Family Life

Did you see tonight’s lunar eclipse? I spent all evening popping outside every ten minutes to take photos. I missed the last couple of eclipses because of clouds, and we’re not supposed to get another eclipse until 2010. Tonight’s forecast was for clear skies with the moon high in the sky–ideal conditions. I set the camera up on its tripod, calculated all the exposure settings in advance (data courtesy of the internet), and wrote out a timetable for taking photos.

The last time I shot an eclipse it was late fall. I drove out to a dark country road and sat outside for several hours. It was cold. I froze. I ended up with a good set of photos, but this time around it was the dead of winter and I was reluctant to expose myself to frostbite. Fortunately, because of the crisp, cold, clear sky I was able to take photos from my back yard without having to worry about the city’s light pollution. And because the moon was high in the sky I didn’t have to worry about nearby trees and houses blocking the view.

So every ten minutes I’d put on my jacket, boots and hat and go out into the cold. I’d insert the battery into the camera, turn it on, remove the cloth from the lens, adjust the tripod, check the exposure settings, check the focus, and fire off three shots. Then I’d inspect the shots on the camera’s screen, switch it off, take the battery out, cover the lens, and go back inside.

I kept the lens covered between shots to prevent condensation forming on the surface. It’d have a thick layer of frost if I left it exposed to the elements. I also kept the battery in my pocket between shots, to keep it warm. The battery wouldn’t have lasted more than a few pictures if I’d left it out in the cold.

The real bonus to the whole event was that I got to go inside and warm up from time to time. Debbie had started to wash the dishes, but she abandoned that job when I switched off all the downstairs lights (including the kitchen) to take the first photos. So I washed and dried and put dishes away in the small breaks between taking pictures.

My advance preparation paid off. The exposure settings turned out to be accurate once I checked the images on the computer. Writing them down saved me having to fiddle around with the camera and end up with just a guess. Having a written schedule helped me get an ordered sequence. Click here for a full-size version of the composite above.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 11:59 pm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.