Solar Eclipse!

[swsig]

We've just had a solar eclipse in North Texas, with 80% of the sun being blocked by the moon. I took some dramatic photos of the event. Here they are:

View prior to the eclipse.

Now, at the height of the eclipse.

Can you see the huge difference? Oh, well...

 

[Rudi]

It was a bust at my house, dense fog.

 

[swsig]

It was a bust at my house, dense fog.

You didn't miss much, unless you stared directly at the sun, which I refused to do.

 

[LVSteve]

Couple of shots

First one was at the most eclipsed at my house. Second was about 25 minutes later. Note the sunspots. CLICK FOR FULLSIZE.

Partial eclipses are weird. The colors are all correct, but the amount of light is definitely less. Taking pictures of the effect on the landscape is a waste of time unless you use identical camera settings, something you usually cannot do on a cellphone or a camera in any kind of semi-auto mode.

 

[Peak53]

It was pretty awesome here in western Colorado. There was a noticeable dimming of light outside and really dark in the house. Not having the required glasses I used the pinhole projector method. The hole in a card was about 1/8" and when projected onto a white piece of paper about 3 feet away there was a small image where I could follow the path quite clearly. The dog seemed a little out of sorts. Two sunrises in one day!

 

[two-bit cowboy]

We had the dimming effect here in the mountains of central Wyo.

Eerie.

Shadows of the leaves and pine needles got blurry. Felt like I was in one of Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone" episodes.

 

[mckenney99]

We missed it in the Miami Valley due to heavy overcast and rain, but we need the rain more than an eclipse.

 

[Hair Trigger]

First one was at the most eclipsed at my house. Second was about 25 minutes later. Note the sunspots. CLICK FOR FULLSIZE.

Partial eclipses are weird. The colors are all correct, but the amount of light is definitely less. Taking pictures of the effect on the landscape is a waste of time unless you use identical camera settings, something you usually cannot do on a cellphone or a camera in any kind of semi-auto mode.

Nice shots, what did you take them with? Today's eclipse was only 46% at my location, not worth it to me to try for pictures, but I did take my light reduction filter (98%) from my largest aperture telescope and look at the sun through it whenever there weren't any clouds blocking the view. I wish I could have been in the Ring of Fire path and gotten some images there.

I want to go somewhere in the path of totality for the eclipse next April (2024) and see what will likely be my last total solar eclipse. I went to the Clemson, SC area in 2017 and got some great pictures of that one, including Bailey's Beads and The Diamond Ring. I also set up my small Sony video cam in the direction of the solar shadow and got the shadow as it approached and then darkened where I had my telescope set up.
A few from 2017:

 

[lihpster]

Overcast here. I slept through it. I remember the total eclipse in 1979. Me and my brother stayed home from school and my father showed us the eclipse using the pinhole method. Luckily, he was able to give at least a rudimentary explanation of both the movements of celestial bodies and the physics of light passing through a pinhole. Probably learned more that day sitting in my living room and talking to my father than I would have in a month at that school.

 

[djohns6]

If you've seen one eclipse ... you've already been bored once . Don't waste your time again .

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The April 2024 eclipse will be 100% In NorthWest Ohio. I saw one in the mid 90's, I'll pass as much as possible.

Ivan

 

[Ματθιας]

It went over ABQ. At peak coverage everything was a weird grey color. Kind of like a colorized black and white movie.

 

[Rustyt1953]

The sky here during the eclipse looked like the belly of a C-17.

As Pooh would say: "blustery".

 

[Faulkner]

We had about 75% eclipse coverage of the sun this morning in the Arkansas Ozarks. As Ivan noted below for Ohio, we'll see 100% coverage in the April 2024 eclipse. Reports are that the State of Arkansas is expecting upwards of $1.5 million visitors coming to the state next year to view the eclipse.

Mrs. Faulkner and I drove to Kentucky for the 2017 eclipse to view and photograph the 100% coverage on that one and it was a grand adventure for us.

We set up our gear this morning to photograph the 75% eclipse as a trial run for next year. I was concerned when clouds started moving in as the eclipse started but they turned out to be to our advantage in both viewing and photographing.

Here are a few shots from this morning:

Taken at 10:35 AM just as the shadow is starting to touch the sun

10:53 AM the clouds are starting to move through the area.

About 50% coverage at 11:40 AM.

A break in the clouds at 11:58 AM allowed me this shot at about 75% and maximum coverage for our area.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Even with my Bonnie Tyler soundtrack it was anticlimactic.

 

[swsig]

Taking pictures of the effect on the landscape is a waste of time unless you use identical camera settings, something you usually cannot do on a cellphone or a camera in any kind of semi-auto mode.

Yep, even with the naked eye, there was only a lessening of available light, and a slight yellowish cast. I knew that my ultra-up-to-date iPhone 7 camera wouldn't likely capture the subtle differences between pre-eclipse and during. But I was bored and hadn't started a thread for a while, so I said what the heck and posted.

 

[soFlaNative]

Now, at the height of the eclipse.

Can you see the huge difference? Oh, well...

Dappled sunlight on the sidewalk has crescent shapes.
Saw that effect a few years ago, I think it's cool.
Overcast today in SoFL.

 

[Ματθιας]

My camera wasn't cooperating with me, but this is at peak. The gray color was, I don't know how tp describe it:

 

[DWalt]

I watched totality here in San Antonio using the cereal box and pinhole method. There will be another totality event here in April 2024. Watched it several more times on The Weather Channel. That is a much better way.

 

[LVSteve]

Nice shots, what did you take them with? Today's eclipse was only 46% at my location, not worth it to me to try for pictures, but I did take my light reduction filter (98%) from my largest aperture telescope and look at the sun through it whenever there weren't any clouds blocking the view. I wish I could have been in the Ring of Fire path and gotten some images there.

....
A few from 2017:

I used a Rube Goldberg setup. Olympus E-M5MkIII body with a Micro 4/3 to Nikon adapter. The near totality shot was done with a Sigma 300/F4, and the second shot added a Tamron 1.4x teleconverter once I remembered where I'd hidden it . I hung/held my telescope Sun filter over the end of that lot. Biggest grief is getting the focus right. Auto lenses are finicky to focus manually.

You got some great stuff in 2017.