Originally Published August 24, 2017
August 21, 2017 was the first time in my life that I have witnessed a solar eclipse. From my viewing location in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, it was partially obscured by the clouds so the Sun’s corona was not visible during totality and a thunderstorm rolled in shortly thereafter. Nevertheless, this celestial spectacle was well worth seeing, even despite other inconveniences such as oppressive heat and humidity and hours spend in crawling traffic.
Even though I thought I have practiced taking pictures of the Sun with the solar filter, I was still not as prepared as I could have been. My tripod was not tall enough to point the camera high in the sky and to comfortably look into the viewfinder or at the screen. The clouds necessitated changing the camera settings frequently to adjust for lighting changes. All of this, unfortunately, precluded me from capturing a series of consistent images. Besides, those last few moments before totality when the Sun’s light was quite literally extinguished were so mesmerizing I was compelled to put the camera down and just watch in awe.
I will definitely try my best to photograph another eclipse, such as the one in the U.S. in 2024. With the lessons learned and a bit of luck, the pictures may come out better.