I am currently traveling in Wyoming with a couple of friends and we are on our way home, after an unsuccessful attempt to stay in Yellowstone National Park – it turned out to be a complete zoo, even a couple of days after the total eclipse. I don’t know what we were thinking! Considering how many people have come from all over the world to see the eclipse, it was only natural that many of them would want to go and see the Teton / Yellowstone area. My backup plan was to go north to Montana, but pretty much the whole state is burning at the moment and the smoke is all over Wyoming as well. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few images of the total solar eclipse that my friends and I captured on August 21st. I am planning to write a more detailed article with more information, but meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these images!
The total solar eclipse took a bit of planning, but I am happy with the way the images turned out. Between the three of us, we had a total of 6 cameras that were capturing the event – two were set up to do timelapses, while the other 4 were capturing the total solar eclipse with telephoto lenses. Not all cameras ended up working out, but the ones that did captured beautiful shots of the eclipse that we are happy to share with the PL readers today.
The first shot was captured by the Nikon 1 J5 camera that had the Nikkor 300mm f/4E PF lens + 1.4x TC attached via the Nikon FT1 adapter. With a focal length of almost 1200mm, this was the setup that produced the largest view of the solar eclipse. We used this setup to capture the phases of the eclipse, along with capturing a 4K video of the actual total solar eclipse (I will share the videos once I get home, since they needed to be cut first). Here is an image of the partial eclipse:
We used this setup to capture images every minute and based on what we captured so far, it looks like we missed the passing of the International Space Station (ISS). We were able to capture the ISS with a different camera though, although it went by so quickly that it ended up looking blurry. Overall, the Nikon 1 J5 setup worked out exceptionally well and we were very happy with the results.
Since I am currently testing the Fuji 23mm f/4 WR lens for the Fuji GFX 50S, I decided to use the setup for a timelapse of the solar eclipse. This one took quite a bit of scouting and planning, since it was tough to incorporate an attractive foreground together with the total solar eclipse – it was very high up in the sky! Gladly, the lens was wide enough for me to get very close to an interesting foreground and have enough space in the sky to capture the eclipse. I was able to rely on an app on my phone to pinpoint the path of the sun, along with the location of the total solar eclipse, so that it aligns with the peak of the structure in front of me. After the eclipse was over, I was psyched to see that it actually worked out well:
I will be putting the timelapse together later on and sharing the footage with our readers, but so far I am very happy with the result. The total solar eclipse was an absolutely amazing experience that is impossible to describe in words…when the landscape darkened and it got as cold as at night, with total silence around us, it was both cool and eerie – unforgettable for sure!
Here is the total solar eclipse, captured by the Sony A9 + 100-400mm GM + 2x teleconverter – a shockingly good combination that allowed me to capture a lot of details at 800mm. If you look at the sides of the moon, you will see solar flares. I have not properly processed any of these images, but I cannot wait to put together our bracketed shots and see how they will turn out!
Lastly, here is a shot of the diamond ring, as soon as the totality was over:
This was captured with the Nikon D810 + Tamron 150-600mm + 1.4x TC to get a total of 850mm of focal length, the setup that my friend Tunc was using during the event, while I was busy recording 4K video of the totality with the Sony A9 setup.
If you are wondering about our location at the time of the eclipse, we were at the Hell’s Half Acre near Casper, Wyoming. It wasn’t easy to get all of our equipment down to the valley, but it was well worth it!
Hope you enjoy these images. If you were able to capture the total solar eclipse, please share your images in the comments section below!