Eclipse followup
Thursday, February 21, 2008, 12:44 am •
Things that conspired against my inaugural encounter with eclipse photography tonight:
- I knew I would need a scarf to brave the cold, so I had to run to the store to buy one. They only had one scarf left in the store, so now I have a stupid camouflage scarf. Technically, this isn't something that conspired against photography, but I did feel ridiculous.
- The 300mm lens I borrowed didn't work on my camera; I got a software error every time I tried to take a picture, locking up the camera body for a minute or so.
- It's hard to use a camera with thick winter gloves. I shouldn't complain because I'll bet it's harder still if you can't feel your fingers.
- With cheap lenses, you get special effects for free, like lens flare and ghosting. And not fancy, artsy lens flare (if there is such a thing), but the whoops, eww, cheap-lens-looking lens flare.
- Frankly, I was expecting it to be a little colder than 12 degrees out there. But it was plenty cold to suck all the willpower out of my batteries and/or camera . I have never before had a fresh battery apparently die after 30 minutes.
So basically, in case you haven't guessed by now, the night became a lost cause about 45 minutes into the whole affair -- disappointingly, 30 minutes before totality.
My first instinct for shooting the eclipse was to include some interesting foregrounds, but it was just too dark outside and the moon was just too bright. I think trying to go to a dark secluded place was a mistake. Light pollution is not really a factor when it comes to seeing the moon, and an illuminated foreground might have actually registered in the camera when exposing for the moon. I can definitely see the appeal of an eclipse near sunrise/sunset, where the ambient lighting evens things out much more. Also, the kind of shots I had in mind might have worked better during totality when the moon is a lot darker. A 2500mm telescope with tracking mount would have been nice too ;)
I did manage to get a few different kinds of shots in, but most of them were just test exposures, trying to figure out some reasonable exposure settings. The picture shown here is the best of the bunch. I know you'll look at it and say, "hey, that isn't bad at all -- what is he complaining about?" I agree, it looks quite nice, but it's not a resized image, it's a full-frame crop. So what you are seeing is as much resolution as there is to show. Maybe it will make a nice wallet-size print.. ;)
Well, even without the logistical problems, eclipse photography was still a humbling experience. I felt like this is probably what it would feel like if I tried photographing a wedding, only much colder. You only get one shot, and if you don't know what you're doing, the results aren't good. I won't get the chance to practice lunar eclipses (unless I move to the eastern hemisphere) for another 28 months. I think I will be content snapping pictures of trees in the meantime.
You have to start somewhere Mike–don’t give up!