Solar Eclipse
Partial Solar Eclipse seen from the South of England, 10 June 2021
We were promised a partial solar eclispe today. At higher latitudes, into the Arctic Circle, it would be a full solar eclipse but in the south of England we could only expect a partial eclipse. And with heavy cloud cover I wasn’t sure we even see that, let alone the possibility of capturing it on camera.
Word of warning - if you go out to observe an eclipse, never look directly at the sun as it is very likely to damage your eyesight! But there are various techniques to view the event safely, such as using a mirror, covered with a sheet of paper with a small hole in it, to reflect the image of the eclipse onto a surface where it can be viewed without worry.
In my case I was hoping to capture an image of the sun being obscured by the moon, with enough cloud cover to make an interesting shot. I added a stack of neutral density (ND) filters and a polariser to a 200mm lens to cut out the majority of the light coming into my camera. A small aperture also helped to reduce the strength of light. With my camera mounted to a sturdy tripod and using a shutter release cable, I hoped to reduce any possibility of movement that would blur the images.
The images took minimal processing as almost everything happened as planned in camera. I’m pleased with the results. Having been fascinated by these solar events since childhood, I finally have some images to be proud of.
As well as the colour photo above, I also prepared a black and white version, more closely cropped for artistic effect and balance with the clouds. Both will be available as Limited Edition prints from my website.
Partial Solar Eclipse in Monochrome as seen from the South of England, 10 June 2021
I was deilghted to work on a multi agency project recently, capturing a local event encouraging families in Luton to recycle their old and outdated electrical products and cables.
A really fun family event, engaging with younger children and their parents to spread the word about the importance of recycling electrical products, and the news of a £63,000 initiative in Luton that includes 60 locations where items can be deposited.