OT: Lunar Eclipse

jeffbrig

Premium Member
I learned two things last night:
1) Focusing on a distant object in a dark sky is actually a little tricky.
2) I need a bigger lens :D

This was my favorite, after cropping and adding a little Unsharp Mask in photoshop. Anyone with a bigger lens have better results?

lunar_eclipse.jpg

280mm (70-200 @ 200 + 1.4X tcon), f/5.6, 1/2 sec, 200 iso
 
I tried with and without the 2.0TC, but changed halfway through. These are both cropped, no other PP done.

Here's a picture at 400mm:
dsc_1386.jpg


And one at full eclipse at 200mm:
dsc_1438.jpg
 
I went out looking but it was too low on the horizon, in my neighborhood, to get it above the trees.
 
Oh, I thought for sure you were going to have a spectacular image for us! Sorry to hear it was so low on the horizon. It was actually in the perfect place for me. Squarely in nothingness for the entire FRIGID hour and a half that I watched, waited, paced and snapped!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11903836#post11903836 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Phyl
Oh, I thought for sure you were going to have a spectacular image for us! Sorry to hear it was so low on the horizon. It was actually in the perfect place for me. Squarely in nothingness for the entire FRIGID hour and a half that I watched, waited, paced and snapped!

I was in Yosemite until Monday night. I actually had hoped that I'd be able to stay and shoot it from there but it turned out to be a bust there as well. It was completely clouded over.

We'll get to try again in another 2 years. :lol:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11903871#post11903871 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fade2black
Dang Phyl, that pic looks almost exactly like one of mine! :)

WOW! Had I cropped mine differently they'd be twins. Did you pull the red out of the image? Or did the cam take it that way?
 
That's a good question. I was been looking at some of the shots on POTN earlier (some of which are amazing), and the colors go from red to orange to just white. I wonder if atmosphere/pollution are coming into play, or if it's just processing. The color in my shot matches what was visible to the naked eye, and I was using AWB.
 
Pretty much straight out of the camera. Just added some sharpening in the RAW converter and cropped it.

I was using AWB as well.
 
Jeff, my earlier photos before it went to full were also gray/white v. the Red & white that happened after it went to full eclipse. This also matched the transition that I saw.

I'll have to check when I get home to see what my WB was set for. I'm not sure if it was auto or not.
 
It probably depends a lot on the atmospheric conditions in your area. From what I read the atmosphere is removing most of the blue from the suns light and the remaining red light is what is cast onto the moon. That is what gives it the red/orange hue during an total eclipse.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11904599#post11904599 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
That's a good question. I was been looking at some of the shots on POTN earlier (some of which are amazing), and the colors go from red to orange to just white. I wonder if atmosphere/pollution are coming into play, or if it's just processing.

My guess is what your seeing is that when you slow down your shutter to capture the red color of the eclipse the white portion of the moon gets blown out from so much light on it. A full moon gives off a tremendous amount of light.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11906176#post11906176 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
ahuxman58, which of your lenses did you use for these shots? They're great!

Thank you I used :
30D,500MM,1.4 MKll Extender
 
Here in Tucson it was too cloudy to shoot it. I guess I got lucky since I sent my Celestron Nexstar11" GPS in for cleaning and recolimation. But boy it sure makes one hell of a lens. Now if I could just find a way to use it to take pics of my tank.:lol:
 
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