Tonight's lunar eclipse was the first of four total eclipses that will occur over the next two years. For a while during the day, it looked like this might be an astronomical phenomenon that would be easy to capture from Vancouver, but true to form, as the sun set, the clouds rolled in!
Not being one to give up easily (or at least, not that easily), I studied the cloud cover maps and saw that there was a chance of a break to the north of Vancouver, so I headed over to Whytecliff Park to see if the conditions were any better. The moon was still hidden, but I could see a patch of clear sky forming directly overhead, so I headed further north to Lions Bay. Arriving, I was just in time to see the moon appear from behind the clouds!
Good visibility only lasted for about 5 minutes, so there wasn't time to try any unusual compositions, and I don't have the equipment (i.e. a telescope!) to get a really good shot of the moon, but I was able to set up the camera and take a sequence of 50 shots during the gap in the clouds. I then averaged these shots using Registax, which reduces camera noise and atmospheric distortion to produce a sharper, more detailed final image.
This sequence was taken at 12:57am, just ten minutes after the moon was at its darkest, and it was still very dim, so I needed a high ISO setting to keep my shutter speed down and avoid capturing blur as the moon travelled across the sky. Each of the component shots was taken at f/10, 0.5 seconds, ISO 6400.
I'm a British software developer and photographer living in Vancouver, BC. I mainly photograph landscapes, cityscapes, night scenes, and water.
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I like the red colour, I too have a shot,of the moon, taken tonight at 19.30 Adelaide , South Australia.
Very clear night but no red colouring to speak of! Wonderful shot Alexis!
i ove that you captured this in all its glorious stage. i've always been fasinated by eclipses and was hoping to shoot it this time but no such luck as we have haeavy clouds and rain overnighg while the eclipse was happening. thank you for sharing this with us.
This is so great! I stayed up here in the east coast until 2am to catch it but then complete cloud coverage rolled in and we couldn't see it here. Beautiful shot. Total FAV
Thank you very much, everyone! I didn't expect such a great response to a photo of the moon!
@gmost Many thanks! I think that was a bit too late to see the red colour, which is most noticeable during the period when the moon is totally eclipsed. This was between 7:06am and 8:24am UTC, which is (I think) between 4:36pm and 5:54pm in Adelaide.
Okay I like to give stars for images that touch me of if I think someone has excelled for them, but then when I see your image I want to give it at least three stars! Great capture.
Perhaps I should have studied the cloud cover maps too.
Very clear night but no red colouring to speak of! Wonderful shot Alexis!
@gmost Many thanks! I think that was a bit too late to see the red colour, which is most noticeable during the period when the moon is totally eclipsed. This was between 7:06am and 8:24am UTC, which is (I think) between 4:36pm and 5:54pm in Adelaide.
There's another chance this year in October, and it looks like it might be slightly better-positioned for Adelaide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2014_lunar_eclipse
@jyokota Thank you! I'm glad the tips were useful!
@rellimdj Thanks! I used a 70-300mm lens at 300mm, with a 1.4x teleconverter, giving an effective focal length of 420mm.