Preliminary Eclipse Photos

Preliminary Eclipse Photos

By Brad Templeton.

I went to the Black Sea on board the Marco Polo to see and photograph the Aug 11 eclipse. I took a lot of photos, and plan to do some fancy work with them when I have the time to generate a truly amazing eclipse photo. Come back in late September to check for those photos and more photos here.

However, here are 3 of them, mostly unprocessed (a little contrast adjustment) from Pro Photo CD and regular Photo CD scans of my negatives.

Of course no photo yet made actually looks anything much like an eclipse. They all capture different aspects of it. Only the eye can see it all at once.

Pictures Copyright 1999 © Brad Templeton. All rights reserved. Ask me if you want to use any of them. These are actually scaled down quite a bit from the Pro Photo CD scans at 6000 x 4000 pixels.

If you were on the Marco Polo, visit my Macro Polo Eclipse Mailing List page and join the list and see other links.

Plus here are some shots from on deck on the Marco Polo during the eclipse. See if you're in them!

prominences.jpg
(896 x 802 - 77K)

A 1/1000th shot at f/18 (Meade ETX 1250mm focal length), showing an amazing number of prominences and some chromosphere. Taken mid-eclipse. This short eclipse made up in prominences what it lacked in duration. Shot on Fuji NHG II 800. This image is large, but the software will let you scale it down if on a slow link. I shot on such fast film to compensate for the f/18 telescope and being on a moving platform. The ship was stable -- telescope vibration was the biggest issue, even on a weighted down Bogen tripod.

corona1.jpg
(900 x 584 - 51K)

A shot at 1/6th second at f/18 showing the inner and middle corona.

f182000.jpg
(800 x 733 - 56K)

A shot at 1/2000th, but closer to 2nd contact -- note the different pattern of prominences.

corona2.jpg
(600 x 545 - 41K)

A blow up from a shot at 1/8th at f/5 (Vixen 400mm) showing outer corona. Shot on Portra VC 400. A friend recommended trying Portra, which is a low contrast film, to show a broader range of the corona and I think it worked. The grain is also tolerable at 400ASA.

f5-6th.jpg
(900 x 824 - 91K)

A shot at f/5 and 1/6th second. Gamma increased to show outer corona. Portra VC, 400mm focal length.

f51000th.jpg
(713 x 637 - 40K)

A shot at f/5 at 1/1000th of a second for inner corona. Portra VC.

Other Photos

My whole eclipse cruise is documented. See: Black Sea Eclipse Cruise and in particular see the Eclipse Sequence which is a series of photos of the deck of the ship and all the astronomers during the eclipse, taken 20 seconds apart, right around totality.