Things You'll Need:
- Excellent SLR Digital camera
- At least 300 mm zoom lens
- Tripod stand
- Clear night sky
- Knowledge about the exact time the eclipse would occur in your town
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Step 1
10 minutes before eclipseKnow exactly when to expect the event in your area. You can search via yahoo or google (type "Lunar eclipse in Stoughton WI"). Be sure to check your local weather and the visibility through the sky. Prepare for the shoot well in advance.
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Step 2
Lunar eclipse seriesIdentify the most comfortable spot in your house from where you may get a wider view to sky. This is important if you are planning to shoot sequential pictures of the eclipse both "crescendo" and "decrescendo." Since moon is constantly moving you might loose its sight due to obstructions in your view as time goes by.
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Step 3
Lunar eclipse seriesSet up your camera before mounting on the tripod stand. I suggest following camera settings (Do not use the "P" mode or auto mode as you may loose fine details of the moon):
Use RAW fine picture files. Keep metering on matrix shutter speed of 1/320 ISO at 100 aperture f9 exposure of -5 (or least available). Select "vivid" or "more vivid" picture quality. Set white balance to "auto." Use high tone and high sharpness features, if available. Put saturation at enhanced option. Zoom out your lens to full 300 mm.
As the moon becomes covered with the earth's shadow, the illumination will change, therefore you will either need to decrease the shutter speed and/or increase the light intensity. Playing with the aperture may blur the images. -
Step 4
Lunar eclipse seriesSet up the self timer. Do not shoot manually, as you will loose the sharpness and details of moon due to shaking when you click manually.
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Step 5
Lunar eclipse seriesSet up your tripod on a firm and flat surface. Adjust the height so that you can comfortably see through the view finder of your camera. Mount your SLR securely on the tripod stand.
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Step 6
Lunar eclipse seriesBefore the eclipse begins, shoot multiple pictures of the moon while playing with the camera settings until you get the best shot. Leave the camera settings undisturbed after the best shot and wait for the event.
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Step 7
Lunar eclipse seriesTake sequential pictures of the whole event. Do not forget to capture the moment when the huge earth shadow just begins to blanket over the moon. At this point, the moon looks as if it was bitten on is edge. Slowly the earth's shadow will creep up on the rest of the moon and will take about 30 minutes to completely cover it. This will bring you to total lunar eclipse which will last for 50 minutes. During these 50 minutes, you will still be able to see the moon but will appear as if it was covered by a thick cloud. With the camera settings that you used to shoot so far, nothing can be shot now. To shoot this phase of total lunar eclipse you would need to change to "P" mode or auto mode. The pictures will be blurred but you can still see some gross details of the moon.
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Step 8
Lunar eclipse seriesAfter this period of total eclipse the earth's shadow will slowly begin to pass from the other side of where it started to cover it. Be sure to shoot this "decrescendo" phase just like you shot the crescendo phase. Use same camera settings as you used to the first phase.
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Step 9
Lunar eclipse series- total lunar eclipseUpload all your pictures to your computer. Enhance your images if necessary. I recommend to sharpen images in any standard photo software. I used picture project to process my images.
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Step 10
P mode pictureThis picture was shot in "P" mode. The moon is almost completely covered with earth's shadow leaving a small brightly illuminated crescent which got buried 5 minutes later.
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Step 11
Recovery phase of the eclipseThis picture is one of the recovery phase of the eclipse. To see the whole series of pictures, please click on my flickr.com account link below (Lunar Eclipse, "Crescendo" and "Decrescendo" Series).








Comments
Butterfli said
on 10/20/2008 I like this article - very cool! 5*
grouch said
on 3/28/2008 Nice! wish I could have caught it in my lense.
Momof3infl said
on 3/22/2008 Very cool!
yassertariq said
on 3/15/2008 Quite an interesting read.
gpcs said
on 3/5/2008 These are excellent pictures. For more information and trivia, see "How to View a Lunar Eclipse: or the Light side of tbe Dark Side of the Moon" by George Sommers
-George