13 replies to this topic

[DrkNite]

Now that we've seen some of the best images that are out there for the eclipse, how about those of us with images that didn't quite turn out the way we wanted, planned, hoped, etc. post here to commiserate.  While my plans didn't quite turn out the way I hoped, even less than stellar images serve to help me remember the eclipse.  I've taken to reviewing the images and video to see what "gems" I could pull out of them.  Most are very rough, but still serve to have captured a part of the eclipse that others have caught perfectly.

 

I'll start with some of my examples.

 

My C3 diamond ring pictures, which were the only ones I got with my DSLR that was setup to do all of totality (see my response in the Eclipse Orchestrator thread), are arguably my best shots.  However, they were a bit soft in focus, and two of the 6 had just plain bad focus (even though I hadn't touched the camera between shots).

 

Here's one of the best:

 

 DSC_0381.jpg   21.3KB   9 downloads

 

Next, is my sole totality shot.  This was a contingency shot, done with my Nikon Coolpix A10 P&S camera afocally through the eyepiece of my 76mm Orion reflector.  

 

 DSCN0170.jpg   42.66KB   6 downloads

 

 

Surprisingly, around the C3 diamond ring, one of the badly focused shots revealed the presence of the prominences, with the one at the 1-2 PM angle showing the most.  There were hints of the others around the limb, but the sunlight through the mountains as totality was waning obliterated the huge prominence that was around the 3 PM location.  I did some "processing" (sharpening, reducing gamma, contrast, brightness, etc) to enhance the blurry visibility of the prominence.

 

 DSC_0382_RAW_PROCESSED.jpg   80.47KB   5 downloads

 

And finally, I grabbed and combined the appearance of the corona from 3 frames of low-quality video, which shows consistent shape/size between the frames.  As these compared favorably to much higher-resolution shots, I know they represent the actual shape of the corona.  With everything going on, I didn't think to tell my wife to zoom in on the eclipsed sun as she was shooting it during totality.

 

 Corona_from_3_video_frames_082117.jpg   16.52KB   4 downloads

 

 

Let's see the best of your worst!  :-) 

 

[ed_turco]

You have nothing to be ashamed of!

[Jgoldader]

There are so many amazing images here that it's easy to think it must be really easy to photograph eclipses.  But it takes an awful lot of work, planning, and money, both before and after totality, to get images like Jerry L.'s, for example.  This is a lot of the rationale behind the "don't bother trying to photograph it" point of view.  You'll certainly be able to buy a print or poster that's better than almost any of us can do.

 

And your diamond ring image is lovely!

[vickiestar]

This is not an imperfect image, but more of an unfortunate side-effect. After the eclipse I stayed in Cullowhee for several hours, but finally left at around midnight. This was the traffic situation right before I shut-down my laptop and got in the car. It shows the still backed-up traffic of people driving out of the totality zone trying to get on interstate 40. My destination was Lake Junaluska (upper right) where I slept in a tent. 

[Luna-tic]

This is not an imperfect image, but more of an unfortunate side-effect. After the eclipse I stayed in Cullowhee for several hours, but finally left at around midnight. This was the traffic situation right before I shut-down my laptop and got in the car. It shows the still backed-up traffic of people driving out of the totality zone trying to get on interstate 40. My destination was Lake Junaluska (upper right) where I slept in a tent.

I had much the same experience, leaving Central, SC (near Clemson). Took me 6 hours to get from there to my home near Hickory, normally a 2 hour drive. I-85 was a parking lot for over 100 miles going north, and the back roads were little better.

 

As for imperfect shots, DrkNite, those look pretty darn good. This was my first attempt at AP, much less an eclipse, and I was very satisfied with what I got. Bailey's Beads at both C2 and C3, and a Diamond Ring, also at C3. My Ring had some sort of glare or diffraction artifact (shooting prime through a C6 SCT at f/6.3), but I'm very happy with it. I think I waited a millisecond too long after C3 to trip the shutter, got too much light.  Solar Eclipse 8-17 Diamond Ring at 3rd Contact (2).jpg   70.65KB   2 downloads  solar eclipse 8-2017 Bailey's Beads at 2nd Contact (2).jpg   52.65KB   2 downloads

Edited by Luna-tic, 19 September 2017 - 06:19 PM.

[DrkNite]

You have nothing to be ashamed of!

Thanks!  Considering that it could have been a wash given weather possibilites (and I do feel for those who got clouded out), I'm happy to have gotten what I did.

[DrkNite]

There are so many amazing images here that it's easy to think it must be really easy to photograph eclipses.  But it takes an awful lot of work, planning, and money, both before and after totality, to get images like Jerry L.'s, for example.  This is a lot of the rationale behind the "don't bother trying to photograph it" point of view.  You'll certainly be able to buy a print or poster that's better than almost any of us can do.

 

And your diamond ring image is lovely!

Thank you!  I am pleased to have at least gotten those, given the circumstances.  As this was my first total eclipse, I had already been prepared that my images wouldn't be on the order of Jerry L's and others that I have seen.  I did make sure that I took the time to actually look at the eclipse, so the imaging and the issues I had weren't the focus (pun intended).  But, I did have to try!

