Sunday, March 04, 2007

Lunar Eclipse




OK, so you are on the way home from the cinema, you see some people setting up a camera, you have a stinking cold and you just want to go to bed. What do you do next? You remember the total lunar eclipse grab a camera and tripod and head out to the most exposed spot you can find. I suggest picking up a warm coat at the same time, it would make things a lot less cold. In London exposed places aren't easy to find but we found a good spot and I did take some pictures. I can't say they are perfect, it was too windy for my tripod so all the pictures are a bit shaky, still I thought I would share them anyway.

The first picture was taken during totality. The moon was really very orange, it looks very odd, yet quite wonderful too. It was a long exposure, I think in the region of 30 seconds, so the wind was a major factor. I like the fact that you can see the dark areas even on such a blurred picture. I should mention I this is just a large lens, I don't have a telescope. I think I will be putting one on my wish list I do love taking pictures of the sky.

The second picture was just coming out of totality. It allowed a shorter exposure so less blur. It was hard to be sure when you first saw the eclipse end but this photo definitely has a bright crescent on it.

In the last picture the moon was getting very bright where it was coming out of the eclipse. It was giving the camera a hard time and had this wonderful glow around it. I did take some more with shorter exposures afterwards but I rather like this image. It gives a feel of how bright that crescent really is.

3 comments:

Nellie's Needles said...

Amazing! Thank you. By the time it was dark enough here to view the eclipse, it was almost over.

Ferret said...

We did get very lucky here, it was clear and we got the whole of the eclipse. Had I remembered earlier I would have put my camera batteries on charge and tried to stay longer. Being cold my companions were getting pretty keen on leaving, but I wanted more pictures of the eclipse passing.

Anonymous said...

Well done you, I fell asleep on the sofa and missed it,