Mark C. Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 I was lucky enough to have 4 days to travel and find the perfect spot to shoot the eclipse. We had booked our hot springs hotel 2 April's ago and had 2 full days to scout out the perfect spot. one that was free of obstructions and crowds preferably out of the smoke f the three forest fires burning around us in the cascades. Since the smoke was a wait and see that early am we picked our three spots a-b-and c A was 5,000 feet and off the road on an unmarked road about a 30 minute drive from the hot springs-totality-1.5 minutes B was 45 minutes away on a off road theta was super narrow on the way to a boy scout solar camp on top of a hill-1.3/4 minute totality C was 45 minutes away on the side of the road on a wide pull out-2 minutes of totality We got rolling at 6 am and choose the A spot as it was deserted and smoke free with about 200 degree view-as we where hoping to see the shadow race by.Later another truck showed up to watch from this point as well 3 years ago I bought a 300mm to shoot bears (take photos) in Alaska on a friend's invite who used to guide and lives in Homer. I have about 5 tripods and 3 camera bodies so I set up a few cameras and shot mainly with my 300mm matched with a teleconverter 1.x4 so my lens was about 672mm long. I used a shutter release and programed the camera to bracket 9 shots in a quick succession that takes about 3 seconds. I set the aperture at f16 and the bracketing changed the shutter speeds with 9 speeds in rapid succession . I bought a 77mm firelight solar filter that steps the light down 16 stops and is a 100% must for shooting any sun photos with any lens . This filter you remove during totality and put back on when the diamond start (sun appears again)Without the sun in lens you cannot see anything thru the filter-its completely dark like your solar glasses where. I spent 1/2 a day practicing on Sunday and reading my manuals and the articles on how to I printed and brought with me as we where out of internet range-cell phone range or any other range. I have shot moon eclipses and played with some solar annular s about 5 years ago thru my wielding glass with lesser cameras with some luck. Of course I made a shadow box to view during the sunny phase as I always have since a kid. With this deal you never know what or how it will turn out-luck may or may not be your friend-you practice as the seconds count by and you also really need to enjoy it yourself so you need a few seconds without camera stuff to bog down the moment. As it turns out I shot 488 photos of the event and most came out great I captured all the 4 phases got shots of Baily's beads and the diamond ring along with the solar corona around the sun and light rays galore. I'm feeling like one lucky guy really as his could just as easily been a bust here are 4 of the 488 shots Phase one then Baily's beads Totality -corona and the diamond ring effect Now it back to clay production and more grounded activities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denice Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 Great photos we only had a 93% totality here but it was clear skies, a lot of people from this area drove to St. Joe, Missouri. They had clouds and rain and didn't see anything until the last minute of totality. I saw a interview with a couple who flew from London to Nashville, they didn't get to see anything at all, totally covered with clouds. You did get lucky with a lot of planning. Denice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 we were lucky too. My husband , the astrophysicist, has been waiting a long time for this. We headed south through Wind River Canyon to Wyoming's Boysen State Park. Very beautiful place to catch the eclipse. A van with a family from France was parked next to us. They were touring National Parks and were between Grand Tetons going to Mount Rushmore. Good crowd there. Big Cheers and applause went out when the totality ended and the sun came back. 1. road to Thermopolis from Red Lodge 2. Boysen State Park 3 Totality 4. 360 sunset awesome. That is the French family next to us. We took a group photo for them. What a great experience. Awesome! Ron Sa maybe you will make moon pots based on movement of eclipse! Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 We only saw a partial eclipse of 73%. It was still exciting to take some images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEP Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 My brother drove from California to somewhere in Idaho and got some great totality shots too. In his words "Days of driving, 1 hour of photos, 2 minutes of wow. Totally worth it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Campbell Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 From the sublime to the ridiculous ... well, my iphone. Coolest images watching the eclipse cross my yard and my deck ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Bridge Pottery Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 Makes you realise how insignificant we are on this rock we call home. Would have loved to see it, there was one in the UK late 90's. I have vague memories but I was only 9 years old and it wasn't totality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aperhapshand Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 Mark, if you are selling prints I would buy a print of DSC_9453! Great shots! My hubs (the astrophysics nerd) and I went to Carbondale IL for the eclipse and it was about 2 min of totality but the clouds covered it for about 1.5 min. Luckily we were able to see the start and the end. It was an amazing experience - but next time we might pick somewhere a bit less crowded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted August 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 aperhapshand PM me your e-mail and I will send you a full size e-mail of that one(hi res)-I'm happy to send it to you as long as you do not make money with it and give me photo credit when displayed. