A few months ago I seriously considered a quick jaunt to Albuquerque to photograph the annular eclipse, but financially prudent sentiments prevailed. Those of you in the west better take some awesome pictures. Here in the midwest, it looks like the weather is going to spoil even the meager partial phases we were supposed to enjoy.
Any clues on the best way to photograph it? If the clouds clear up enough I want to but since you can't look at it I don't know how to photograph it. and don't want to miss it cause the setup isn't something I can go back and do again. lol
Any clues on the best way to photograph it? If the clouds clear up enough I want to but since you can't look at it I don't know how to photograph it. and don't want to miss it cause the setup isn't something I can go back and do again. lol
Well, unless you have a *lot* of atmospheric filtering (haze) going on, you will need as much as 10 stops of ND filter on the front of your lens. I took a couple shots a little while ago, and I was at 1/8000s, f/16, 800mm. That was *with* a 10-stop ND filter on the lens!
Nice job.
Thanks for the info Kirbic. I didn't have an ND filter handy and the clouds were in the way anyway. I did take a few shots at as fast a shutter speed as I could but still didn't get anything. I couldn't look so I just pointed in the general direction and shot. Maybe when I download them I can bring the exposure down enough to see if there was anything there or not. Certainly isn't anything to post but still wanted to see it on the puter before I delete.
Jennifer and Joe, great stuff! I would surely have loved to be on the West Coast for this one.
ETA: I really can't complain, we got storms most of the afternoon, and the clouds cleared from the western horizon less than a half hour before sunset. It was still touch and go, the sky was not completely clear. The very warn, humid afternoon set up some big atmospheric turbulence, which is evident in my results.
Not that sharp, shot through high-density film* at 432mm (35mm EQ) ... near time of maximum coverage in the Bay Area; 100 crop, no adjustments or sharpening ...
*The film I was using has a density near 4.0 on a logarithmic scale, meaning it was letting through about 1/10,000th of the available light. I had to shoot at ISO 80, f/3.5, and between 1/15-1/30th of a second exposure length. I guess I should have tried a higher ISO setting combined with a faster shutter to trade some sharpness for noise ...
If I have time, I may try to make a time-lapse of it ...
Gonna take some days to get them worked up (not even home yet), but scarbrd and I were inside Bryce Canyon shooting up at the eclipse. Got one shot with Bailey's Beads at 400 mm but the quest was to get some shots where the eclipse is blendable within a landscape. We have the raw material for it, but it's gonna take some definite work!
Just so you hear from at least one "also ran," I too was out trying for the elusive eclipse.
I found a nice parking spot right next to the ocean in Pacifica. Well, it was sited between the garbage cans and the latrines, but otherwise, there was a clear, uninterrupted view of the sun and its path to the horizon. Then I waited for the show to begin.
Yeah.
Just at prime time, the cloud cover rolled in where I was. Eventually giving up, I started home via the freeway. At the top of the hill, the cloud cover lifted just enough to provide a little veil (not too much!) and there it was! Beautiful, even at 70 mph. However, the reason I saw the eclipse at all was because I was concerned about the abnormal number of cars that looked as if they were waiting to use the off ramp. NO, they were parked - on the freeway - with folks outside their cars (!) using camera phones to capture the action.
Eeek. Nope, I didn't get a picture, but what an afternoon.
And yes, there are some very nice ones in this thread. Especially that one belonging to heavyj.
I have a couple of others that I'm working on.
These are using a 7d, with the Sigma 50-500 + 1.4x teleconverter.
I didn't have any filters, so I shot at 1/8000 and f/40 or f/51 (that's what it claims, anyway :) )
I have a real nice solar filter. Great for viewing the sun, or photography.
What I did not have, was an eclipse. Here in Missouri, it was cloudy up until prime time, but when the clouds parted, it was just a plain ol' round sun.
Glad some of you got to see the cool stuff, and I am enjoying your pictures.
