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A Partial Eclipse of the Sun

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I had it all planned out. After exchanging with Marina and learning there was an eclipse of the sun happening in a few days and that she, living in Athens, Greece, would not be able to see but I could (a portion of it), it was determined I would attempt to take some pictures.

I knew it was an iffy proposition at best because there is no good place to capture the sunrise anywhere near me and my house is too low for me to see anything properly though I might have a small chance if I climbed up on my roof (a relatively easy thing to do). Of course, I had to promise to share with Marina 😉

It just so happens I had to be at work at 7:30 this morning to greet the roofers (yay, me) so it would be all the easier to wake up (I’m still working on convincing myself it was) at 5:30. Sunrise was officially at 5:04 and the experts said we would be able to see it some time after that.

The alarm went off, I hopped out of bed made my way to the kitchen to step outside and, just as I had suspected, way too low. Shoot. I looked at my roof, looked at the bit of sunrise I had and realised it wouldn’t matter so no need to risk breaking my neck (I’m not a monkey like my 23-year-old is. Well, not anymore, anyway!)

5:45, my running clothes on, Tabata timer set to 32 minutes I decided not to waste this early morning. This running/walking thing I’ve been doing for the past three months is surprising me still. I had to keep it short this morning because I had enough time to make a coffee, shower, etc. and be at work for 7-stupid-thirty.

For the first time in over a week it was actually chilly out there! I rounded my corner, kept on going until I got to the first little park and right in front of me. BOOM! Damnation! No camera. This was my first attempt with the camera phone. No visible eclipse. Sigh. But man was it bright.

I took a few more steps and then took this. But only realised the something special just now. I thought it was a bright star

I thought okay… not quite what I was hoping for but… how cool is this effect?

I was chuffed to see this phenomenon. I couldn’t capture the eclipse but a flare sort of did! I promise, last one like this 🙂

So, enough with the picture taking, I had a run/walk to finish.

I got home and decided to do my stretching in the backyard. I was pretty much blinded by the light, so to speak!

I got out my trust Canon with my 75-300 lens and tried to look by not looking at the sun. Yeah. Ummm… Not an easy thing to do.

Most of the eclipse was over by then but I still caught a smidgeon of it. I know, I know, we can barely discern it on this one. Bottom left, maybe if you squint 😉

I particularly liked the following one where the last bit is a bit more visible…

But then I played with it a tad and gave it a bit more drama.

I’m frankly more than a little in awe that any of these turned out at all. If you want to see a truly beautiful photo of the partial eclipse, please check out David Kanigan’s right here. It’s absolutely stunning!

117 thoughts on “A Partial Eclipse of the Sun”

  4. You did really damnation great considering. You are supposed to use a 16 stop neutral density solar filter to photograph eclipses. They are expensive and hard to come by as they are never in stock when I try to order them. What I’ve done it the past, which the “experts” say is not as good as an DN Solar filter is to stack three x8 ND filters with should be around 24 stops. I have gotten really good results with the three ND x8 filters on solar eclipses, the transit of Venus and the Transit of Mercury. Back to your photos. They are really quite fantastic as you got the circle of the sun, color in the clouds and a little bit of the eclipse. When I looked it up, I would not have seen any of the eclipse.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Why thank you, kind sir! I have zero filters of any kind and was not prepared for this but, according to you, that would not have mattered anyway coz they are hard to find and expensive.
      And again, thank you so much! Seriously. I am amazed I managed it. Was a little pissed at myself for not having my camera half an hour earlier. And yeah, I know you were not in the range this time around…

      Liked by 1 person

      • I put myself on the notification list for when the 16 stop ND Solar filter is back in stop. I always forget between eclipses to look for them. a 77mm 16 stop ND Solar filter is $109. That is expensive considering we don’t get a lot of eclipses, but I’ll be happy to have one, if I can get one, for the next eclipse, and transits of Venus and Mercury. It will be good for simply photographing the sun.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Oh wow, Dale, those last few pictures look like a beautiful painting. Very picturesque and almost dystopian with the dark reds, blues, greens, and yellows. These are amazing, amazing pictures you took; I honestly didn’t even know there was a sun eclipse, but my stance is that early mornings are evil lol.

    Loved your commentary here: “I was pretty much blinded by the light, so to speak!”

    Yeah, no kidding, you had seen the light! 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you, Lucy! I am ridiculously pleased with the last few especially. And yes, early mornings are totally evil – as mentioned, it was out of my norm to be up at stupid o’clock!

      Tee hee… glad you enjoyed it all 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Oh, wow, Dale, these are fantastic shots and, no way… eclipse in a flare?!!!!! How amazing is that!!!!! I’m so glad I reminded you! I watched it from Nasa live stream. 🙄 I am also in awe, especially with that last one. Huge hugs your way and
    xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo…. [lots of them!]

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Dear Dale,

    Once more I’m in awe of your photography. Personally I like the ones you took with the camera phone as if not more than the ones you snapped with your Canon. All wonderful. Thank you for sharing them all.

    Shalom and lotsa bright hugs,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Rochelle,

      Thank you, my friend. I admit I like both results because they are so different. Glad you enjoyed!

      Shalom and lotsa non-eclipsed love,

      Dale

      Liked by 1 person

  20. We had heavy cloud cover but I managed to get a couple of decent shots in some breaks. I had polarised eye protection but was unable to see the camera screen so had to do a glasses on/glasses off/repeat. Very hit and miss!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Oh, I am so happy for you that you were able to see it. And I know what you mean. I had regular sunglasses but let’s face it, couldn’t see a darn thing!

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Q

    BRAVA!

    You were able to experience this event as a photographer, as a mama and as a runner . . . so that gets scored as a hat-trick . . in hockey jargon. And I love how many iterations you were able to capture, on the fly, without benefit of your trusty camera. Each one produced a very different, very awesome effect.

    As for the running . . (walking is what all runners do so I refuse to call it a run/walk . . you’re running!) . . you are . . . wait for it . . eclipsing your wildest expectations. Which, I know for a fact, you weren’t expecting this at the start. And yet, here you are.

    Another BRAVA for the road. Just because.

    B

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Well, here in the outskirts of London we had typical “Eclipse Weather” i.e. plenty of cloud cover……. we did once have a partial that I was able to observe many moons ago. I was able to project it onto a sheet of white card using a telephoto lens….
    I remember Mr Croot showing us a partial eclipse back in 1954 with his smoked glass to look through….

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, Jan! I like how they turned out, despite not having the proper equipment (I have since learned!) and not having my camera earlier. But hey… 🙂

      Like

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