NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in March as SpaceX Crew-8 mission commander.
During his time aboard the orbital post, Dominick has shared some amazing images both inside and outside the ISS.
Keen photographers will be pleased that the astronaut is also sharing the camera settings he used for each of the shots. The last one is a real beauty and shows the moon above Earth just before sunrise.
1/ A sliver of moon emerges from the glowing clouds and appears to be looking toward the horizon in anticipation of the imminent sunrise.
1/250, f5.6, ISO 6400, 170mm (50 to 500mm lens), cropped pic.twitter.com/6vq9NfdXx0
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) July 6, 2024
This creative image from the inside of an ISS module sees Dominic using a flash to experiment with ‘light painting’.
Happy 4th of July!
There are no fireworks on the ISS, so we used camera flashes. Experimented with “light painting” today.
15 sec, f22, 24mm, ISO 500. Lights off. We manually activated our own flashes. Ambient light only from computers and LED experiments.
1/ Floating through pic.twitter.com/fe8arQh3aJ
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) July 4, 2024
In this set of images, Dominick shows how different shutter speeds can affect how the Earth appears in an image.
A common topic of questions when posting night images from the ISS is exposure length. There are instructions for shooting astrophotography from the ground, but what happens when you shoot at orbital speed? The theme shows images at ISO 6400, f1.4 and exposures ranging from 10 to 1/4 seconds pic.twitter.com/3YNwTeoOX7
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) July 1, 2024
Here’s a stunning night shot from the ISS showing the Nile River leading to the Mediterranean Sea.
Flying up the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea.
1/5s, f1.4, ISO 12800
Need to subtract the dark frame and other processing later. It was great to see on such a clear night. pic.twitter.com/fMucJdfw74
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) June 30, 2024
This shows an astronaut looking out a window on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the ISS. Dominick has also experimented with time-lapses, which you can watch below.
A short time lapse made of individual images taken when finding the right light for the image above. The faint blue light from a moon just beginning to rise over the horizon in front of the ISS illuminates Dragon. pic.twitter.com/QeTJwYSAb3
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) June 29, 2024
Here, Dominick places the camera on a monopod and uses a slow 1/5 shutter speed to create the sense of movement in a detached image from inside one of the station’s many modules.
Zooming into the lab on the ISS. pic.twitter.com/6jzajAyy1E
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) June 28, 2024
This image shows part of the ISS with a dramatic background of star trails.
Experimenting with long exposures trying to capture star trails with the beautiful structures of the ISS. In the final five 30-second exposures, the sun cracked the horizon creating brilliant blue in the service module’s solar arrays. 5 stacked images, 24mm, f4, ISO 800. pic.twitter.com/eyX92X2CoY
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) June 25, 2024
Finally, check out this awesome time-lapse photo showing the Starliner spacecraft docked with an aurora in the distance.
Time-lapse video of the aurora streaming behind the Starliner taken from a Dragon window with Butch and Suni in the Starliner window. Their flashlights illuminate the cabin.
0.5 second interval, f 1.4, 6400 ISO, 1/4 second exposure, 24mm lens. pic.twitter.com/gZuxYZu0Af
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) June 16, 2024
Another past ISS resident also gained a reputation for taking stunning photographs. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet usually turned his lens toward Earth 250 miles below, capturing stunning images that perfectly encapsulate the beauty of our planet.