Aoraki Totality What a night! Here is my composite from the October eclipse. I just want to start by saying the inspiration for this shot came from Sean Bagshaw, whose eclipse images are unparalleled. Like any good story, there were some obstacles that needed to be overcome to shoot the eclipse. The first was the weather. Toowoomba was forecast to be under a blanket of cloud last night, but at the last minute the winds changed and the skies remained clear. As I hastily packed my gear, I encountered the second road block. I realised that my trusty Manfrotto tripod was actually in the boot of my girlfriends car - in Brisbane! I nearly gave up at this point until I recalled a technique for using beanbags as a substitute travel tripod. Those of you who know me personally will of course be aware that I buy legumes by the multi-kg sack, so I filled up some plastic bags with lentils and drove out in search of a location. Driving South from Toowoomba at sunset, I got a glimpse of the moonrise to the east on a clear horizon and then spotted a couple of cars parked near a freshly baled paddock. A couple of telephoto lenses on tripods let me know Id found some company for the evening. They both had a chuckle when I pulled out my lentils though... The three of us set up at the edge of the paddock, and had a great chat as we awaited the show - and what a show it was! The whole eclipse was visible outside Toowoomba, despite some clouds developing over the city as the night wore on. Over the course of the 5 hours, the breeze picked up and we all longed for some warmer clothes, but the event kept us spellbound. I captured a few bracketed shots every 5-10 minutes for both the bright and dark side of the moon. Thanks again to Sean Bradshaw for the approximate settings. Due to the cloud forecast and the tripod dilemma, I didnt have time to compose a great foreground so I decided to create a composite image. My most recent astrophotography outing was a few weeks ago at Mt. Cook in NZ and I had plenty of high quality test frames from my shoot there. Of course, this is taking a bit of artistic license to create a composite of the event facing North, but the backdrop is simply the vessel for the images of the eclipse. I hope you enjoy the result, it is my first attempt at a composite of any sort. Please feel free to share with credit. Prints available on request. Technical details: 1) Light side settings: Camera: Canon EOS 7D Lens: Canon 70-200 f/4 ISO: 100 FL: 200mm Av: f/5.6 Tv: 1/125s (
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 07:17:02 +0000
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