Solar Eclipse
an installment of what happens to my photos when i die?
Embedded Files
Hopkinsville, KY
Hopkinsville, KY
August 21, 2017
On August 21, 2017 a total solar eclipse was visible for a huge swath across the US! My family drove down to Hopkinsville, Kentucky to a community college that hosted a viewing event.
Here's my extremely professional setup - my mom's DSLR and the filter of a welding hood taped to some cardboard from a box of granola bars.
After the moon's first contact, the sun turned into more and more of a crescent shape until it was just a little sliver right before totality. I didn't do any research (oops) so I had no idea what to expect settings-wise, plus i had never used my mom's camera before. These were taken at the largest aperture the lens allowed (f5.6), shutter 1/3200s, and ISO 1600 (oops). I definitely shouldn't have used that high of an ISO.
It was pretty much broad daylight when these were taken, it just looks like this because the welding glass is designed to block enough light to be safe for the eyes. (Note: You should use a real solar filter if you try this)
There was a HUGE change as totality began. The entire sky turned into basically a 360 degree sunset/twilight. The birds stopped chirping, and it was safe to look with the naked eye and take the filter off the camera. The temperature dropped a good 20 degrees from earlier, and the glow of the sun was just a faint halo. It was truly one of the highlights of my life.
The next sixteen hours, however, was one of the worst nights of my life as we sat in bumper to bumper traffic on a two lane highway across the entire state of Kentucky through the entire night. The first time we were able to get to highway speed wasn't until we hit Cincinnati to turn North back toward Detroit. I had to call out of work that day because I didn't get home until 8 am.
Cincinnati
Cincinnati
On our way down to Kentucky we spent part of the day in Cincy. It was 95 degrees and miserable but there was a cool bridge I got some pictures of and walked across in the pedestrian lane.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse