Thursday, October 1, 2015

Lunar Eclipse

I've never tried taking pics of a lunar eclipse before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The moonrise was at about 6:45 PM here on the west coast. Right from the start, at least half the moon was obscured by the eclipse.

 I had a great vantage point from which to view the eclipse, and to the northwest, the skies were nicely lit up as people waited for the moon. Evidently, my vantage point isn't much of a secret!

 As the moon moved higher on the horizon, the visible crescent became smaller...

 And smaller... this one reminds me of an eyeball or a diamond ring!

 And smaller still. Here, just the slightest edge is illuminated.

 Same image as above, just cropped. I like this shot... never seen a moon look like this before!

 Finally, the moon just kind of disappeared for a while. Without a strong telephoto lens, binoculars, or a telescope, you would have been disappointed. People around me started to chit chat, and a few left. However, viewed through my telephoto lens, I could see the faint moon picking up a definite reddish tint by about 7:45 PM.
F/11, 2 sec exposure, 800mm, ISO 3200
The biggest challenges of shooting a lunar eclipse? 1] It's a very "dull" moon, so you must manually focus (difficult with an object putting out very little light). 2] The moon is moving quickly, so you need to keep your exposure at or under about 2 seconds or it will be blurry. Not an issue at all for a "normal" moon. For a lunar eclipse, it means you really have to push your ISO, which adds grain. Bottom line: Very difficult to get a clear, sharp, non-grainy lunar eclipse shot!!
Hope you had a chance to go out and check out the lunar eclipse! Linking with Skywatch Friday. Click on the link to check out great skies from around the world!!
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49 comments:

  1. TexWisGirlOctober 1, 2015 at 2:46 PM

    glad you got to see and photograph it!

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  2. CloudiaOctober 1, 2015 at 3:29 PM

    Thank you for these photos and for the clinic in photography! You always reward visits richly











    ALOHA
    ComfortSpiral

    (\__/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_(")

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  3. Sylvia KOctober 1, 2015 at 4:59 PM

    Oh, WOW!!! These are awesome!! Thank you so much for sharing! I've never seen photos of an eclipse of any kind that are as good as yours!!!

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  4. Jane Hards PhotographyOctober 1, 2015 at 5:12 PM

    Fabulous. So many fake ones around, lovely to see genuine blood moon images

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  5. Nancy ChanOctober 1, 2015 at 5:48 PM

    These are beautiful pics of the moon! Thank you for sharing these fantastic images.

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  6. Yogi♪♪♪October 1, 2015 at 6:15 PM

    Very nice shots. I found photographing it to be quite the challenge. My Nikdon de5300 did okay but I had charged up the battery on my Canon SX40 super zoom and it came through like a champ. Getting a good shot of the partial moon and when it was emerging was very challenging. I can see why people spend money on sturdy tripods. I had never seen a lunar eclipse over a protracted period before and I loved it.

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  7. JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes)October 1, 2015 at 7:18 PM

    Wonderful shots!

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  8. StephanieOctober 1, 2015 at 7:59 PM

    Gorgeous shots!

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  9. IndraniOctober 1, 2015 at 8:23 PM

    Wow! Fantastic captures!
    Clear skies!

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  10. AnonymousOctober 1, 2015 at 8:52 PM

    You got some fabulous shots! (We only saw clouds...)

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  11. Sallie (FullTime-Life)October 1, 2015 at 10:04 PM

    Fabulous ... I knew I'd see some good moon shots this week .... We didn't get to look for it for boring reasons including being so tired from our recent move. Couldn't have taken such wonderful pictures anyway, so thanks for sharing! It's great to have the combination of your talent and being away from so much light pollution!

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  12. ak_utOctober 1, 2015 at 10:14 PM

    wow - spectacular shots of this wonderful moon !! happy weekend :-)

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  13. Gerald (SK14)October 1, 2015 at 11:02 PM

    My favourite shot here is the one showing the other photographers. Here it happened around 3am so I was soundly asleep but one of my neighbours who has a tripod got some good shots from his garden.

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  14. s.cOctober 2, 2015 at 1:54 AM

    Great moon shots indeed. What else can I say .

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  15. Jan K. alias AfanjaOctober 2, 2015 at 4:16 AM

    Wonderful shots of the superbloodmoon!

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  16. Author R. Mac WheelerOctober 2, 2015 at 5:05 AM

    we were clouded over here in Florida. (frowny face)

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  17. DrillerAAOctober 2, 2015 at 5:38 AM

    Very nicely captured images of a special lunar event. Have a blessed week-end.

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  18. A Colorful WorldOctober 2, 2015 at 6:44 AM

    Really great shots! It fully rose for us before...I was so happy we had clear skies!re the eclipse started

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  19. namakiOctober 2, 2015 at 8:07 AM

    Great ! Especially the first one .... in Europe the eclipse started in the middle of the night while the moon was already high in the sky ! I bet it was less impressive !

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  20. John "By Stargoose And Hanglands"October 2, 2015 at 8:28 AM

    Thanks for those. To see it in England required getting up in the middle of the night; not a sensible thing to do with a twelve-hour shift to work the following day.

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  21. Ruth HiebertOctober 2, 2015 at 9:37 AM

    You have wonderful pictures of this event.

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  22. Share my GardenOctober 2, 2015 at 12:22 PM

    I am so pleased to see this whole range of photos and to have the comments on your experience because here in England, in the middle of the night, it was not very spectacular, hardly worth crawling out of bed for! It's not going to happen for another thirty years and I doubt I'll be getting out of bed when I'm in my hundreds!

