Sun 07/25/2017

These are nothing special, but I was "practicing" for when the Eclipse happens, provided Northern Indian has a clear sky that day.
I am not sure what time it will happen here or how to find out. I know it will not be even close to total... will the moon cover 50% or 5% of the sun here in Indiana??
How do I find what time it happens in Northern Indiana?

Here are my practice shots all ISO 100 and totally manual.

(yes I understand with the moon covering a portion of the sun I will have to play with shutter speeds)

1/350 at f/5.6

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/WTJk​f2

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VSbG​Eg

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VSbG​46

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VSbF​pF

I'm over in Ft Wayne and figured it wouldn't even be worth while. But after looking at the maps, it may not be bad at all. The total eclipse is just to the south of IN so we're not that far away. About a 0.85 magnitude. I may give this a shot.

https://www.greatameri​caneclipse.com/nation/

What's up with the odd title?

Ascenta wrote in post #18411051
I'm over in Ft Wayne and figured it wouldn't even be worth while. But after looking at the maps, it may not be bad at all. The total eclipse is just to the south of IN so we're not that far away. About a 0.85 magnitude. I may give this a shot.

https://www.greatameri​caneclipse.com/nation/

I have looked at this map before, but it did not make any sense to me, but now it does. Sometimes my brain does not work as fast as I wish it did. It appears on the map this will take place at about 2:22 in the afternoon Indiana time and as you say 0.85 to maybe 0.88 magnitude so it will be a lot better than I initially thought it would be.

Bassat wrote in post #18411266
What's up with the odd title?

The odd title is the date I took the pictures of the Sun for practice.

My suggestion would be to scout your area heavily in order to find compositional items to add to your images. . A photo of just the moon, or just the sun, or even of just the moon and sun together, will be cliche, as gazillions of photographers and non-photographers alike will be shooting this eclipse.

If you are interested in creating eclipse images that are more unique and interesting, then you could find some foreground elements to include in the scene - things such as a tree-lined horizon, or an american flag on a hilltop, or a body of water with ducks and geese on it, or a city skyline, etc., etc.,etc. . . . . . anything that presents well in silhouette can be used as foreground elements for the eclipse.

These things will take some figuring out, inasmuch as point of view, focal length, aperture, etc. . This is why scouting is so important - not only location scouting, but experimenting with settings, as well.

It seems like you are on the right track by getting out and photographing the sun now, so that you can get a feel for the exposure triangle that you will be working with. . If you start to include foreground elements in sun photos, you will soon develop a feel for what apertures you need to use with objects at various distances, so as to get both the foreground object and the sun/moon in focus at various focal lengths.

Get out there and see exactly where the sun is at 2:22 in the afternoon - that way you will know just where you need to be in order to align your chosen foreground elements with the sun. . Of course, the sun's position will change a little bit each day, but it'll be close enough that you will only have to make minor adjustments to your POV on they of the big event.

My gut instinct tells me that the sun will be quite high in the sky at that time of day, so you will probably have to get VERY low to the ground in order to get things to line up with the sun. . Also, you will probably have to get rather close to the objects in order to align them with the sun, so you'll probably be working with very small apertures, such as f32 or thereabouts. . And obviously, you will need long focal lengths in order to fill a good-sized area of the frame with the sun.

.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18411453
If you are interested in creating eclipse images that are more unique and interesting, then you could find some foreground elements to include in the scene - things such as . . . a body of water with ducks and geese on it

When the sky gets dark, those ducks and geese will think it's bedtime.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18411453
My suggestion would be to scout your area heavily in order to find compositional items to add to your images. . A photo of just the moon, or just the sun, or even of just the moon and sun together, will be cliche, as gazillions of photographers and non-photographers alike will be shooting this eclipse.

If you are interested in creating eclipse images that are more unique and interesting, then you could find some foreground elements to include in the scene - things such as a tree-lined horizon, or an american flag on a hilltop, or a body of water with ducks and geese on it, or a city skyline, etc., etc.,etc. . . . . . anything that presents well in silhouette can be used as foreground elements for the eclipse.

These things will take some figuring out, inasmuch as point of view, focal length, aperture, etc. . This is why scouting is so important - not only location scouting, but experimenting with settings, as well.

It seems like you are on the right track by getting out and photographing the sun now, so that you can get a feel for the exposure triangle that you will be working with. . If you start to include foreground elements in sun photos, you will soon develop a feel for what apertures you need to use with objects at various distances, so as to get both the foreground object and the sun/moon in focus at various focal lengths.

Get out there and see exactly where the sun is at 2:22 in the afternoon - that way you will know just where you need to be in order to align your chosen foreground elements with the sun. . Of course, the sun's position will change a little bit each day, but it'll be close enough that you will only have to make minor adjustments to your POV on they of the big event.

My gut instinct tells me that the sun will be quite high in the sky at that time of day, so you will probably have to get VERY low to the ground in order to get things to line up with the sun. . Also, you will probably have to get rather close to the objects in order to align them with the sun, so you'll probably be working with very small apertures, such as f32 or thereabouts. . And obviously, you will need long focal lengths in order to fill a good-sized area of the frame with the sun.

.

Tom, some very good ideas to think about!

OhLook wrote in post #18411462
When the sky gets dark, those ducks and geese will think it's bedtime.

If am am able to find a location that would include ducks and/or geese (or something totally different), then I would not be able to use my long focal length lens, but would have to instead use a wider lens, possibly my Tokina 11-20 lens which of course would then make the sun/moon quite small in the image....

With only about 2 minutes 40 seconds, that does not give me anytime to take any pictures with one lens, then switch lenses and then recompose to do both long and wide lenses.... do I use wide first, then recompose for the long lens? hhmmmm

When I was taking the shots yesterday afternoon, with camera mounted on a tripod, since the camera needed to be pointed pretty high, I found to keep my lens at the long length (500mm) I had to get some masking tape and wrap that around my lens to keep it from falling down to the 150mm length.

That did work well... does anyone have any better ideas? (For the long shots anyway)

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18411416
The odd title is the date I took the pictures of the Sun for practice.

Now I feel like a complete BONEHEAD! I read that as SUNDAY 7/25/17. Then I looked at your photo of the SUN, and it never occurred to me that the title referred to the star, not the day. (Note to self: engage brain before putting fingers in gear.)

Bassat wrote in post #18411545
Now I feel like a complete BONEHEAD! I read that as SUNDAY 7/25/17. Then I looked at your photo of the SUN, and it never occurred to me that the title referred to the star, not the day. (Note to self: engage brain before putting fingers in gear.)

LOL!! Oh that is a good one... sounds like something I would also do!!

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18411042
Here are my practice shots all ISO 100 and totally manual.

(yes I understand with the moon covering a portion of the sun I will have to play with shutter speeds)

I'll bet you won't need to change the exposure with partial moon coverage. If shot totally manual (suggested for this), I don't believe you want the remaining portion of the Sun to be dimmer shots, especially if you are compositing sub shots together in a series. There is enough brightness remaining even with the moon over a large portion of the Sun. Disclaimer: I have not yet shot a total eclipse.

DavidWatts wrote in post #18411863
I'll bet you won't need to change the exposure with partial moon coverage. If shot totally manual (suggested for this), I don't believe want the remaining portion of the Sun to be dimmer shots, especially if you are compositing sub shots together in a series. There is enough brightness remaining even with the moon over a large portion of the Sun. Disclaimer: I have not yet shot a total eclipse.

For these types of shots, including when I shot the moon, I ALWAYS shoot in manual mode!