Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: John Cothron on August 22, 2017, 06:36:49 pm

Title: Sunset of Totality
Post by: John Cothron on August 22, 2017, 06:36:49 pm
How do you pass up a probably once in a lifetime opportunity to photography something like a total solar eclipse?  I didn't get to practice shooting a lot (one afternoon for an hour) but I sure did a lot of thinking.  I had notes on exposure, procedure written down for interval timing, bracketing, everything I could think of... and I still missed one thing, but I got most of it pretty right I think. 

I probably have 500 images to go through, but this may be my favorite one of the whole bunch. I had 2 cameras going with a wide angle and the biggest telephoto I have (100-400 v1). I had to pull out my old trusty 5D2 for this shot. I wanted the higher resolution of the 5D4 for the telephoto shots. This is one image, not a composite, and edited only in Lr. I had calculated and knew I needed the 15mm to get some foreground and get the sun in the frame as well. I would have loved to use a longer focal length but I wanted to get a chance at this shot.

This image was taken on Lake Chatuge in Hiawassee, Georgia. I did a lot of scouting to find this place. It was actually pretty secluded despite the crowds. I had exactly one person for company, a guy that happened by on his motorcycle from Atlanta. The lead up to this outing was pretty stressful for me. I had a computer system go down, which kept me from scouting when I originally wanted or as much as I wanted. I spent roughly 25 hours driving around north GA on Saturday and Sunday scouting for a place. This is the last one I checked out Sunday late afternoon. I owe my wife big time for putting up with me being so focused on this for 3 days straight. Anyway, probably my favorite shot of the day, and in fact my favorite for a good long time.
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: graeme on August 23, 2017, 04:41:45 am
Epic!

Well done.
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: Chairman Bill on August 23, 2017, 04:56:14 am
Great shot. When we had an eclipse a few years ago, it clouded over and all I got were some rather dim photos of people gathered on Dartmoor to share my disappointment.
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: Bob_B on August 23, 2017, 08:14:54 am
Epic!

Well done.
Wow and wow again! Well worth your efforts.
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: Colorado_CJ on August 23, 2017, 11:00:44 am
VERY nicely done!
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: farbschlurf on August 23, 2017, 11:09:20 am
The efforts did pay out absolutely! Awesome.
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: NancyP on August 23, 2017, 11:46:46 am
Really nice!
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: biker on August 23, 2017, 03:57:31 pm
Great job! 8)
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: luxborealis on August 23, 2017, 04:21:33 pm
Truly memorable moment, location and photograph. Great shot, John. Well worth the effort that went into it.
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: Telecaster on August 23, 2017, 05:59:46 pm
Another spiffy pic! So much good stuff coming from this eclipse.

-Dave-
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on August 23, 2017, 11:51:02 pm
Truly memorable moment, location and photograph. Great shot, John. Well worth the effort that went into it.
+1.
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: John Cothron on August 28, 2017, 10:28:27 am
Thank you everyone.  As much as I enjoyed shooting the telephoto for the eclipse it self, this is the shot I really had my hopes for.  I was quite unsure as to whether I would get an interesting effect on the sun.  For a few of the shots I didn't, just a white blob with a black spot in the middle.  This particular image I got lucky with I suppose.
Title: Re: Sunset of Totality
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on September 09, 2017, 11:19:48 am
Fantastic.