Cute But Stupid
eclipse
Posted by amy (Nanaimo, BC, Canada) on 22 February 2008 in Landscape & Rural.
My attempts of capturing the eclipse failed abysmally. However, after much fiddling I was able to at least "produce" this image. I don't know why I was getting this ghost image next to the moon but I thought it was kind of cool... different.
You can view my gallery of images and calendar for sale at: cute but stupid . I'm slowly adding more to the site and if there is something in my portfolio you would like to purchase but is not available on my site just contact me and I'll make it available.
I appreciate all visits and comments and thank you always... ;-)
Stunner from Kingston, Jamaica
Nice capture Amy. don't worry about the failure, I suffered the same fate. I posted mine today too.
22 Feb 2008 5:13am
Michael Skorulski from Cigel, Slovakia
A very nice image. It shows you had the energy to go out and give it a try.
22 Feb 2008 5:53am
e. from New York, NY, United States
Beautiful! I think the ghost effect is really neat too.
22 Feb 2008 5:56am
Michael Rawluk from Prince George, Canada
I wonder if there were thin clouds acting a diffuser.
A very sweet shot.
22 Feb 2008 6:06am
travelingrant from Kanazawa, Japan
Not bad at all. You were much luckier than I... I was out and ready with camera and tripod, but foiled by low clouds. Argh!
22 Feb 2008 7:12am
Marion from Nanaimo, BC, Canada
Very nice Amy. I didn't even try, was probably asleep when it happened. When I leave my UV filter on my lens I get the ghost image as well. However, I think this is an excellent shot of the moon. Bravo!!
22 Feb 2008 7:17am
Helen from Melbourne, Australia
I'll congratulate you Amy. I am impressed. My attempts at 'Moon" photography were absolutely abysmal. I asked Craiger for hints and came to the realisation I lacked the equipment. Oh well ... we can't do everything perfectly can we?
22 Feb 2008 9:04am
Richard_Irwin from Belper, United Kingdom
You got a great close-up, but I think the ghost image is some reflections going off in the lens or something, not much you can do about it, except clone it out later in Photoshop.
22 Feb 2008 12:33pm
Betsy Barron : www.thebetsy.com from Glenmoore, United States
Not bad - at least you got out there and got it! I missed it entirely! you captured some fantastic glow!
22 Feb 2008 12:42pm
Viewfinder from Bradenton, United States
What I see is some good reasonably sharp detail on the lunar surface. Yes, I think the ghost image and glow must be from leaving on the filter. I forgot and left mine on too, but didn't get ghost images on my first attempts. Still, it was frustrating, as I was not only racing with my own technical ineptitude, but also the impending cloud cover. After a few dismal failed attempts, I managed to get a couple of barely ok shots (lacking the sharp clarity I'd hoped for). But then the clouds won the day (err... night) and covered the moon, eclipsing the eclipse. And that was all.
So congrats on having the early success this shot indicates you've had.
22 Feb 2008 12:43pm
Earnest from Oklahoma, United States
Very nice... I was unwilling to stand in the sleet and hope the clouds would clear myself...
22 Feb 2008 1:36pm
Dylan from Delhi, United States
The ghost almost looks like a planet behind the moon...
22 Feb 2008 2:00pm
Craiger from Vacaville, California, United States
Excellent! You got a much better shot than me. It was a little foggy here.
22 Feb 2008 4:57pm
Jen from Alpharetta, United States
Stunning...I love the little mirror image! Gives it a sense of mystery and intrique.
My shots were ok, by the time it was a total eclipse the clouds rolled in and no matter what I did manual or auto I could NOT get a decent shot. I did get a few neat ones as the moon was shaded...gonna try a little collage thing to share those...need time to do that though!!!
