Photographing the October 23rd. Partial Solar Eclipse

Sun and Moon chasing at Walker Lake, Nevada

Photographing the solar eclipse is one of my most stressful events because it does not occur very often and also due to the safety factors involved with protecting the eyes.  Magnifying the sun through a lens without proper caution can cause permanent eye damage so I use a Baadar Astrosolar Safety Film that has been attached to a light-proof box that is mounted on the hood of my Nikon 500mm 4.0 lens.

  The safety film is made by the Baader Planetarium in Germany and reduces intensity of sunlight by over 99.999%.

Just before 2:00 PDT when the Moon's silhouette was just starting to reach the top of the Sun's disk I was set up and ready to begin the photo shoot.  As luck would have it, there were clouds but they were very thin and the sun was shining bright, and there was no wind to cause camera shake.

Around 2:19pm, the moon was just beginning to take a bite out of the Sun's disk. After a few trial exposures with the ISO at 200, the aperture at f/22, I selected a shutter speed of 1/2000 a second.  After checking the image, I found that I had to adjust the camera settings to compensate for the dark filter.

     

At 2:26pm with camera settings readjusted to  f/14, shutter speed--1/400 seconds, the sun appeared through the Baadar film in almost its actual color,  neutral white, but with a slight bluish tinge.

 Clouds move across Sun at 2:28pm and I adjust my settings for the reduced light to  f/8 and shutter speed at 1/160 a second.

The Sun is nearing mid-eclipse at 3:14pm and time for more camera adjustments, I increased the ISO to 400 at f/5.6 with 1/640 a second shutter speed.

At 3:42pm the Moon's silhouette is almost half way across the Sun's surface and with less light coming from the Sun, I opened the aperture to f/4 and lowered the shutter speed to 1/80 a second. 

After this time, the sun had dropped low in the west sky almost behind the mountains and the clouds were thicker.  It turned out to be a nice day for catching the partial solar eclipse and the thin clouds added to the ambiance.

While processing the photos in Lightroom, I took the artistic creativity to add some color and enlarge the  AR 2192 sunspot that has been so much in the news media lately.

And I must confess that I just can not help being a little creative with the enhancing tool just to see what colors appear.

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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Special Effects Through Mistakes

Making the Most of the Moment

Rushing out with the camera to catch that scene before it disappears can often allow for mistakes.  However, a few of my mistakes have created some interesting photographs.

While trying to catch the full moon just as it was peeking over the Gillis Mountains at Walker Lake, Nevada, I forgot to remove the UV filter. As a result, the light reflected off the optical elements within the lens and bounced back to the camera's sensor, thereby producing this scene where the moon has lost her face.

On a sunny day, I was attempting to photograph ice crystals or sundogs (parhelion) that were forming in the clouds.  Aiming that close to the sun, it is almost impossible not to catch flare, even with a lens hood.  The flare in this image produced radial streaks, appearing as a bright spots (ghosting) across the scene.  An added bonus to this scene was the jet and contrail that seems to be headed toward one of the polygonal shapes.

As much as I love full moons, the crescent moon also holds as much beauty and intrigue.  While bracketing my exposure on manual setting, I overexposed this scene of the moon with some interesting highlights.

My first attempt to catch the solar eclipse ended in disappointment when clouds covered the Wassuk Mountains just as the sun went in to eclipse.  Not being one to give up, I took the photos hoping that the sun might show through the clouds.  What I did catch, due to filter stacking was some interesting effects from lens flare.    

 

Attempting to capture the scene of the undertaker's parlor through the dusty window at Bodie Ghost Town State Park put shivers up my back.  However, when I processed the RAW images and saw the light streaking from the dark ceiling, it really gave me the shutters!

Creating special effects with photography is fun and can be challenging.  It’s a special bonus when they just happen and create a more interesting scene. 

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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Transit of Venus from Walker Lake, Nevada

Venus's Voyage Across the Sun 

After attempting to photograph the annular solar eclipse last month which was obstructed by cloud cover, I decided to prepare for the Venus Transit across the Sun on June 5, 2012 in hopes that the weather would be clear.

Upon gathering as much information as possible about the safety precautions for solar viewing and photography, I determined that the Baader AstroSolar™filter material from the Baader Planeatrium was the wisest choice.  The filter produced by Baader is not inexpensive with a 3.5 inch (9cm) sheet costing $15.00; however the double coated material is guaranteed free of pinholes and approved for eye safety by the National Bureau of Standards in Germany.  And when I am focusing on the sun through a long telephoto lens, the safety of my eyesight is of up most importance.  The other advantage for selecting the Baader AstroSolar™filter is that the sun appears in its true color which is neutral white.

