# Eclipse photo prep question/critique



## motorhead9999 (Aug 16, 2017)

So I've been doing some solar testing with my camera rig for the eclipse. Here's what I'm using:
Canon 70D
Canon 1.4x tele
Canon 100-400 ISII
formatt hitech firecrest filter system with Lee solar eclipse 100mm x 100mm filter
Manfrotto 410 geared head
a mefoto tripod (for now)

I'm using a custom white balance of 5200K.

Anyways, the photos I think are coming out ok (the geared head makes such a difference when trying to track and center the sun). The one big thing I've noticed though is that there seems to be a really huge chromatic abberation (I believe this is the case) right where the sun's edge meets the dark. Yes, it's only visible when zoomed in.

Any thoughts or ideas? Also, any general critique on how the photo came out (aside from it being just a disc in the sky)? I.e. does my focus look good, should I change my settings, should I just throw my camera gear away etc.

*edit: Oddly, the abberation only really appears when I move the jpeg over to my cell phone to look at it. That's odd...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 17, 2017)

Try with just the solar filter, it should not be fringing. I setup two different exposure and capture settings using C1 and C2 on my 5D MK IV this morning. Ci for the partial phase and C2 for the fully eclipsed situation. I bracketed exposures 3 increments for C1 and 7 increments for C2.

The results seem fine to me.

This is the uncropped image at the center of the range of exposures. During the totality, shutter speeds go from 1/8000 to 0.5 sec in increments of two stops.


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## takesome1 (Aug 17, 2017)

I noticed on Canon's website the suggestion of 2 stops between for bracketing. 

Unless this is just for insurance to get a properly exposed shot why such a large range?


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 17, 2017)

takesome1 said:


> I noticed on Canon's website the suggestion of 2 stops between for bracketing.
> 
> Unless this is just for insurance to get a properly exposed shot why such a large range?



I believe that you can stack the images and be able to see the solar prominence's which are very dim away from the sun, and very bright near the sun. They are visible out to 5X solar diameters. You do not want the sun filling the screen or you will miss them in your images. 

The DR required to capture that entire image is far beyond the ability of any camera sensor, so you stack a series of images taken with varying exposures.


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## tpatana (Aug 17, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Try with just the solar filter, it should not be fringing. I setup two different exposure and capture settings using C1 and C2 on my 5D MK IV this morning. Ci for the partial phase and C2 for the fully eclipsed situation. I bracketed exposures 3 increments for C1 and 7 increments for C2.
> 
> The results seem fine to me.



Ha! I was planning exact same, on same body 

Care to tell me the exact settings you use on those?


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 17, 2017)

tpatana said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > Try with just the solar filter, it should not be fringing. I setup two different exposure and capture settings using C1 and C2 on my 5D MK IV this morning. Ci for the partial phase and C2 for the fully eclipsed situation. I bracketed exposures 3 increments for C1 and 7 increments for C2.
> ...



I just plugged in the recommended values from the Canon article for the partial phase. 

ISO 400, 1/125 sec f/11 (100-400L II with 2X TC wide open. I did not see a improvement with smaller apertures, in fact, they looked worse. Then, I am bracketing 3 shots +/- 2 stops. I set C2 the same except bracketing 7 shots so a 12 stop range. I have not found recommendations for the totality, so I may make adjustments on the fly. I'm a little in doubt if I can actually make it down to the totality if road reports coming out today are a indication of things to come.


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## Valvebounce (Aug 17, 2017)

Hi Mt Spokane. 
I sincerely hope that you are able to make it to the totality, after all the purchases, practicing and advice giving it sure would be a shame if you missed it for anything other than clouds in front of it! Plus as I'm right on the edge of the partial I'm looking forwards to seeing some shots here of the full eclipse please! 

Safe travels to all braving the mayhem to see this. 

Cheers, Graham. 



Mt Spokane Photography said:


> tpatana said:
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> > Mt Spokane Photography said:
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## lion rock (Aug 17, 2017)

Well it's now down to the crunch.
Travel and location are now starting to look difficult. I'm told that public schools along the eclipse path are going to be closed in Tennessee where we were planning to drive to (4-1/2 hours). On top of that, the news is that even small towns are expecting large crowds.

