Experiencing the 2024 Solar Eclipse

The excitement was high around our house as the skies cleared late Monday morning and the clock ticked down toward the start of the solar eclipse. I was busy setting up my camera, lens, filter, and remote trigger. The children were busy making sure their solar glasses didn’t get smudged or scratched (concern on this point was very high). All in all, the experience was surreal and exceeded all my expectations.

Preparing for the start of the eclipse. Who will see it first?

Examining the camera set-up.

The eclipse begins! Alex: “I saw it first.”

Half way through the eclipse. Some clouds have rolled in.

Only a sliver of sun is still visible.

Totality achieved! Some clouds give a milky flare to the lower part of the image.

The “diamond ring” effect is briefly visible as totality begins to pass.

Once again, a sliver of sun is visible as the eclipse begins to retreat.

Clouds provide a halo effect as the moon and sun continue their journey apart.

Just a sliver of the retreating moon is visible as eclipse is nearing completion. Photo taken at 4:24 PM.

For anyone interested in the dull technical details, these photos were taken at 600mm with an 18 stop solar neutral density filter (accept for the photos taken during totality, when the filter was removed), f/6.3, shutter speeds mostly between 125th and 250th/sec., and ISO mostly around 100 but sometimes ranging as high as 3200 as the darkness increased.