Casey and I were invited on a group trip to Eleazar's Cabin this past weekend, twelve miles in from the Elliot Highway along the White Mountains trail system. Our group included six people, five dogs, and one snow machine for hauling gear. With little to no experience with winter sports, Casey and I hoofed it in on foot, while the others enjoyed perfect spring skiing conditions. It was a long and at times very painful walk, full of expansive vistas and gorgeous scenery.
The trip happened to coincide with a total lunar eclipse, when the moon passes within earth's shadow, or "umbra", during its transit across the night sky. The photo above is a composite of 16 shots from early yesterday morning taken 10 minutes apart, representing the first 2 hours and 30 minutes of the complete eclipse. The partial eclipse began at approximately 2:10 am Alaska time, the fourth moon from the left, when the moon first entered the umbra. For just under two hours, which felt a lot longer standing out in the cold, the moon was gradually erased from the sky as earth's shadow crept across the lunar surface. Finally at 4:00 am the eclipse reached "totality", where the moon was completely engulfed by the umbra. Earth's shadow is actually a scattering of red light, essentially the culmination of light from every sunrise and sunset happening around the globe, that turns the moon a rich amber color during the totality phase of a lunar eclipse.
Instead of a single photo of the moon during totality, I wanted to capture the entire progression of the moon during the different stages of the eclipse, with some interesting foreground for context. After most of the rum was consumed and everyone was off to bed, I dawned my layers and headed outside for the show. Framing the shot with Eleazar's Cabin in the foreground and the moon moving from left to right, I monitored the clock and took a photo of the scene every 10 minutes. Lunar eclipses happen very slowly over many hours, so fortunately the aurora came out and provided me with entertainment during the down time between shots. Technically speaking, due to changing light levels from minor clouds passing in front of the moon and the eclipse itself, this photo required 10 different exposure levels to complete. With a fixed ISO and aperture, I adjusted the shutter speed for what I felt would be the correct exposure for each 10 minute interval and bracketed by +/- 2 stops. I also needed to use a completely different exposure to capture the cabin in the foreground. In post, I selected the best photos from the night and blended them together using the "lighten" option in Photoshop. I was a bit nervous about the weather, and the clouds did eventually overtake the moon during entire second half of the eclipse, but I'm pretty happy with the results.
Here's a breakdown of the individual photos from this image.
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Eclipse settings: ISO-800 f/8 @ (see below)
Penumbra
1:40 am, 1/500 sec
1:50 am, 1/500 sec
2:00 am, 1/500 sec
Partial Eclipse
2:10 am, 1/500 sec
2:20 am, 1/500 sec
2:30 am, 1/100 sec
2:40 am, 1/100 sec
2:50 am, 1/100 sec
3:00 am, 1/60 sec
3:10 am, 1/13 sec
3:20 am, 1/30 sec
3:30 am, 1/6 sec
3:40 am, 0.5 seconds
3:50 am, 3.2 seconds
Totality
4:00 am, 5 seconds
Foreground settings: ISO-200 f/4.5 @ 5 seconds
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