Why do some photos in low earth orbit look like this?

Question

The background is blown out, almost negative, and the foreground is normal but tinted blue. What's physically going on to produce such a weird effect?

Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Soyuz_19_%28Apollo_Soyuz_Test_Project%29_spacecraft.jpg

Also, not a photo, but seemingly based on the same effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Freedom_Space_Station_Concept.jpg

Answer 1

Urwumpe states that that picture was taken with "an old Russian camera".

That, of course, is quite false, because that flight was a docking of one Apollo ship, Apollo 18, and one Soyuz ship, Soyuz 19, and so, any picture taken of the Soyuz was clearly taken *from the Apollo*, and vice versa.

Answer 2

ok well this could be totally wrong but it could be totally right! when I took an astronomy class (which was not as interesting as I thought it would be) I asked almost the same question about photos taken in space and if things actually looked that way and my professor said that scientists had to enhance alot of the photos with colors and negatives because otherwise they would not be able to see the objects in the pictures...but my professor was a little nuts so I don't know if thats right. He used to work for NASA down in cocoa beach though so I'm going to assume he's know a little bit lol

Answer 3

That image has been altered in Photoshop to blank out the background. Actual images taken of satellites in orbit show the Earth and sky in the background looking quite normal.

Answer 4

The first one was shot with the sun directly behind the photographer against a cloudy earth background. It was also rotated and the image quality altered. Some cloud detail can be seen in the unaltered original.  It can be found at:

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/imag...

The second one is not a photograph at all.  It is a drawing.

Answer 5

Images like that are modified for clarity.  It's a standard photographer's technique.  Remember, in orbit and with no air to diffuse light, any shadows are total--you get a total blackout of areas in shadow--and a lot ofglare  from illuminated surfaces.

Basically, it works like this: you use a computer to blank out the backgrund to eliminate non-essential parts of the image. Then use a modification of the computer image enhancement programs we're all familiar with  to bring out the parts of the image blacked out by shadow.  That does resulting in the "tinted" effect you saw.

As I said, it's done for clarity. In this case, the image serves to show a picture of the Soyuz actually in orbit--but with all the details readily visible, which they wouldn't be in an umodified photo.

Hope that helps

Answer 6

The pictures are taken from above, relatively speaking, so the background is the cloud in Earth's sky below.

Answer 7

This image is special, you have to remember two important aspects before discussing it:

1. The photo was made with a old Russian camera. These had not been true color at all - they have been very sensible for green colors and showed all bright surfaces as white. Actually, the Soyuz would be as gray as they are today.

2. The image was shot in space, over the clouds of Earth. It was not further photo-shopped. The strong contrast and sharp shadows come from the fact that there is no air around. In vacuum, light does not get scattered.

Also, what should not surprise anyone - Earth reflects a lot of light. That's why objects look blueish sometimes, which are usually just metallic.