I just witnessed my first total eclipse and what an experience it was. Indescribable really. Partial or annular eclipses can't even be measured on the same scale. They are not comparable in the slightest to witnessing totality. I hope everyone gets to experience that at least once in their lifetime.
I planned on traveling to Texas or Arkansas, but I ended up in Poplar Bluff, MO for the eclipse. I was blessed with clear skies for the entire duration.
My goal was to capture and create a composite image showing a progression of change throughout the eclipse. I used the annular eclipse as a practice run and I learned a lot which helped in this one. This is what I captured...
Critiques are encouraged and appreciated,
Matt
EDIT: Added the last image which shows Earth (sized to scale) fitting inside of the large prominence.
1) Total Eclipse Composite - 10-minute interval
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/10.01/6400s100 ISO0.0 EV
2) Total Eclipse Composite - 20-minute interval
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/10.01/6400s100 ISO0.0 EV
3) Total Eclipse Composite - 10-minute interval - Square Composition
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/10.01/6400s100 ISO0.0 EV
4) Prominences
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/10.01/1250s100 ISO0.0 EV
5) Bailey's Beads and Prominences
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/10.01/1250s100 ISO0.0 EV
6) Diamond Ring
Canon EOS R5RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens500mmf/22.01/320s100 ISO0.0 EV
7) A single exposure of totality
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/6.31/20s200 ISO0.0 EV
8) An HDR photo of totality
Canon EOS R5RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens500mmf/9.01/5s320 ISO0.0 EV
9) Comparison between the 2023 Annular Eclipse and the 2024 Total Eclipse
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/10.01/6400s100 ISO0.0 EV
morris wrote:
Great work Matt. Your diamond ring is the best I've seen and that is lovely composite.
Morris
Thanks Morris. I wasn't sure how well the diamond rings were going to turn out as they were a tad underexposed. Luckily increasing the whites in lightroom helped to increase the glowing effect.
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cs3is wrote:
Nice work Matt, specially using f22 on the ring shot to get a star burst effect. I totally forgot in the chaos and excitement
Cheers,
Chris.
Thanks Chris. Chaos and excitement sum it up well. I ran two cameras and originally planned on shooting at 560mm and 1120mm (for close up prominence shots). Well, I later decided to shoot both at a shorter range of 500mm and 640mm to double my odds of getting keeper totality shots. I had all my presets the same, but I decided to set one camera to f22 in hopes of getting a starburst. Luckily it worked out.
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kdacharya wrote:
superb series, Matt
Thank you kdacharya
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dclark wrote:
Wow! You got some really great images.
Nice job on the composites.
Dave
Thanks a lot Dave. Lighthound posted a similar composite from the 2017 eclipse, and it was my inspiration for this one.
Great work, Matt. This is by far the best photographic coverage of the eclipse. This would make a very sell-able print, if you market any of your work. Well done!
gmccroskery wrote:
Great work, Matt. This is by far the best photographic coverage of the eclipse. This would make a very sell-able print, if you market any of your work. Well done!
Greg
Thanks a lot Greg, I really appreciate it. It's funny you mention that. I have never sold any of my images before, but I had quite a few people at the eclipse asking me if I sold any, where they could buy them, if I had a website, where could they view my images, etc.
I have been thinking hard about this these last two days, and I'm considering setting up a website mainly for viewing my images but also to sell a few here and there. I have zero experience with this, so if anyone has some advice feel free to message me. I'm in the research/youtube phase right now, but I would like to get one going in the next week or so if possible.
I took some shots just to say I did I knew there would be someone like you that had images to post that would blow me away Matt. You obviously knew what you wanted to do and how to do it, these are thrilling to see! That last image with Earth is mind blowing ............. you exceeded my expectations, YGMV simply awesome and excellent presentation.
Karl Witt wrote:
I took some shots just to say I did I knew there would be someone like you that had images to post that would blow me away Matt. You obviously knew what you wanted to do and how to do it, these are thrilling to see! That last image with Earth is mind blowing ............. you exceeded my expectations, YGMV simply awesome and excellent presentation.
Karl
Thanks a lot, Karl. I appreciate the kind words. The best part about this eclipse was being able to take my brother and parents with me. My parents are in their mid 70's and none of us had seen a total eclipse before. It will be 20 years before the next one in the US. I'm glad I got the shots I wanted but I'm even happier that we all got to witness it together.
Awesome work!
This was my 2nd totality. It's not an exaggeration that 95% coverage is as different from totality as 5%.
The 360º "sunset", the ~15º drop in temperature, the excitement of the crowd...
If I had experienced totality in my 20s (I'm 58) I would have spent my life chasing them.
Panorascal wrote:
Awesome work!
This was my 2nd totality. It's not an exaggeration that 95% coverage is as different from totality as 5%.
The 360º "sunset", the ~15º drop in temperature, the excitement of the crowd...
If I had experienced totality in my 20s (I'm 58) I would have spent my life chasing them.
No doubt. My primary goal for this trip was to photograph the eclipse but after viewing it, I completely understand why people travel all across the world for just a couple minutes of action. During this one, I spent about 80% of my time staring at the back of the camera and 20% observing the eclipse. It will be the other way around on the next one I see.
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Ted ellis wrote:
Absolutely stunning top to bottom. 👍👍
Thanks a lot Ted.
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Lil Judd wrote:
Great work and thank you for sharing these and your experience
Lil
I appreciate it Lil. Thanks for checking it out.
I was not able to edit my first post but I have refined a couple images over the last several days. I decided to use the HDR totality image for the composites and I brightened the corona on the right side baileys beads image to match the left side....
11) NEW EDIT: Total Eclipse Composite - 20-minute interval
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/10.01/6400s100 ISO0.0 EV
12) NEW EDIT: Total Eclipse Composite 10-minute interval Square Composition
Canon EOS R7EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens400mmf/10.01/6400s100 ISO0.0 EV
I knew there would be someone like you that had images to post that would blow me away Matt. You obviously knew what you wanted to do and how to do it, these are thrilling to see! That last image with Earth is mind blowing ............. you exceeded my expectations, YGMV simply awesome and excellent presentation.
