Solar Eclipse Photos Processing

After taking a rest and having summer class, I can process the solar eclipse photos took yesterday. I want to make something special rather than post a lot of photos in my blog. Finally I made two photos. One is a close-up and the other one is a wide-angle. I used the photos taken by using C5, Thousand Oaks type 2+ filter, D90 and HEQ5Pro, to make the solar eclipse close-up photo. I used the photos taken by using 18-200mm VR, Baader solar film and D80, to make the solar eclipse wide-angle photo. I like the orange image produced by the Thousand Oaks type 2+ filter. It gives me a moody and warm feeling. On the other hand, the Baader solar film gives white images. It gives me cool and harsh feeling. Anyway, from the photos, one can see that some photos are interfered by clouds. The bloody clouds ruined the last few minutes of the eclipse! Life is like this! Never mind! Just enjoy the process and happily wait for the next solar eclipse.

I like this one the best. Sometimes clouds decorate the eclipse!

When I process the photos, I find I can do it better next time. First of all, I used the programmable shutter to shoot the photos. However, the time interval was two minutes and one minute when the eclipse was close to maximum. This strategy was not so flexible when I process the photos. At the end of the day, one needs to select constant time interval photos in order to give a dynamic feel of the eclipse. As you don’t want the photos to overlap each others, so the desired time interval would be three to four minutes. However if you do this, the noxious clouds or other unexpected event happened, say an airplane fly by, you are forced to miss one slap-shot! So if you set the time interval to one minute, then you can have better options to select from. In addition, if you have a chance to observe the total eclipse, it is better to use the full power of your camera. The corona is easily missing!

22-07-2009 HK Partial Eclipse

Today is a long waited solar eclipse. It is a long day for me. Handling several telescopes and photographic equipments made me busy perhaps very excited! Luckily I got some closed-up, wide angle and some movies. However, the webcam didn’t work well and finally ruined the H-alpha photos. The auto focus of the DV didn’t work properly, so eclipse movie gone! What are left are some photos. Shortly after the eclipse activity, I got several appointments to go. I don’t have time to process the photos today. Here are some pre-release.

I was busy setting telescopes and photographic equipments


C5, Thousands Oaks 2+, HEQ5Pro, Prime Focus, D90, ISO 1600, 1/250s (8:16am)

C5, Thousands Oaks 2+, HEQ5Pro, Prime Focus, D90, ISO 1600, 1/250s (8:32am)

C5, Thousands Oaks 2+, HEQ5Pro, Prime Focus, D90, ISO 1600, 1/250s (9:04am)

C5, Thousands Oaks 2+, HEQ5Pro, Prime Focus, D90, ISO 1600, 1/250s (HKT 9:23am)

C5, Thousands Oaks 2+, HEQ5Pro, Prime Focus, D90, ISO 800, 1/125s (HKT 9:39am)

C5, Thousands Oaks 2+, HEQ5Pro, Prime Focus, D90, ISO 800, 1/250s (HKT 10:13am)

C5, Thousands Oaks 2+, HEQ5Pro, Prime Focus, D90, ISO 800, 1/125s (HKT 10:31am)

By the way, I didn’t catch the last 15 minute of the eclipse because of the bloody clouds! Good grief!

Finalizing the Preparation for the Partial Eclipse in HK

It is a pity to miss the longest total eclipse over the past 500 years! However it is not responsible to leave my family. My little baby, daughter and wife need me. Anyway, if I leave HK and go to China, I am not able to use lot of equipments to record the whole process. I spent about one week to plan this activity. I used the Baader solar film to tailor made some filters for telescopes, binoculars, camera and DV etc. Here is my equipment list:
C5 + Thousands Oaks Type 2+ + HEQ5Pro + D90 (Close-up solar photography)
Lunt LS35THaDx + NexStar 4SE mount + ToUcam SPC900NC (H-alpha photography)
D80 + Lenses + Baader film (Wide field photography)
JVC MC500 + Baader film (Video recording)
Equinox 80ED + + Baader film + Porta (Visual observation)
10x42 Binoculars + Baader film (Visual observation)
Eclipse Shades (Visual observation)


This is a challenge for me to handle them all. I am not familiar with star alignment, especially in daytime. I tried once the NexStar 4SE mount once in daytime, but the tracking of the sun was modest. This was probably due to my green experience. The worst case is that I don’t have any daytime star alignment with the HEQ5Pro. Wish me all the best tomorrow. Unlike the deep sky objects, the poor tracking of the sun will not affect the photos a lot. If the tracking is good, I can free myself to enjoy visual observation. About the H-alpha observation, I think most stargazers, perhaps sungazers, will not use H-alpha scopes to do eclipse observations. This time I just do it for fun and see what will happen. Since the stock LS35T focuser cannot get the ToUcam in focus, I need to wait for the customized adaptor. The adaptor was arrived two days ago. I don’t have enough time to familiarize the combination of LS35T and ToUcam. Wish me good luck! Go to sleep and go to Clear Water Bay early tomorrow morning! Cheers!