On top of that, the weather report indicates some overcast! That wouldn't be circumvented.
Sad.
-r



Valvebounce said:


> Hi Mt Spokane.
> I sincerely hope that you are able to make it to the totality, after all the purchases, practicing and advice giving it sure would be a shame if you missed it for anything other than clouds in front of it! Plus as I'm right on the edge of the partial I'm looking forwards to seeing some shots here of the full eclipse please!
> 
> Safe travels to all braving the mayhem to see this.
> ...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 17, 2017)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Mt Spokane.
> I sincerely hope that you are able to make it to the totality, after all the purchases, practicing and advice giving it sure would be a shame if you missed it for anything other than clouds in front of it! Plus as I'm right on the edge of the partial I'm looking forwards to seeing some shots here of the full eclipse please!
> 
> Safe travels to all braving the mayhem to see this.
> ...



Weather should be clear and hot. Its basically a desert and is clear virtually all the time in summer. We have had winds all week, so the smoke has blown away, as far as I can tell, its fine down south as well.


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## takesome1 (Aug 18, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> takesome1 said:
> 
> 
> > I noticed on Canon's website the suggestion of 2 stops between for bracketing.
> ...



5x solar diameter?
I wonder if the 1D IV at 700mm will be to much. 500mm might be better?


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## bholliman (Aug 18, 2017)

motorhead9999 said:


> So I've been doing some solar testing with my camera rig for the eclipse. Here's what I'm using:
> Canon 70D
> Canon 1.4x tele
> Canon 100-400 ISII
> ...


I am using a very similar set-up for one of my cameras:
M5
100-400mm II
1.4xIII extender (896mm equivalent)
B&H solar filter
RRS BH-55 ball head
borrowed Manfroto tripod (not as stable as I would like, but 1 tripod is all I really need 99.9% of the time)


My 18-year-old son will operate this set-up while I operate this one:

5DsR
300mm f/2.8 II
2.0xIII extender (600mm)
Thousand Oaks solar filter
RRS TVC-33 tripod
Wimberley WH-200 II gimbal head

I tested the 5DsR set-up with the RRS BH-55 ball head and the Wimberley gimbal and prefer the gimbal. Its rock solid and adjustments for this type of shooting are much easier. So, my son has a less stable, more difficult to track tripod, but the tilt LCD on the M5 is a blessing with the camera and lens pointed up 63 degrees. He volunteered to man this camera after trying both set-ups.

We will have a 3rd camera, my sons 6D, set-up on a mini-tripod shooting wide angle environmental shots on a remote timer. This one will be on autopilot in Av mode to adjust shutter speed as the light changes.

6D
16-35 f/4
no filter
cheap mini-tripod (solid enough for this light set-up)

I plan to shoot the long lenses wide open or maybe stopped down 1 stop or less. I see that Canon is recommending f/11 or higher, but I don't see what that gains you. There is no depth of field consideration and a wider aperture allows lower ISO's and/or faster shutter speeds during totality. In my comparison shooting with my 300 f/2.8 + 2x, the f/5.6 and f/6.3 shots are just as sharp or sharper than f/11 and f/14.

I've deleted 99% of my test shots, but here is one I still had in Lightroom
5DsR with 100-400 II @400mm, f/5.6 ISO320, heavily cropped


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## bholliman (Aug 18, 2017)

lion rock said:


> Well it's now down to the crunch.
> Travel and location are now starting to look difficult. I'm told that public schools along the eclipse path are going to be closed in Tennessee where we were planning to drive to (4-1/2 hours). On top of that, the news is that even small towns are expecting large crowds.
> 
> On top of that, the weather report indicates some overcast! That wouldn't be circumvented.
> ...



We will be traveling to southern Illinois the day before. I'm getting concerned about finding a place to set-up and observe. I assumed we could just find a park or other public ground, but if the crowds are large it might be though to find a spot. Traffic is also a concern.

The current weather forecast for the area is hot and humid with partly cloudy skies - which has a wide range of possibilities. We will be there and hope for the best.


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## bholliman (Aug 18, 2017)

takesome1 said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > takesome1 said:
> ...



I'm shooting at 600mm to be sure I capture all of the outer corona during totality, but that is dictated by my equipment. I think 700 or 800mm are more ideal focal lengths that will give you good close-ups and capture all or the vast majority of the corona.


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## tpatana (Aug 19, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> tpatana said:
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> 
> > Mt Spokane Photography said:
> ...



