2017 North American Solar Eclipse - Planning/Discussion

[Brewtus]

PhotoPeeps and Adventurous Types,

For those who are not aware, we have a pretty "stellar" event coming up this year. On August 21, there will be a Total Solar Eclipse traveling from Oregon through South Carolina. It's actually a pretty rare event and if you can make yourself available to see it, you should consider doing so.

There are tons of resources online to track and plan your trip to view the event and I'll let you search for those, but what I'd like to discuss here are photography and videography ideas on how to capture the event from both a technical and artistic perspective.

More posts to follow as I get some of my plans and ideas sorted.

What are y'all planning and/or what have you done at previous eclipses?

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

Have had this on the calendar for sometime now. Planning on somewhere in eastern Oregon, haven't refined it down to where exactly yet.

Will definitely be looking for knowledge and recommendations for gear set up, especially on filters.

 

[Brewtus]

So,

In thinking about composition, I personally have no interest in taking photo/video at 500mm of a bright spot becoming a black spot and back again. Technically challenging? Yes. But artistically meaningful or visually pleasing? meh. Which is a bummer because in anticipation of this event, a year ago, I bought a 500mm lens specifically for this... Oh well.

So I have watched a few videos looking for inspiration:

Patagonia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hlhrjNyjj8

Faroe Islands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL3GU2JDMjs

Space Telescope Science Institute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABlrmlN-KEM

And I've learned a couple things:

- Much like a pinhole camera, the leaves of a tree will act as apertures and project the crescent of the eclipse in their shadow.

- Lens flares will also take on the shape of the eclipse.

- Even with a reasonably wide angle lens, you can still see the diamond ring and moon at totality.

- Nobody, it seems, has captured a decent shot of a solar eclipse from a drone... Challenge Accepted.

- The starburst from a small aperture during the crescent phase appears to have one principle vertical ray... or perhaps they had a linear polarizer on the lens. Either way, it had an otherworldly feel to it that matched the mood of the event.

Oh how I wish I was in Southern Chile next month. The Patagonia video above with the eclipse right at the horizon would be amazing to see. Also, perfect drone material. Perhaps December of 2021 I can go to Antarctica.

Right now, I'm looking at possible locations with interesting subjects to film. Mt. Jefferson appears to be right ********** on the red line, but to be in the correct position, I think I would have to be on an Indian Reservation... IDK about that. Unless I were to summit Jefferson... though that seems unlikely in that period of time. Will probably take a few trips out to scout the locations to see what angles are possible in the coming months. Much exciting stuff!

 

[Airmapper]

So,

- Nobody, it seems, has captured a decent shot of a solar eclipse from a drone... Challenge Accepted.

I guess I'm not the only one with that idea then.

I'm thinking more of a time lapse of the landscape as it goes over.

Still don't know where I'll go, I'm near one of the maximum points, and I bet that place is going to be awfully crowded....

 

[Brewtus]

I guess I'm not the only one with that idea then.

I'm thinking more of a time lapse of the landscape as it goes over.

Still don't know where I'll go, I'm near one of the maximum points, and I bet that place is going to be awfully crowded....

That's what I was thinking initially, but there isn't really a sharp shadow... so I think it would just kind of get progressively darker... Right now, I'm thinking of using a small lake as a mirror to be able to see it... but that's going to be extremely weather dependent.

The majority of my effort I think is going to be spent on proper motion-controlled timelapses from the ground.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

I agree, without some sort of context to the entire shot, it would be difficult to get any kind of interesting shot. I do have Bigma 50-500 that does surprisingly well on my 60d crop body so will try and get some ring type shots, although I have limited expectations. Would like to find "the spot" to have that visual interest

 

[pugslyyy]

We want to be somewhere to see it, but haven't got any further than that in our plans.

 

[pluton]

I guess I'm not the only one with that idea then.

I'm thinking more of a time lapse of the landscape as it goes over.

I have been told by witnesses that the shadow traveling across the landscape can be seen, but you'd need to overcrank to slow it down, probably with an ultrawide or fisheye lens.
On the idea of drones: There is no point getting 400 feet closer to something that is 250,00 miles away(moon) or 93 million miles away(sun). Unless maybe you flew under something that blocks the view up...a bridge, building, or tree canopy, maybe?

 

[Brewtus]

I have been told by witnesses that the shadow traveling across the landscape can be seen, but you'd need to overcrank to slow it down, probably with an ultrawide or fisheye lens.
On the idea of drones: There is no point getting 400 feet closer to something that is 250,00 miles away(moon) or 93 million miles away(sun). Unless maybe you flew under something that blocks the view up...a bridge, building, or tree canopy, maybe?

With 99% of drones, you wouldn't be able to look up to see the eclipse because the camera is on the bottom of the drone. Unless you're down in Patagonia or up in Alaska, where the eclipse happens down on the horizon.

The purpose of the drone is not to get closer to the eclipse, it's to offer a unique perspective on the landscape during the eclipse. The trick is to do so in a way that conveys the fact that an eclipse is happening. So, we have the shadow which travels at about the speed of sound, but it has a very diffuse edge... to the tune of 50 miles or so. Or possibly a reflection over water.

 

[verdesardog]

If I go to see this I will not be taking any photos. Decades ago I did shoot an annular eclipse from the roof of my house in San Diego, it took place as the sun was setting over the Pacific ocean. this was shot with a Canon film camera as there were no digital SLR at that time LOL:

 

[KG4NEL]

Thinking about renting a big lens for this one. Already have the tripod to handle 600mm or so, but my longest lens is 100

 

[Brewtus]

Thinking about renting a big lens for this one. Already have the tripod to handle 600mm or so, but my longest lens is 100

A lot of people use a mirror lens, they're a little soft, but they get you a lot of reach for little cost. Its quite a bit less expensive than renting or buying a long glass lens. This is the one I bought for this purpose even though I won't be using it: https://www.amazon.com/Opteka-1000mm-Telephoto-Mirror-Digital/dp/B00SG504QQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1484758994&sr=8-3&keywords=mirror+lens

With the 2x teleconverter that it comes with, you can get 1500mm on an APS-C sensor. That said, I think at 750 the sun will nearly fill the frame on APS-C.

 

[KG4NEL]

That said, I think at 750 the sun will nearly fill the frame on APS-C.

FF here

I haven't really looked at pricing, is a day's rental for a birding-grade telephoto really that bad?

 

[Brewtus]

FF here

I haven't really looked at pricing, is a day's rental for a birding-grade telephoto really that bad?

It still works on FF, just don't know about the framing and whether you could use the 1000mm option.

I suppose the lens rental depends on where you look, but when I was considering renting one, they were between $250 and $500.

For my (non-professional) use, I couldn't merit spending that much on a day or two's worth of pictures.

 

[userg3]

We want to be somewhere to see it, but haven't got any further than that in our plans.

x2 on this