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Lunar eclipse photos


danc

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The conditions were just perfect here for viewing the eclipse last night. There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day. And the bonus was that from Thunder Bay, you'd be watching the eclipse over Lake Superior. Sis and I headed out about an hour and a half before the scheduled 6:40 pm start time to get a few sunset shots of the area that we chose to view the event. It was only a 5 minute drive from home. 4 or 5 inches of fresh snow on Friday sweetened the anticipation.

 

Here's a few shots taken while the sun was still up and/or setting.

 

eclipse5.jpg

 

eclipse10.jpg

 

eclipse8.jpg

 

eclipse9.jpg

 

eclipse6.jpg

 

The sun was now fully set. But where was the moon? It was well past the local 6:40 pm local starting time. We were puzzled to say the least. It wasn't until a few minutes after 7 that we could finally see it. By this time the total eclipse was over and we only noticed it because of a small thin crescent that was now lit up by the sun. It was still an awesome sight. The shaded part was a coppery, brownish orange color. Time to get to work with the camera. Big problems now. I guess that my camera had been out in the cold too long and I was unable to make critical adjustments such as shutter speed and aperture settings. The camera just wouldn't respond. So I was forced to take my shots in a semi automatic mode. Aperture priority for you camera guys. This setting overexposed my shots much more than I would have liked. Anyways, here's about the best that I got.

 

eclipse3.jpg

 

eclipse4.jpg

 

eclipse2.jpg

 

eclipse1.jpg

 

Finally, here's a shot that Sis got showing the moon over the "Sleeping Giant", a local landmark that is a symbol of Thunder Bay.

 

eclipse11.jpg

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Good effort Dan, you still some nice shots. Sis's sleeping giant shot is nice too.

Question for you...

 

On eclipse3.jpg (for example) what would you have done differently?

Your black is pretty black.

Moon is yellowish. (mine are often yellow, overexposed LOL)

 

Your camera likely has shutter priority but you used aperture priority. If I couldn't go full manual I would have went shutter priority. Should I be more concerned with the aperture for low light? my instinct tells me to leave the shutter open.

-Brian

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Your camera likely has shutter priority but you used aperture priority. If I couldn't go full manual I would have went shutter priority. Should I be more concerned with the aperture for low light? my instinct tells me to leave the shutter open.

-Brian

 

You are absolutely right Brian. Shutter priority would have been a better choice considering the circumstances. But my both my aperture and shutter speed settings are controlled by the same dial. And it would only work intermittently at best last night. Since there are only 10 aperture settings compared to 46 shutter speed settings, I thought that I might have more luck changing a small range of aperture settings rather than a large range of shutter speed settings, if in fact I could change anything at all. I really would have liked to use full manual of course. Maybe next time. I think that there's another lunar eclipse in August. My camera shouldn't freeze up then.

 

Here's a moon shot that I took last summer when I first bought my camera shooting full manual.

 

firstmoon.jpg

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WOW!! Breathtaking...much better than my attempt back in 2003. Mind you, I was using a $150 Kodak 3.1 MP digital...only 3x optical zoom. I did adjust the exposure settings to 3 seconds or so. I accidentally used the digital zoom, so I lost some resolution. This was my attempt fro 2003...not even in the same league as yours!

 

I loved the sunset pic...with the sillouhette of the trees.

 

gallery_60_22_296.jpg

 

gallery_60_22_5679.jpg

Edited by ccmtcanada
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WOW!! Breathtaking...much better than my attempt back in 2003. Mind you, I was using a $150 Kodak 3.1 MP digital...only 3x optical zoom.

 

Those shots remind me of my first attempts back in the same time era Cliff. But I was using a 2.4 mp Fuji back then. I don't think people realize how difficult it is to photograph the moon. You really have to take control of your camera and make it do what you want it to do, rather than letting the camera decide what's best.

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Now that's a great moonshot Dan!

I'm glad my instincts were correct but I'm just a trial and error novice so I thought I should pose the question.

Moonshots are tough enough without having an eclipse changing your lighting!

-Brian

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Sorry that was the "best" you could do Dan. :unsure: They're awesome in my books. :thumbsup_anim:

Was hazy down in the Niagara region. I got video from an awesome eclipse in the late 90's. I can remember how the moon really looked 3 dimensional, truly like a ball floating in the sky.

Great job Bud and thanks for sharing.

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