Total Eclipse 2017 |
I learned of the eclipse four months or so prior. I visited this map several times, researching Plans A, B and C. Following the absolute dead center line of totality, it went across the grounds (and through the roof!) of Lady Amelia's Bed and Breakfast in Cross Hill, South Carolina, a beautiful French-themed spot with a classy restaurant and antique store. That was my Plan A.
They'd been booked solid for over a year, but they invited me to their Eclipse party, a reserved affair for what turned out to be about 50-75 folks. We booked a chain hotel in Clinton, less than a half hour from Lady Amelia's. For the month preceding the eclipse, I researched, practiced, and practiced some more. I purchased a Marumi Solar Filter - similar to the special glasses, the filter allows photographing the sun with no damage to the camera or lens. With good focusing, you can see sun spots on the sun (I kept trying to clean the filter - it took me longer than it should've to realize the spots were movng with the sun). The small LED screen on my camera made focusing a difficult challenge. I downloaded an app, DSLR Controller, that allowed me, using Bluetooth, to see the live image on my ten inch tablet. That's all I wanted the app and the tablet for - focusing. Until... I realized I could control my camera from the app. Not just the focus, but remotely shutter speeds, F-stops and ISO as well. And bigger than that, I could do bracketing based on shutter speed. Sure, my camera can do that, but up to three events. The app is unlimited (I went with eleven). I didn't know what to expect for totality, other than, for my spot near the porch in Cross Hill: Start 2:39:26pm Midpoint 2:40:44pm End 2:42:03pm Before and after, there's so much partial-eclipse time (almost 90 minutes each) that I could do all that on the fly. But totality for Cross Hill lasted 157 seconds. That's going from pretty-bright to pretty dark, and back again. Based on several resources on the net, I felt safer with a wide range of shutter speeds. I started with a quicker shutter speed Exposure Value (EV) range for the beginning of totality. (Well, I started 39 seconds before totality, to get the diamond ring/beading effects). I did three sets of eleven shots, then adjusted the EV by plus 6 steps, did two more sets of eleven shots, adjusted the EV another plus 6 steps, two more sets. Another plus 7 steps and did three sets. The middle of the second set here was to match the midpoint of totality (2:40:44). From there, I went back the way I came - minus instead of plus. I added a fourth set to the very end, just in case I was too quick or skipped a set. (Hey, there's this thing going on, ya know?) In practice, the whole process, 198 shots, consistently took 3 minutes and 55 seconds, whether I was shooting with the lens cap on or through the blinds . That's basically 39 seconds before and 39 seconds after totality. Perfect. So fast forward to the eclipse - during the whole pre-totality phase (First Contact), we're fighting clouds - five minutes good, five minutes bad, two minutes good, etc. The last bit of a large cloud departed the sun just as my totality routine got started. It was clear for the next twenty minutes or so. Incredible. My routine actually took 3:54 seconds. That thrills the geek in me. I didn't get a chance to take a look at what those 198 shots did for me until the next day. I am thrilled. There's always got to be something you'd do different. In my case, the two to five longest exposures for each set were variably over-exposed. The shortest exposures were fine. I think next time, I'll go with 6-8 shot sets, eliminating the longer exposures. That means more sets, or additional, smaller "plus and minus'ing" steps. The next US-based eclipse is in 2024. For that, I've got two levels of excitement. First, I get to do (and experience) this again. Second, I used a 24 megapixel camera with a 55-250 5.6 zoom lens (kept it at 250 the whole time). Think what's going to be on the marketplace seven years from now. In the meantime, here are a few favorites from yesterday, some cropped, some not: |