Total solar eclipse

This is a photo of the total eclipse of the sun that occurred 10 days ago.  Today's Monthly City Daily Photo Theme is "night."  OK, I know the eclipse of the sun did not occur at night, but a total solar eclipse turns the day into night, so I trust you will agree that it was acceptable for me to take a little liberty and use this photo for today's City Daily Photo Day of "night."

My wife and I just returned yesterday from a trip to the South Pacific to view the July 21 total solar eclipse.  She will run a series of photos of the eclipse on her Scottsdale (Arizona) Daily Photo site during this coming week.  A link to her website is at the left margin of this site.  She will include information about the eclipse and about the technique of photographing the eclipse.

Julie's solar eclipse photos are much better than mine, so I will return to showing Costa Rica photos tomorrow.  Julie has a better camera, better lenses, a better tripod, and she has eclipsed me in her enthusiasm and efforts in taking photos.  

The opportunity to view a total solar eclipse was a thrill of a lifetime.  We were on a small cruise ship that was chartered by TravelQuest International and Wilderness Travel for people who wanted to see the eclipse.  We had the benefit of a series of lectures by leading astronomers, such as Alex Filippenko, Owen Gingerich and Richard Feinberg.  Photographing the eclipse from a moving ship added to the challenge, but it also proved to be very beneficial because the ship maneuvered to avoid the clouds.

Until the eclipse became total, it was necessary to view and photograph the eclipse through dark solar film.  Only when the eclipse became total, as it was during my photo shown above, was it safe to look at the sun with the naked eye and possible to photograph the sun without a dark filter covering the lens.  I made special solar filters by cutting and taping solar film, which looked like a piece of aluminum foil, on little round cardboard disks that I cut out, and then taping the filters with their cardboard borders to round cardboard tubes that I cut to  cover the lenses on our cameras.   

I encourage you to follow Julie's photos during the coming week.  You will see amazing sights, without the time and expense of traveling to a remote area west of French Polynesia and north of the Cook Islands.  

To see other City Daily Photo interpretations of the theme of "night," Click here to view thumbnails for all participants