danc Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 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. 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. 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.
Joey Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 Well for "trying" you did an awesome job DanC. Thanks for the pics. Worth the wait. Joey
Roy Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 My Gawd, you did good Dan! Great pics...thank you!
Davis Battah Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 You still ended up with some nice shots there. What are you shooting with in those shots Dan? Body and Lens? I was all ready to give it a shot last night myself, but al we had was cloud cover and snow fluries
lew Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 Thanks Dan, they turned out nice. We finally got to see the moon thru some light cloud cover around 8:00 last night, but of course it was far too late.
SlowPoke Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 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
Garyv Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 Thanks for posting. It was overcast here until around 12 last night so we missed the eclipse.
danc Posted March 4, 2007 Author Report Posted March 4, 2007 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.
ccmtcanada Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 (edited) 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. Edited March 4, 2007 by ccmtcanada
danc Posted March 4, 2007 Author Report Posted March 4, 2007 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.
SlowPoke Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 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
Whopper Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 Good shots Dan! Love the "Sleeping Giant" Whopper
OhioFisherman Posted March 4, 2007 Report Posted March 4, 2007 Great pictures! Solid clouds here couldn`t see anything.
mepps Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 Nice job Dan, which camera did you use for those?
Kawartha Kev Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 It was cloudy here so I did not see the eclipse however thought some of you might enjoy a moon shot using a small digital camera held up to a small telescope. I have some photos of an eclipse from a couple years back but not thru the telescope. Hope you enjoy it. Kawartha Kev
Rich Clemens Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 (edited) For 'just trying' ... you got some amazing pics. Edited March 5, 2007 by Rich Clemens
Handlebarz Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 as always dan great shots you do live in a amazing place up there. Kev that is one cool pic of the moon
danc Posted March 5, 2007 Author Report Posted March 5, 2007 Davis and Mepps. I'm using a Sony H1. But the new Sony H9 has me excited. My H1 is less than a year old, but it might be time for an upgrade.
wuchikubo Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 Dan, Great pics, thanks for sharing them with us!
bpsbassman Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 Sorry that was the "best" you could do Dan. They're awesome in my books. 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.
ehg Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 Very nice pics. Thanks for posting. Ended up seeing some of the eclipse as well around 7 pm, in Toronto, through broken clouds. Good stuff, ehg
Tacklebuster Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 great pics, I was hoping to see it for myself and perhaps take some pics, unfortunately we only had overcast sky's here. Thanks for sharing.
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