Image 3 of 14
2017 Eclipse Time Sequence Composite
2017 Eclipse Composite - Time Sequence.jpg
Here’s a variation on creating a time-sequence composite of the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse.
In this case, time runs from left to right, from the last filtered partial phases I shot, through unfiltered shots of the rapidly changing last glimmer of sunlight disappearing behind the advancing Moon at “Second Contact,” forming “Baily’s Beads, to totality at centre.
The sequence continues at right with the Sun emerging from behind the Moon in a rapid sequence at “Third Contact,” followed by two post-totality filtered partials to bookend the total eclipse images. The C3 limb had a beautiful array of pink prominences.
The Contact 2 and 3 images were taken in rapid-fire continuous mode and so are only fractions of a second apart in real time. Most are 1/4000th second exposures.
The totality image is a blend of 7 exposures, from 1/1600 second to 1/15 second to preserve detail in the corona from inner to middle corona. These were aligned, and merged into a smart object and blended with a Mean combine stack mode. It is not an HDR image. I added a couple of layers of High Pass filtering to sharpen structure in the corona.
The partials are 1/2500-second exposures through a Thousand Oaks metal-on-glass solar filter for the yellow colour.
All were taken through an Astro-Physics 105mm apochromatic refractor with a 0.85x field flattener/reducer for an effective focal length of 500mm at f/5. The flattener added some flares off the diamond rings.
The telescope was on an AP Mach One equatorial mount, aligned and tracking the sky, a rare circumstance for me for any total solar eclipse.
The placement of the frames here only roughly matches the actual position and motion of the Sun across the sky during the time around totality.
Partials and C2 and C3 images layered into Photoshop and blended into the background totality image with a Lighten blend mode, and masked to reveal just the wanted bits of each arc.
The site was north of Driggs, Idaho in th
In this case, time runs from left to right, from the last filtered partial phases I shot, through unfiltered shots of the rapidly changing last glimmer of sunlight disappearing behind the advancing Moon at “Second Contact,” forming “Baily’s Beads, to totality at centre.
The sequence continues at right with the Sun emerging from behind the Moon in a rapid sequence at “Third Contact,” followed by two post-totality filtered partials to bookend the total eclipse images. The C3 limb had a beautiful array of pink prominences.
The Contact 2 and 3 images were taken in rapid-fire continuous mode and so are only fractions of a second apart in real time. Most are 1/4000th second exposures.
The totality image is a blend of 7 exposures, from 1/1600 second to 1/15 second to preserve detail in the corona from inner to middle corona. These were aligned, and merged into a smart object and blended with a Mean combine stack mode. It is not an HDR image. I added a couple of layers of High Pass filtering to sharpen structure in the corona.
The partials are 1/2500-second exposures through a Thousand Oaks metal-on-glass solar filter for the yellow colour.
All were taken through an Astro-Physics 105mm apochromatic refractor with a 0.85x field flattener/reducer for an effective focal length of 500mm at f/5. The flattener added some flares off the diamond rings.
The telescope was on an AP Mach One equatorial mount, aligned and tracking the sky, a rare circumstance for me for any total solar eclipse.
The placement of the frames here only roughly matches the actual position and motion of the Sun across the sky during the time around totality.
Partials and C2 and C3 images layered into Photoshop and blended into the background totality image with a Lighten blend mode, and masked to reveal just the wanted bits of each arc.
The site was north of Driggs, Idaho in th
- Copyright
- © 2017 Alan Dyer
- Image Size
- 6400x4160 / 11.6MB
- www.amazingsky.photoshelter.com