VOICES OF DAVIDSON

I’m a photographer, and have been for decades. While I love sports photography, I like almost all aspects of photography. Back in the “old days” I had my own darkroom, developed by own black & white film, and printed my own photos. Today, I’m armed with several digital cameras and a slew of SD and compact flash cards. And instead of a darkroom, I now sit in front of my computer and process my images through PhotoShop.

Last Sunday night I almost went to sleep, without watching the eclipse. Then I realized that I had a new camera body and lens since the last time I had attempted to photograph a lunar eclipse. Couple that with a challenge on social media, and I had to do it.

We almost had the perfect situation in Davidson. We would have a full view of the eclipse and clear skies, with no threat of clouds interfering with the view. The only downside was the bitterly cold temps. (I think it reached the low 20s at some point during the eclipse.)

The eclipse began at 10:33 p.m., and I started taking photos at 5 minute intervals. The full eclipse began at 11:41 and ended at 12:43 a.m., with the maximum eclipse at 12:12 a.m. The partial eclipse ended at 1:50 a.m. As such, it was a essentially a 4-hour time obligation that didn’t end until almost 2 a.m. But, it was worth it. I love the photos I was able to capture at the various phases of the eclipse.

Most notably, I created the composite image featured above. I selected the sharpest photos from the 5 minute intervals and then put them together for the composite. I’m not sure why I wound up with this specific design, but it seems to best reflect all of the images that I was seeking to display. If you want to see the individual photos, check out this album.

Photographic details:

Nikon D850 – tripod mounted

ISO 400 – 640

Shutter speeds from 1/2000 – 5 seconds

Tamron 150-600mm lens at the 600mm focal length

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at [email protected]