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karenkstudio Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 Love all the eclipse pictures! Totality was awesome, even when viewed through a light cloud cover. I only took a few pictures showing the darkest point which included the sunset effect. The animals at the Living History farm did react. The miniature horses and chickens did go inside. The cow walked in a circle and lay down to sleep. The rooster did disappoint.... he didn't crow when the sun came out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 From the sublime to the ridiculous ... well, my iphone. Coolest images watching the eclipse cross my yard and my deck ... Yes! That was a cool phenomenon. My friends were at a Rendevouz and had that happen on their tipi. matt had told them to look at the ground as the light comes through the trees, but the grass was too tall. Then they spotted what was on their tipi!. Crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 From the sublime to the ridiculous ... well, my iphone. Coolest images watching the eclipse cross my yard and my deck ... Yes! That was a cool phenomenon. My friends were at a Rendevouz and had that happen on their tipi. matt had told them to look at the ground as the light comes through the trees, but the grass was too tall. Then they spotted what was on their tipi!. Crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 From the sublime to the ridiculous ... well, my iphone. Coolest images watching the eclipse cross my yard and my deck ... This was one of the things I remember most from our 1999 eclipse. Where we were we didn't get totality, but we did have clear skies. Makes you realise how insignificant we are on this rock we call home. Would have loved to see it, there was one in the UK late 90's. I have vague memories but I was only 9 years old and it wasn't totality. I remember the 1999 eclipse really well, also have vague memories of one in the sixties (aged about 7?). My dad brought welding glass home from work for us to look through. After the '99 eclipse, my partner and I researched where we could go to see the next one. Angola? Err, I don't think so. Seriously tho' Joel, go find one, they are awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Fireborn Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 My son and I drove to Hayesville NC and spent the night with my aunt. She lives in a field and we have a big beautiful sky. The best part about it was that she has tons of birds and deer that spend their day in the field. As the eclipse started cooling down the temp, the mother doe came to get the fawns and took them to a thicket to bed down for the night. The birds all went to their trees to go in for the night and the dusk bugs started coming out. The moments before totality were just as cool as totality itself. The colors of the sky and the mountains in the background was amazing. I had taken my dog with me and when totality hit she didn't think anything about it, but when the sun came back out a few minutes later, she stood there looking real curious as to what just happen. When I called her, she stood there and just looked at me like.. WHHAATT? Was pretty interesting. I wouldn't think a domesticated animal would think something odd just happened, as their clocks are based around our clocks usually. But she does spend a lot of time outside sunning in the evenings. We left about an hour after totality and drove home. The trip was 2 hours there. It took about 6 hours to get home. The people on the drive home were all smiling, happy and playing music. My son was playing a game to see how many people would wave back or make a funny face at him. We had a total blast. I would say this was the happiest traffic jam I had ever seen. It was TOTALITY worth it! . We are going to travel for the one in 2024. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glazenerd Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Great pics Mark-Marcia. Marcia, the mountain pics would like nice as wallpaper on my desktop? Nerd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preeta Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Even for partialers it was quite an experience. I had seen mine in India some moons ago so wasn't so keen in the heavens. It was everything else that was magical. The sudden drop in temperature. The different light. Like sunset in the morning - yet it was a very odd light and you had afternoon shadows and day sky. There was something different in the air around. Not sure what it was. Almost like a world I no longer knew. Very mysterious. I also noticed a stillness in the air. The dogs were unusually quiet and not many birds in the sky and no squirrels on the fence. Watched going ons on tv and NASA. It was still a very moving time for me. I was almost in tears imagining what ancient man would have gone through. I mean today we don't get that experience anymore. We usually know or get a warning. I was grateful my 14 year old was In Madras,OR with fellow enthusiasts and scientists and was moved by the experience. The worst part for her was trying to return home the same day. Nightmare. They had to go back and leave the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 27, 2017 Report Share Posted August 27, 2017 Here's a couple that I took of the partial eclipse from my backyard The second image is using a colander as a camera obscura (aka pinhole camera) focused into a cardboard box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 I love the colander! Great idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benzine Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 I'm a bit jealous. We were set here to get about 90-95% covered, but all that happened was the sky was 100% covered, with thick clouds. I was in school meetings, but they gave us a break, to go and view the Eclipse. We couldn't even tell the general area, where the Sun was at. I was equipped to take some photos, but had no chance to do so... Speaking of pinhole cameras, I have my Photography class build and take photos with a simple camera. I have my demo camera, and thought of setting it up inside, to take a photo during the eclipse. The exposures for an interior shot are upwards of 30 minutes. So it would have been interesting to see what it recorded as the light dramatically changed. Alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe in seven years, the weather will cooperate... Also, the next day, it was nearly 100% Sunny here. Real funny Nature! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 We had a thick cloud cover until about 10 minutes before the eclipse was to start then started to clear up. We live 30miles from the full eclipse In 2024, looking forward to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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