22 Feb 2008 5:52pm
adlibitumphotos from Lyon, France
Très belle photo, même si dans cette forme elle m’empêche je crois de dormir. Pascal
ery nice photograph, even if in this form it prevents me I believe to sleep. Pascal
22 Feb 2008 6:25pm
yiannis krikis from thessaloniki, Greece
I like it very much - the ghost image I think that is a reflection into the lens - have a nice weekend
22 Feb 2008 7:51pm
Roberta from Rocky Mtn House, Canada
Why didn't you think to come over here? Do you know why your images didn't work out? If not give me a call.
22 Feb 2008 9:03pm
baobab from Cambridge, United States
Amy, this is neat. It's tough to take the moon... I like the 3/4 eclipse effect, and the ghost image does add a serendipitous effect: it adds a kind of symmetry to the composition.
23 Feb 2008 1:07am
Anne from White Rock, BC, Canada
It's not perfect - but it is really neat, and a heck of a lot better than I got - which was sweet toot all! The full moon rose crystal clear - then almost at eclipse starting time - went behind a thick bank of cloud till it was all over - then out he came again all shiny bright and full!! GRRR!
The main problem as I see it Amy, is overexposure! (forget about ghost images - with all the dark sky around very easy to clone out anyway). The dark sky all around causes the ambient lighting to be predominantly very dark blue! When there is such a great area of darkness the exposure meter is fooled into making an exposure reading which is an average of all the light and dark in the photograph. Which mode of exposure metering did you use? This is where the little +/- button comes in. For bright lights in the city such as lights in Las Vegas where they are very bright - I still used to push the +- button to minus 1 or 1.5 stops, and could still handhold my 50 mm lens. This was to take into account the dark night sky overhead which affects the meter similarly. My choice now I have a digital would be to use Spot metering (which we have on our Nikons) and would measure the exposure based more on the point of light (the moon) that we are focussing on, and not calculate in so much of the dark area of sky. It will still affect it a bit though because there is still so much more dark than light all around our cameras. You have an added problem with the eclipse, because half of the moon is quite dark and half very bright - with not many darker features on it in the "Southern Hemisphere" . Therefore after setting your camera to spot metering, putting the plus/minus button down by at least one stop - then use the "bracket" button. The bracket button will make one exposure at the setting you are at, then one 1 stop more exposure and 1 frame with another -1 exposure. This is very quick to do and you can take a quick peek at these and if still overexposed take down the plus minus button to -2 stops and repeat the procedure. There are always variables with this because it depends on how high the moon is - as to how brightly it is shining, etc. I would preferably let the 'eclipsed' part of the moon go darker to get the whole thing more balanced (in other words choose the photo in which this effect happens). Nobody is expecting to see too much detail in the eclipsed part of the moon. I would have had to try different plus/minus setting and bracket the exposures too - if my moon had stayed in view long enough! A fairly high in the sky full moon, can be photographed hand-held with a zoom lens at about 1/100 - 125th sec. (Depending on the length of the zoom of course) If you are using your monster one it is safer to use the tripod. But I am really afraid that with an ISO of 800, 2 secs was way, way too much!
Don't be hurt! Just trying to put some thoughts down that may or may not be helpful with moon shots. You still got an amazing shot and if you can practice on an ordinary moon getting the exposure right - much, much less fiddling to do later! I honestly think that I am better at this sort of stuff because of all the anguish I used to go through with older cameras than I am with the every day stuff. I think we all take our exposure meters for granted at times, because there is always Photoshop! :-()
23 Feb 2008 7:17am
Sandrine from Cincinnati, United States
I have one of those today! A serendipity shot! I'm not good at all the technical stuff explained by Anne, I still have a lot of Learning to do! Trial and error! Nice try... My setting was 3sec and 800 and it didn't get overexposed? Go figure!
23 Feb 2008 2:54pm
drphoto from Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
This is a nice image. I'm glad you caught it. I wanted to get it but it was too cloudy =D(
Dan
23 Feb 2008 7:44pm
Nikon D70
8/5 seconds
F/5.6
ISO 800
450 mm (35mm equiv.)