Thanks.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning from Seattle. First east on I-90, then south from Yakima and hopefully we'll get to Madras in one piece before Monday morning.

Funnily enough, I don't care too much for the eclipse part, my main goal is to get the corona during totality. 3 bodies, 2 on tripod and fun backup for funsies. Must remember to tape up all viewfinders as it's in muscle memory to lift the camera up to eye-level. I'm planning to review the pics with my own eyes the next day.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 19, 2017)

tpatana said:


> Thanks.
> 
> I'm leaving tomorrow morning from Seattle. First east on I-90, then south from Yakima and hopefully we'll get to Madras in one piece before Monday morning.
> 
> Funnily enough, I don't care too much for the eclipse part, my main goal is to get the corona during totality. 3 bodies, 2 on tripod and fun backup for funsies. Must remember to tape up all viewfinders as it's in muscle memory to lift the camera up to eye-level. I'm planning to review the pics with my own eyes the next day.




Keep a eye on the smoke maps, Madras is awfully close to some heavy smoke. You might have to drive North that morning to get out of it.

Same story for Eastern Oregon, smoke is some areas, clear in others.


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## tpatana (Aug 19, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks.
> ...



I don't expect any roads working the morning of, so can't do much else than hope for the best


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## lion rock (Aug 19, 2017)

*Travel plan is now SCRATCHED :'(   !!*

There is a party for watching solar eclipse at the school I work for. They provide pizza and solar glasses (don't know if they've enough,) but I've mine.
I don't think I'd join them because of the stuff I've to setup. I'll go home and shoot from the deck. From NASA's interactive solar map, I've 91% obscuring. Not good enough, but the alternative of driving 4.5 hours in heavy traffic and a non determinate location to shoot, plus possible overcast are not that great.
So, using 7DII+100-400/1.4X driven by CamRanger and 60D+70-200/2X driven by Case Air would be my setup.
I need to fix up the vertical adjustment with a screw adjustment so that movement can be much smoother. And one more day to practice.
-r


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 20, 2017)

tpatana said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
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> > tpatana said:
> ...



Apparently roads and traffic were pretty wide open today, I hope you made it OK. Cell phone connection may be a different story. I hear they were bring in mobile towers, but even then, I hope people only use phones for emergencies.


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## captainkanji (Aug 20, 2017)

I don't really have the gear for shooting the sun directly. I'm going to take wide shots of the crowd. Carbondale's gonna be busy this weekend.


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## sulla (Aug 20, 2017)

I shot my last solar eclips back in 1999 in central Europe, then still with film.

I encountered severe problems at the outer protuberances. As I prepared for the event sloppily, I was not aware that the protuberances emitted mostly in the infrared, and most lenses have a different focus for IR light. Morover, the eye can't see it, and so during focussing I did not notice this. Some Canon lenses actually have a separate marking (in red) for IR. This resulted in a sharp edge of the sun and moon, but in significantly blurred protuberances. Probably lenses are better for IR these days? CMOS sensors might be better as well.

I guess a mirror reflector "lens" would be suited better than refractor lenses.
You might try an IR-blocking filter, too, but you will lose details.


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## bholliman (Aug 20, 2017)

captainkanji said:


> I don't really have the gear for shooting the sun directly. I'm going to take wide shots of the crowd. Carbondale's gonna be busy this weekend.



We are on our way to the Carbondale area, hoping for clear skies and being able to find a decent spot to set up to observe and shoot.


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## lion rock (Aug 20, 2017)

Best to you! 8) 8) 
Keep posted here, please.
-r



bholliman said:


> We are on our way to the Carbondale area, hoping for clear skies and being able to find a decent spot to set up and observe and shoot.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 22, 2017)

Im in Pendleton Oregon. We drover to Baker City at 3 AM thismorning and foundthr perfect spot. I setup and took lots of photos but at the totality my camera froze up the canon remote utility just indicated capturing. I dont think i got even one image. I have not had time to review then as we are out for dinner. There arelots of shots right up to totality. Ill get to the bottom of the issue when i am back on Mt Spokane


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## lion rock (Aug 22, 2017)

