The Beauty of Solar Eclipses

This montage complements my Ebook on How to Photograph the Solar Eclipse, available as a PDF and as an Apple iBook, with information and purchase links at www.amazingsky.com/eclipsebook.html

In this 3-minute video I compile still images, time-lapse movies, and real-time videos I’ve shot over the years at many total solar eclipses I’ve chased around the world. I hope this video montage relays some of the excitement of being there, standing in the shadow of the Moon, as it eclipses the Sun.

It is the most spectacular and awe-inspiring event you can witness in nature.

If you have not seen one, you’ll have a chance on August 21, 2017, as the shadow of the Moon crosses the continental United States for the first time since 1979.

The montage features images and movies shot in:

• Manitoba (1979)
• Chile (1994)
• Curaçao (1998)
• Turkey (1999)
• Zimbabwe (2001)
• Australia (2002)
• Over Antarctica (2003)
• South Pacific near Pitcairn Island (2005)
• Libya (2006)
• Over Arctic Canada (2008)
• South Pacific near the Cook Islands (2009)
• Australia (2012)
• Mid-Atlantic Ocean (2013)

Out of the 15 total solar eclipses I have been to, only the 1991 and 2010 eclipses that I did go to are not represented in the video, due to cloud. Though we did see much of the 1991 eclipse from Baja, clouds intervened part way through, thwarting my photo efforts. And I only just missed the 2010 eclipse from Hikueru Atoll in the South Pacific as clouds came in moments before totality. Of course, it was clear following totality. I did not travel to the 2015 nor 2016 eclipses.

Cameras varied a lot over those years, from Kodachrome film with my old Nikon F, to digital SLRs; from 640×480 video with a Sony point-and-shoot camera, to HD with a DSLR.

I shot images through telescopes to capture the corona and prominences, and with wide-angle lenses to capture the landscape and lunar shadow. I rarely shot two eclipses the same way or with the same gear.

I hope you enjoy the video and will be inspired to see the August 21, 2017 eclipse. For more information about that eclipse, visit:
GreatAmericanEclipse.com
EclipseWise.com
eclipse2017.org

In addition, meteorologist and eclipse chaser Jay Anderson has the last word on eclipse weather prospects at:
eclipseophile.com