle images.

Dan Winters
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Sometimes the best shot has very little to do with the main subject. The cover shot for Winters' book doesn't even show the shuttle.

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