Mt Spokane,
Really sorry to hear this. Maybe overheating of the camera body?
When I was practicing the procedure a couple of days ago, I noted that the filter shells got quite warm, and since they were a larger diameter, they protected the lenses. The bodies were not, and they were warm. I made a heat shield out of cardboard with holes and slipped it over the lenses above the camera bodies. Kept the camera bodies cool.
Next time, though, I'll have to simplify the procedure, operating two bodies were not good. Adjusting the tilt of the tripod with heavy twin cameras was difficult, glad I made a bit of a jig with screw tilt adjust. It helped. Also, every 30 seconds, I'd to make adjustment to the pan and tilt.
Lastly, the movie function of the 2nd camera was totally a waste. 2 hours action was like watching paint dry.
-r



Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Im in Pendleton Oregon. We drover to Baker City at 3 AM thismorning and foundthr perfect spot. I setup and took lots of photos but at the totality my camera froze up the canon remote utility just indicated capturing. I dont think i got even one image. I have not had time to review then as we are out for dinner. There arelots of shots right up to totality. Ill get to the bottom of the issue when i am back on Mt Spokane


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## bholliman (Aug 22, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I dont think i got even one image. I have not had time to review then as we are out for dinner. There are lots of shots right up to totality.



Sorry your camera froze at they key moment, that had to be frustrating. Did your partial shots turn out OK?

Southern Illinois turned out to be a good location, It was very hot but we had clear skies. It was an exhilarating experience, my son and I had a great time and were certainly glad we made the trip. 

My photography was a mixed bag. I messed up the diamond rings on both ends - the shots I really wanted to nail. I have some good partial shots and decent total images of the corona. I expected to make some mistakes during totality, but I didn't consider some of the social impacts to photography. I nice gentlemen was in the middle of telling me a very interesting, but long, story in the minutes leading up to totality (C2). We were both surprised when it went totally dark and I missed my first diamond ring photo opportunity. I took a number of bracketed close-up photos during totality, took a few environmental shots with another camera, observed for about a minute and then fumbled my settings for the 2nd diamond ring. I had my camera set-up to use C3 custom setting for this, it was dark and I accidentally turned to the C2 setting and got some underexposed black frames... 

Overall, my pictures were somewhat below my expectations. If I could have nailed one diamond ring I would have been pretty satisfied. But, photography aside, it was a marvelous time and shared experience with my oldest son, which is infinitely more important. Coming away with some decent pictures is just a bonus.

Here are a few shots that I quickly selected and did minimal processing to. It will be a few days before I have to to sit down and really review everything on my computer. The close ups are with my 5DsR, 300 f/2.8 II + 2xiii extender using a Thousand Oaks solar filter. 6D and 16-35 f/4 for the environmental shot.


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## applecider (Aug 22, 2017)

From just outside Albany OR,


I hope these qualify as ring and full corona, not sure I got Bailey's beads.


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## stevelee (Aug 22, 2017)

I went to Winnsboro, SC, where an expedition from the college in my town, and my alma mater, went in 1900.

I had promised myself I wouldn't take any pictures during totality, but that was a promise I couldn't keep. I unscrewed the filter, guessed at exposures, and took five pictures before totality started to end. Meanwhile I looked with my eyes and I tried taking a few shots of the crowd with my G7X II. Here are a couple of them:












These are about 55% reductions for posting. 300mm (480 equivalent on T3i) f/14 1/50 sec. and 1/25 sec., respectively.


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## bholliman (Aug 22, 2017)

applecider said:


> From just outside Albany OR,
> I hope these qualify as ring and full corona, not sure I got Bailey's beads.



Nice shots applecider. Well done!


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## bholliman (Aug 22, 2017)

stevelee said:


> I went to Winnsboro, SC, where an expedition from the college in my town, and my alma mater, went in 1900.



I bet you are glad you decided to take a few pictures, these are very nice!


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## stevelee (Aug 22, 2017)

bholliman said:


> stevelee said:
> 
> 
> > I went to Winnsboro, SC, where an expedition from the college in my town, and my alma mater, went in 1900.
> ...



Thanks. I still have mixed feelings about my use of that short time. It seemed like seconds. Months from now the pictures will still be there, as details of the day fade from memory.


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## bholliman (Aug 22, 2017)

stevelee said:


> I still have mixed feelings about my use of that short time. It seemed like seconds. Months from now the pictures will still be there, as details of the day fade from memory.



I understand and agree. Totality is so brief that every moment is precious.


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## tpatana (Aug 22, 2017)

I got to Madras OR easy, Saturday there was barely no traffic.

