# Tomorrow's eclipse



## Chisox2335 (Apr 14, 2014)

http://news.msn.com/science-technology/us-in-prime-position-to-see-full-lunar-eclipse-tuesday

I saw that picture today. I want to attempt to recreate it or something close. (I will likely fail). Any recommendations? I have a sturdy tripod, remote shutter. I have a crummy pine tree I'm going to try to use. I typically use my 100-400 for the moon but I want more angle of view. 

Debating canon 24-70 f4 or tamron 70-200 f2.8 on a 70d


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## jrista (Apr 14, 2014)

You probably want around 50-100mm of focal length to get a shot like that. You will also likely need to take separate shots of the foreground and moon (after setting up your camera on your tripod, without reframing) in order to get both the tree and the moon sharp. You'll need to composite the two in post. You will also probably need to shoot the tree around late civil twilight (blue hour) to get it silhouetted properly.

To avoid failure, make sure you are set up for the moon WELL ahead of time, so you have some time to focus sharply on the moon, plan your exposure times, and be ready to take each image at exactly the right time. As the eclipse progresses, you MUST change your shutter speed and ISO to compensate for the darkening that occurs. You cannot simply set your intervolometer and let it go...otherwise you'll end up with an extremely deep, dark brown moon that is barely brighter than the black background of the sky, instead of a nice, bright, richly colored red moon. You have to think ahead, do some research, figure out what the EV of a full uneclipsed moon is and the EV of a fully eclipsed moon is, and extrapolate how bright it will be at each interval you want to image at, and write down what shutter speed and ISO setting you will be using. 

From full through half eclipsed, you will probably just want to increase your exposure time, however as you get into the crescent eclipsed phases and into the fully eclipsed phases, you will want to start increasing ISO and keep shutter the same (otherwise, you have to expose so long that the transit of the moon blurs all the detail away). 

So long as you know roughly what exposure settings you need for each phase of the eclipse, and what the longest shutter speed you can expose at without the movement of the moon itself causing blur, then you should be fine. Small changes in total exposure (i.e. between the first fill uneclipsed frame and the next frame where the earths shadow is just beginning to eclipse the moon) shouldn't matter...you can normalize the small differences in post. It's the bigger differences that matter, i.e. full to gibbous eclipsed, gibbous to half eclipsed, half to fully eclipsed, etc. 

From an artistic standpoint, a lot of these composites only show the fully eclipsed moon in the reddish color. If your careful and clever, you can actually push your exposure really far to the right and make some of the crescent images just before total eclipse show off some of that same reddish color. That way you get more of a gradual transition from full uneclipsed moon, to fully eclipsed moon, rather than that sudden, harsh transition from white partially eclipsed to blood red fully eclipsed.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Apr 14, 2014)

Its a composite photo, done in Photoshop. Multiple images merged with the use of masking. You should be able to do it if the viewing is good.

Its been partially cloudy at night up here, and I get cold easily, but I might give it a try.

The more I think about it, I get cold just sitting here!

That's what you have to look forward to when you get old!


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## Chisox2335 (Apr 14, 2014)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Its a composite photo, done in Photoshop. Multiple images merged with the use of masking. You should be able to do it if the viewing is good.
> 
> Its been partially cloudy at night up here, and I get cold easily, but I might give it a try.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the detailed recommendations. It will be about 3am here. I'll be lucky if I make it through it all 

Any idea on white balance?


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Apr 14, 2014)

Chisox2335 said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > Its a composite photo, done in Photoshop. Multiple images merged with the use of masking. You should be able to do it if the viewing is good.
> ...


 
For white balance, use RAW.

I went out just now and shot about 6 trial shots with different exposures to get ready for tomorrow. Its just after 8 pm here, and starting to get dark.

The best exposure for me was at ISO 100, 1/40 sec, f/16 with my 100-400L plus TC. I did not try to get a excellent photo, just get a idea as to what exposure works. I'll likely use f/8 or f/11 and a faster shutter. I'll also use a intervalometer.
Lots of sharpening on this jpeg. I'll be using Raw tomorrow.


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## Chisox2335 (Apr 15, 2014)

Clouds have eliminated any chance of even seeing it


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## jrista (Apr 15, 2014)

I started my imaging sequence with BackyardEOS about 10 minutes ago. I couldn't see it, but my camera picked up the first bit of the eclipse before I could see it with my naked eyes. 

I'm using a tracking mount, so my settings once we get to totality will probably be much different than most. I started out at ISO 100, 1/250th, f/8 w/ 600/4 II. That pushes the histogram to the right with my 7D, but not too far that the highlights blow out. The current part of my imaging sequence has dropped to 1/125th second now, and it'll drop to 1/60th about the time the moon is half-eclipsed...not yet sure exactly what settings I'll be using once the moon is fully within the umbra...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Apr 15, 2014)

jrista said:


> I started my imaging sequence with BackyardEOS about 10 minutes ago. I couldn't see it, but my camera picked up the first bit of the eclipse before I could see it with my naked eyes.
> 
> I'm using a tracking mount, so my settings once we get to totality will probably be much different than most. I started out at ISO 100, 1/250th, f/8 w/ 600/4 II. That pushes the histogram to the right with my 7D, but not too far that the highlights blow out. The current part of my imaging sequence has dropped to 1/125th second now, and it'll drop to 1/60th about the time the moon is half-eclipsed...not yet sure exactly what settings I'll be using once the moon is fully within the umbra...


 
It started while I was still fooling around getting my camera setup. Its set to take a shot every 9 minutes, I'll adjust the exposure in a bit.






Yes, its all manual, and a lot of skill is involved. I will be happy if just a few shots come out. I'm not going to stay up all night fiddling with it.


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