Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Photographing tonight’s eclipse of the moon

Click on this image to get this free Lunar Eclipse Wallpaper  from flickr

Tonight's eclipse of the moon should be worth getting up to photograph. The coloured part of the eclipse will happen over in the western sky at 6:30am EST (Eastern Standard Time in Australia) and the dust from the Chilean Volcano may help enhance the “blood” red colour during the eclipse. Well actually I haven’t noticed any dramatic change in either the sunrises or sunsets so don’t hold your breathe about the redness. the eclipse will continue till almost 7am but by then the rising sun will wash out the detail. The sky should be clear if you can get above any fog.

Lunar Eclipse Wallpaper you can download for free from flickr

I did manage to photograph an eclipse of the moon from my front garden back in 2007. Its a little more difficult than you might think. My Advice is -

  1. Use a good tripod
  2. Use the B setting and an remote control/cable release to get a long exposure but keep your camera still
  3. Don’t trust your light meter! Experiment with the timing and f-stop to get a clear exposure (since the lighting changes dramatically during the eclipse you will need to keep changing your settings.)
  4. Rug up! It is going to be a cool night.

Here is some extra more general advice from Lifehacker, and detailed advice from Mr Eclipse on taking Photos of an eclipse.

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