Along with the filter material are directions on how to mount and create a light proof box for attachment to the camera lens. Initially, I was going to use a poster mailer for mounting the filter to the lens.

  

After the poster mailer was cut down to the recommended 2 inch (5cm) size, a decision was made instead to use a  card board box because the opening could be cut to fit snugly on to the Nikon 500mm camera lens. Then a 3.5 inch (9cm) circle was cut on both sides of a thick folded paper to sandwich the Baader AstroSolar™filter before it was taped to the lightproof box.  Extra care must be taken with the filter to prevent scratches and finger prints that can cause damage. 

 Using my lens hoods, I adapted two additional boxes for the filter to be used with my other Nikon lenses, the 35-70mm and the 80-200mm.

   

To reach as much distance as possible, I used my Nikon 500mm 4.0 lens and a 2Xteleconverter with the Baader AstroSolar™filter secured to the light proof box.  By taking some trial exposures of the sun, I determined that I would need a slower shutter speed of 1/125 second due to the filter and teleconverter cutting down on the amount of light reaching the camera sensor.

First contact--the dark disk of Venus appears to touch the Sun's outer edge on the ingress.

Second contact--Venus travels inside the Sun’s disk.

Venus travels almost midway across the Sun; the dark spots in the center of the Sun are sunspots.  Orange hue has been added in Lightroom for a more dramatic effect.

Venus is barely visible as the Sun drops behind the Wassuk Mountain at Walker Lake, Nevada.

For additional information:

 http://www.alpineastro.com/Solar_Observation/Solar_Observation.htm

http://www.optcorp.com/Manufacturer.aspx?mid=225&gclid=CIfd6t36ubACFQF6hwod2QMX8g

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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The 2012 Solar Eclipse from Walker Lake, Nevada

Playing Hide and Seek with the Sun

On Sunday, May 20, 2012 around 17:30 or 5:30 PDT the moon was to be passing between the Earth and the Sun, creating an annular solar eclipse.  An annular solar eclipse occurs when the smaller moon blocks out most of the sun's light, creating an annulus ring or Ring of Fire.

Not having the proper solar filter did not dissuade me from trying to capture a photo of this rare event.  I stacked several filters on my 35-70mm 2.8 Nikon lens including a Tiffen Neutral Density #3, a Nikon Circular Polarizer and a Heliopan Split Neutral Density.  With camera on tripod and electronic cable release attached, I ventured out to get the photos without looking at the eclipsing sun.  Contrary to some myths, it is not safe to look at the sun even though it is 99 percent covered by the moon.  That one percent is still bright enough to cause eye damage. 

What I was hoping to get would have been something like this:

However, nature was up to playing hide and seek with the sun as a layer of clouds moved in right over the Wassuk Mountains where the sun would be setting.   Since I was set up, I took some exposures of the sun behind the clouds on manual setting at f/22 with the shutter speed at 1/4000 second.  Some interesting results were produced from lens flare.

After processing the RAW photos in Lightroom, I noticed the reflection of the eclipsing sun down below.

Around 18:22 or 6:22 PDT the clouds were hanging close, but it was fun to just watch the earth grow dark with a calm stillness everywhere.  Even the noisy birds grew quiet.

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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The Coming of Spring

Changes in Light

When I was getting serious about landscape photography, I was instructed that the best lighting of all the seasons occurs in fall or spring. At this time, I was shooting with film cameras where there was only a 4 to 5 stop difference in lighting. If you wanted a good print from the dark room, you were forced to meter correctly.

At my home in the northwest portion of the Southwestern Desert, spring offers a longer photography opportunity than the fall season. In northern Nevada, spring can arrive as early as late January and last through June, depending on the mildness of the climate.

The lighting in spring is kinder to the camera, whether film or digital, due to a number of reasons. The sun light striking the earth is diffused because the earth’s revolution is still at an angle. Diffused light is softer and causes less metering problems. As the earth progresses around the sun, its tilt angle becomes reversed, causing the sun’s rays to become refocused, giving us more daylight hours. The increase in daylight signals nature to wake up and be reborn. Longer daylight hours provide the photographer so many different opportunities to photograph the renewal of spring, whether it’s through the diverse color schemes of the landscape, the variety of wildlife, or dramatic climate changes.

So, unpack your camera gear, charge up your battery and trek out to enjoy the splendors offered by the spring landscape.

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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