[DrkNite]

This is not an imperfect image, but more of an unfortunate side-effect. After the eclipse I stayed in Cullowhee for several hours, but finally left at around midnight. This was the traffic situation right before I shut-down my laptop and got in the car. It shows the still backed-up traffic of people driving out of the totality zone trying to get on interstate 40. My destination was Lake Junaluska (upper right) where I slept in a tent.

I drove from the Chicago area to Kentucky.  The drive down was fine, as we went on Saturday.  The drive back, however, was a completely different story.  We left shortly after totality had finished.  What should have been a 6 hour drive total turned into a 12 hour drive to only get 1/3 of the way back home.  We slept in the SUV at a rest stop, then completed the drive home on Tuesday morning (3.5 hours, no traffic).

Edited by DrkNite, 19 September 2017 - 06:50 PM.

[DrkNite]

 

This is not an imperfect image, but more of an unfortunate side-effect. After the eclipse I stayed in Cullowhee for several hours, but finally left at around midnight. This was the traffic situation right before I shut-down my laptop and got in the car. It shows the still backed-up traffic of people driving out of the totality zone trying to get on interstate 40. My destination was Lake Junaluska (upper right) where I slept in a tent.

I had much the same experience, leaving Central, SC (near Clemson). Took me 6 hours to get from there to my home near Hickory, normally a 2 hour drive. I-85 was a parking lot for over 100 miles going north, and the back roads were little better.

 

As for imperfect shots, DrkNite, those look pretty darn good. This was my first attempt at AP, much less an eclipse, and I was very satisfied with what I got. Bailey's Beads at both C2 and C3, and a Diamond Ring, also at C3. My Ring had some sort of glare or diffraction artifact (shooting prime through a C6 SCT at f/6.3), but I'm very happy with it. I think I waited a millisecond too long after C3 to trip the shutter, got too much light.Solar Eclipse 8-17 Diamond Ring at 3rd Contact (2).jpgsolar eclipse 8-2017 Bailey's Beads at 2nd Contact (2).jpg

 

Thanks!  I do like your C3 diamond ring shot - that would make a great poster.  The artifacts give it an artistic effect that sets it apart from other, more typical, diamond ring shots.  

[Mad MikeE]

 

This is not an imperfect image, but more of an unfortunate side-effect. After the eclipse I stayed in Cullowhee for several hours, but finally left at around midnight. This was the traffic situation right before I shut-down my laptop and got in the car. It shows the still backed-up traffic of people driving out of the totality zone trying to get on interstate 40. My destination was Lake Junaluska (upper right) where I slept in a tent.

I drove from the Chicago area to Kentucky.  The drive down was fine, as we went on Saturday.  The drive back, however, was a completely different story.  We left shortly after totality had finished.  What should have been a 6 hour drive total turned into a 12 hour drive to only get 1/3 of the way back home.  We slept in the SUV at a rest stop, then completed the drive home on Tuesday morning (3.5 hours, no traffic).

 

I have to put the Diamond Ring w/ the lens rainbow in this thread when I get a chance.

As for the traffic, this was your chance to get City gas Mileage on the Highway!    

Edited by Mad MikeE, 21 September 2017 - 11:32 AM.

[vickiestar]

...

I have to put the Diamond Ring w/ the lens rainbow in this thread when I get a chance.

 

As for the traffic, this was your chance to get City gas Mileage on the Highway!    

 

I suppose you're referring to this (link below)?

 

https://www.flickr.c...03/36593251861/

 

Well, I suppose it's an imperfection and maybe interesting at the same time. (I've been curious by what path does the light within the lens actually take to produce such a phenomenon. But this is a thing that probably only an expert lens designer would know?).

 

fyi, the gallery in Wikipedia's article about lens flare is interesting. In some photography lens flare may be deliberately sought after (even added by post-processing).

 

https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Lens_flare

 

But I know that astronomers in general are probably purists, so any altered image of the sky is considered imperfect or adulterated.

Usually I'm a purist too. I really don't care for flavored coffee, nor pumpkin-flavored beer for that matter.

[DrkNite]

Playing with the low-quality video I got from the eclipse, I reduced the overall brightness using VLC media player during playback.  Doing this I was able to tease out the approaching shadow in the sky, as the camera was pointed west of the Sun as totality was occurring.  I made a series of captures from the video showing this effect, as seen here.  

 

 

 video_shadow_approach_sequence.jpg   15.66KB   1 downloads

[Jgoldader]

As I was wanting to get some wide field shots to complement my telescopic images, Elder Son volunteered to run a 300mm lens with his DSLR on a tripod.  Me: "You're sure?"  Elder Son: "Yep."

 

I reminded him to center and focus about 10 minutes before totality.  He did get it centered, but didn't recheck.  During totality, he said, "Dad, I'm not getting anything."  I ran over, got repointed, but didn't check the focus.  The result was out-of-focus images (the star's a donut) with chromatic aberration.  I did an HDR using Photomatix, and did what sharpening I could with Photoshop Elements.

Attached Files

•  imperfect.jpg   91.67KB   2 downloads

Edited by Jgoldader, 07 October 2017 - 04:58 PM.

[DrkNite]

That's not too bad, considering you can see some detail in the corona.