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  23. ArtloverOctober 2, 2015 at 12:58 PM

    Nice shots of your moon. I had more problems wtth clouds (see mine) but give more dramatic effects around the moon, I had 200mm only.

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  24. AimzOctober 2, 2015 at 1:03 PM

    oh wow awesome shots! we didn't get to see the blood moon from NZ but I did get a good shot of it full.

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  25. fredamansOctober 2, 2015 at 1:18 PM

    Fantastic shots of the eclipse, but that sky shot with all those colors is pretty incredible!!

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  26. AlOctober 2, 2015 at 5:12 PM

    Nice shots. It was much darker where I was so the Moon was never hard to see, but your tips are right on. Especially through a telephoto lens, the movement is remarkable.

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  27. LindaOctober 2, 2015 at 8:13 PM

    You did well! We had too many clouds here.

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  28. Amy at Ms. Toody Goo ShoesOctober 2, 2015 at 8:40 PM

    Spectacular shots!

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  29. KatarinaOctober 2, 2015 at 11:52 PM

    You got some excellent shots of this phenomenon!

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  30. GattinaOctober 3, 2015 at 12:19 AM

    Excellent result !!

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  31. NatureFootstepOctober 3, 2015 at 8:00 AM

    great shots of the big event. I overslept it as it was due very early in the morning where I live. You have a very long lens. Must be heavy.

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  32. BraComOctober 3, 2015 at 1:31 PM

    Beautiful series, very nice moon photos

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  33. LeoviOctober 3, 2015 at 2:29 PM

    Beautiful photos, beautiful red moon!
    Limbo Delirium
    Black & White Abstracts

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  34. orvokkiOctober 4, 2015 at 10:58 AM

    Anazing photos !!! The moon was really beautiful.

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  35. sunshineOctober 4, 2015 at 12:18 PM

    Wonderful photos and colors.

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  36. desi TravelerOctober 4, 2015 at 12:40 PM

    stunning images..

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  37. Stewart MOctober 5, 2015 at 3:19 AM

    The eclipse shots are hard to get balance - but, if photography was easy, would we still do it!

    Nice shots. I was asleep when it happened here - too much work!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  38. Janice / Dancing with SunflowersOctober 5, 2015 at 6:36 AM

    You did a fabulous job. Pity the other people left before really seeing the blood moon. You mentioned the ISO on my moon post. Yes, this was the first time for me photographing a lunar eclipse too. I took two sets of settings as my starting point. First - you can get a really good full moon using ISO100, Shutter speed 100 and F stop 8. The other thing I know, having photographed the Aurora Borealis, is that for very low light you need ISO 1600, F stop around 4 or 5, and shutter speed between about 5 and 15 seconds. So I just aimed to gradually reduce shutter speed and increase ISO with the reduction in light from the illuminated moon. As you say, the moon actually moves quite quickly, so it's important not to have too long a shutter speed. I don't know if the settings I used were textbook settings, but they are at least a good starting point. If I get the chance to photograph another eclipse - and hopefully early in the evening like yours - I'll maybe play around a bit more and see what works best. In the meantime, I think we can both be happy with what we produced! :)

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  39. ManuelOctober 5, 2015 at 1:20 PM

    Pues para ser la primera vez, te has conseguido un reportaje excelente; yo lo intenté en una ocasión, y las fotografías fueron un desastre. Gracias por los consejos.
    Un cordial saludo.

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  40. Kenneth Cole SchneiderOctober 5, 2015 at 3:41 PM

    Nice moon shots! Just as our moon was ready to really get "bloody" it disappeared behind some clouds. I have a few fuzzy shots of a red tennis ball.

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  41. TiffanyOctober 5, 2015 at 8:27 PM

    Absolutely beautiful.

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  42. Coloring Outside the LinesOctober 6, 2015 at 4:58 AM

    Wow! Stunning shots. My sky was clouded over and I was very disappointed not to see it. I can't get good shots anyway, but I really did want to at least watch it.

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  43. DeniseinVAOctober 6, 2015 at 5:43 PM

    These are absolutely stunning photos! Incredible!

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  44. IreneOctober 7, 2015 at 12:28 AM

    Wow, awesome shots. In Drammen wehad to get up at 4 in the morning. Needed the sleep for a long day at work, so I didn't get up to see it. But when the news served all the details and shots in the morning, I realized I had made wrong priority.

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  45. John's IslandOctober 8, 2015 at 9:07 AM

    Hi S P & P, Wow, you got some excellent photos! I did go to a park where there was good viewing to the eastern horizon. Seattle, can you believe it, actually had wonderful clear skies. Got a great view of the eclipse. There were literally hundreds of folks there and plenty of pro looking photographers, with tripods, timers, etc. I decided this time to just enjoy the moment and left the camera at home. All you said about the difficulties of getting a great picture are so true. Congrats on the wonderful pics. It is always a pleasure to stop by your blog.

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  46. Thomas LeeOctober 8, 2015 at 11:05 PM

    Wow!Perfect capture of the eclipse

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  47. Cathy KennedyOctober 9, 2015 at 5:17 PM

    Wonderful! Fabulous! Job well done! I wish I got pictures of the event, but didn't. I loved seeing yours, though. So thanks for sharing! Have a great weekend!

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  48. AnonymousOctober 10, 2015 at 12:16 AM

    Wow, your pics of the eclipse are amazing! Still haven't gotten to it how to take pics of the moon:(

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  49. LizOctober 14, 2015 at 7:05 PM

    You did a fantastic job of photographing it! Well done.

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