Got the eclipse, had my 1DX+24-70 on intervalometer snapping time-lapse (right when eclipse was about done the sun was getting out of frame unfortunately). 5D4 had Sigma 150-600 with 1000 Oaks film. I was mostly manually zooming at 400-600, and snapping 7 bracket shots. About every few minutes.

Then totality hit and holy smokes the feeling of looking the corona without the solar glasses. I have to say it was very awesome feeling. We took quick group selfie with one of the cameras, I took few more with the Sigma 600 (without filter). And all suddenly it was back to diamond. Took last quick shot before putting back the filter on the lens.

Like I told my friend, it was almost like sex. You spend couple days with high anticipation, then there's hour of foreplay, suddenly lights go out and there's lot of cheering, and two minutes later you're exhausted.

Waited until eclipse was completely done, packed our gear and headed home. Drive home was way different. At times traffic was barely moving. Got home around 1:30am. Didn't even take cameras out from the car. Just ran through quick shower and hit bed. This morning drove to work, so the pictures are still on camera(s). Here's one pic I took of the camera:






(not sure if you can see it)

I'm sure today after I get home, I'll spend rest of the evening with LR/PS.

2021 would be at Antarctica. I'm semi-seriously thinking that if it hits one of the areas that you can go with the tour boats, that really would be once-in-a-lifetime event.


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## bholliman (Aug 23, 2017)

tpatana said:


> I got to Madras OR easy, Saturday there was barely no traffic.
> 
> Got the eclipse, had my 1DX+24-70 on intervalometer snapping time-lapse (right when eclipse was about done the sun was getting out of frame unfortunately). 5D4 had Sigma 150-600 with 1000 Oaks film. I was mostly manually zooming at 400-600, and snapping 7 bracket shots. About every few minutes.
> 
> ...



We had the same experience with traffic in Illinois. Minimal traffic going in, major gridlock going home. We arrived home just before 1am.

Your diamond ring shot on the back of your camera looks like a good one!


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 23, 2017)

tpatana said:


> I got to Madras OR easy, Saturday there was barely no traffic.



We had the same experience, no traffic as we drove to Baker City, OR. However, my Camera froze as I was bracketing 7 exposures just as I pulled the filter off. I was controlling it with my Iphone by Wi-Fi. I had a large battery powering the camera, it had lots of capacity to run live view, so I do not know why it did that. I waited too long to restart the camera and missed the totality. I did look at it directly, it was amazing, well worth the trip, one more item off my bucket list.


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## tpatana (Aug 23, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > I got to Madras OR easy, Saturday there was barely no traffic.
> ...





Sorry about your camera. But just seeing it was beyond anything, totally worth the trip even if I (/you) forgot to bring a camera.

Here's one without the filter (484mm F8 1/8 ISO400 no crop no filter)


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## stevelee (Aug 24, 2017)

In looking through the pictures from the early stages of the eclipse, I see that some were focused well enough and not overexposed so that one can see sun spots.






This is cropped but not resized. Winnsboro, SC, 1:38 EDT, f/14, 1/200 sec., ISO 200, 18-stop filter

We picked up a paper SC map at the welcome center, and I used my iPhone and iPad to help us navigate around traffic as much as possible. My friend and I were each familiar with some of the back roads closer to Charlotte from our past travels, so we avoided the worst jams. We wound up on a highway that led to an Italian restaurant in Charlotte that has some nostalgia for us both, so for me a lot more than him, since the place had better food when I was in college. After supper traffic has thinned out, and we could take I-77 all the way up here.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 24, 2017)

Nice photos. Be sure to upload them to the CR Image Gallery. Click the Gallery Tab two places to the left of logout and choose add picture


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## bholliman (Aug 24, 2017)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Nice photos. Be sure to upload them to the CR Image Gallery. Click the Gallery Tab two places to the left of logout and choose add picture



Nice partial phase pictures Mt Spokane! How did you crop you images so consistently for size and framing? LR, PS or another app? 

I didn't realize CR had a gallery section, thanks for sharing this.


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## mrzero (Aug 25, 2017)

I just put mine in the gallery. Powershot G1X, f/16, 1/1000, ISO 400, internal ND filter engaged. No solar filter, tripod, or meaningful preparation at all. JPG straight out of camera, ~50% crop. 

But a very enjoyable way to spend a lunch break.


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