Testing for the Eclipse

It is 23 days to the Total Eclipse of the Sun.  Kathy and I will be driving to Rochester, NY where the path of totality goes through New York State.  So today, because it was sunny, a number of our club members were getting together in groups to work together to test their equipment - cameras and long lenses and telescopes, and and also to make the calculations for the complex exposures required for the three phases of the eclipse.  It helps to work with another person to make sure what you have calculated are the correct exposures.  So my friend Grace came over to the house and we set up in the side yard and did test exposures, and consulted on our calculations.  Stan's mantra for everyone, before the eclipse, is to "practice, practice, practice..."

There are three stages of the eclipse, and each stage requires different camera settings.  The first is when the moon starts passing in front of the sun.  You have to view and shoot that with a special filter, like the silver one here, on Grace's telephoto lens.  The the next phase only lasts maybe 10 or 15 seconds, and you take the filter off with the sun about 98% blocked and try to photograph "Bailey's Beads" and the "diamond ring" which is caused by sunlight shining through the mountains on the edge of the moon.  Then the third, and most spectacular phase, is "totality" where the moon completely covers the sun, but the glow of the Sun's corona streams out from beyond the black circle of the moon, and it is as dark as night!  And it happens so fast that you have to be absolutely prepared or you will miss parts of it.  The total eclipse is magical and overwhelming and eerie and one of the most beautiful things you will ever experience.  I hope some of you get to see this eclipse!