If the eclipse occurs during the middle of the night, the moon’s motion will be from left to right. If the eclipse occurs in the early evening, the moon will be rising and its motion will bring it up and to the right as you face the moon. It should take the moon about three hours to traverse the field of view of a 35mm lens on a Nikon DX format D-SLR or a 50mm lens on an FX format D-SLR. The moon appears to move across the sky at a rate of 15 degrees per hour. The moon rises about 50 minutes later each night, so if the eclipse is set to occur at 10pm on a specific day, run the test the evening before at 9:10pm. You can figure out the approximate orientation by practicing one or two nights before the eclipse. When you’re ready to make the exposure, lock the shutter open with the cable release and enjoy the eclipse. Make sure you have a fully charged or fresh battery for the camera and an empty memory card. Also, turn ON the camera’s Long Exposure Noise Reduction feature. Turn Autofocus OFF and focus manually on infinity. Make sure that you compose the image so that the moon will move across the camera’s field of view during the exposure. As the eclipse begins, place the moon’s image in one corner of the camera’s viewfinder. Starting Exposure: Begin by setting the ISO to 400, using an f/stop of f/8 or f/11 and set the shutter speed to Bulb. To photograph Star Trails, you will definitely need to use a cable release. Photographing a lunar eclipse this way will allow the moon to slowly drift across the frame. Because of the Earth’s rotation, you are capturing a trail of the light from the stars (or moon in this case). When you photograph the night sky using very long exposures of several minutes or more, you will end up with an effect known as Star Trails. Any longer than that and you’re going to begin to see star trails or streaks, caused by the earth’s rotation. The slowest shutter speed that you should use is 40-seconds. Try a variety of exposures adjusting the shutter speed in 5-second increments. Starting Exposure: As a starting exposure, set the camera to ISO 400, and open the lens to the widest aperture. Shooting a lunar eclipse with a wide-angle view lets you incorporate an interesting foreground into your image. For photographers using the Nikon 1 system cameras, use a focal length range of 10-30mm. For photographers using a Nikon FX format D-SLR, you can use a focal length range of 28-35mm. For photographers using a Nikon DX format D-SLR, use a focal length range of 18-35mm. If you don’t have access to a cable release, use the camera’s self-timer to trip the shutter to begin the exposure.įor COOLPIX digital cameras, set it to the widest focal length. If your camera can utilize a cable release, using one is the best way to ensure that you won’t cause vibrations when you trip the shutter. Because you’re going to be using long exposures, it is ideal to place the camera on a sturdy tripod. You can use any camera that is capable of long exposures, of five seconds or more. The wide-angle technique offers the simplest way to photograph a lunar eclipse. While you can also use film cameras to photograph eclipses, this article specifically discusses digital camera use. No matter what kind of camera you own, there are a variety of techniques that you can use to photograph a lunar eclipse: wide-angle, telephoto, multiple exposure and star trail. If you're away from city lights, the Milky Way becomes bright and beautiful as the total phase begins. The crescent of the moon grows thinner as darkness propagates through a night sky now deprived of moonlight. If the eclipse is a total one, the last remaining minutes of the partial phases can be quite dramatic. During the next hour, the moon gradually dips deeper into Earth's dark umbral shadow. These are easy to see as well, with the unaided eye.Ī lunar eclipse begins as a small notch slowly appears along one edge of the moon. During the total phase (totality), the moon turns a vibrant red color. This occurs when the entire moon passes through the Earth’s umbral shadow. These eclipses are easy to see with the unaided eye. This occurs when a portion of the moon passes through the Earth’s umbral shadow. These eclipses are subtle and hard to observe. This occurs when the moon passes through the Earth’s penumbral shadow. There are two or more lunar eclipses a year. A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the moon passes through the Earth’s dark shadow, which can only happen during a full moon.
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