How to Shoot Lunar Eclipse

February 20th 2008 8.01 Central time almost the entire America witnessed a total Lunar Eclipse. I was able to shoot this live event with my Nikon D200 Digital SLR camera. The pictures are worth a view so I decided to share them with you.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

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

1. 10 minutes before eclipse Know 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.
2. Lunar eclipse series Identify 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.
3. Lunar eclipse series Set 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.
4. Lunar eclipse series Set 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.
5. Lunar eclipse series Set 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.
6. Lunar eclipse series Before 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.
7. Lunar eclipse series Take 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.
8. Lunar eclipse series After 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.
9. Lunar eclipse series- total lunar eclipse Upload 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.
10. P mode picture This 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.
11. Recovery phase of the eclipse This 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).

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to charge your camera battery before the event, or have a back battery handy.
• If you live in cold areas be warmly dressed.
• Do not shoot pictures through the window or glass.
• If you have a filter attached to your lens, remove it to get the sharpest results.