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November 2005
The alarm clock rang its deafening bell at 6am. I opened my eyes and peered across the room out through the window from under my cosy duvet. Partly
cloudy sky. Good enough. Then I turned over and gave myself another 5 minutes to fully awaken into the land of the living.
The date was Monday 3 October 2005, and this morning there was to be a partial annular eclipse across the UK. An annular eclipse is subtly, but
significantly, different to a solar eclipse because the Moon's orbit around the Earth is not completely circular, it varies by about 40,000 kilometres.
Sometimes a bit nearer to Earth, sometimes a bit further away. If the Moon is closer to the Earth as it passes in front of the Sun, it will completely
block the Sun's light from view. However, if the Moon is further away from the Earth in its orbit, it will appear slightly smaller in the sky, and
therefore when it moves in front of the Sun it won't cover it completely. Instead, a ring of sunlight will still show around the edge of the Moon. A dark
circle and a halo of fire. It was this type of eclipse that we had in store for today. Except that we weren't in for the whole display in the UK. The treat
of "totality" was only for a small part of Spain, the Balearic Islands, and some African countries, among others. In the South East of England,
we would get a maximum of about 65% of the Sun covered by the Moon.
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A time-composite of 3 photos of the sun as the moon moved away. |
As the morning progressed, and I showered, dressed and had my morning caffeine fix, so the clouds started rolling ominously in. What started as a fairly
promising sunrise with about 50% clear sky had turned into about 95% cloud. Not ideal for eclipse watching. A check on the TV indicated that East Anglia
and Kent would be the best bets for better weather (luckily, not too far from my Hertfordshire home). So, armed with a boot full of cameras, lenses and
tripods, I headed off East. To the promised land of cloudless skies.
Unfortunately, this was Monday morning rush hour, and as a trip to Kent would undoubtedly involve slow motion travel on the M25 London ring road, I
decided to head towards the Essex coast instead. Just passing Stansted airport, the cloud in front of me broke just above the horizon. I could now see
where I was aiming for, although it was a long way off yet and time was running out (eclipses don't wait for weather patterns, unfortunately). I kept
driving, the edge of the cloud getting closer and closer, when just as the eclipse reached its maximum the sun burst from behind its cover! I was now
running on adrenaline. Already half of the eclipse was over and I only had about 45 minutes during which to photograph it as the eclipse got smaller again.
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An unfiltered photo of the sun during the eclipse. The sun itself has been overexposed, but its crescent shape can be seen in the flare created. |
I had never photographed an eclipse before and having done my research beforehand, decided that I didn't need to use any specialist equipment other than
a solar filter which you can buy from most high street photographic shops (mine is a Jessops own brand version). When the sun had made its appearance, I
pulled into the nearest car park and set up two cameras, both on tripods. One with my little-used 600mm mirror lens with the solar filter firmly attached
onto the front; the other zoomed in to its 105mm maximum, hoping to get some diffused-by-clouds sun shots.
There is a multitude of conflicting information about how to successfully photograph an eclipse, and I tried a few different methods during the course of
the morning. However, the two lessons I learnt from the day were:
- For a correct exposure of the sun during the eclipse, spot meter the sun through the eclipse filter.
- Lock up the mirror before taking the photograph. With a long telephoto such as my 600mm lens, camera shake is a big problem, and every time the
shutter fired, the small movements within the camera stopped the images from being pin-sharp.
Compulsory health and safety warning coming up: Never look directly at the sun without a protective filter in front, especially through a camera lens, as
this will cause damage to your eyes or, in the worst case, blindness.
So, not only did I get to see one of nature's wonders, but the satisfaction at having to make an effort to see it made it even more worthwhile. Maybe next
time I'll go chasing tornadoes across America's mid-West....
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