Experiencing the Totality of the Great American Eclipse
I made a special road trip to eastern Wyoming and managed to position myself in the path of the August 21st 2017 solar eclipse. What an amazing experience! I had great weather and clear skies for unobstructed viewing. I found a friendly farmer who let me set up in his cornfield.
My Nikon D500 was set up with my 200-500mm Nikkor zoom and a solar filter and I used it to capture closeups of the sun during the eclipse. My Nikon D810 was set up with the Nikon 8-15mm fisheye Nikkor for some unique wide-angle shots:
Read on to see my eclipse photos and download a desktop wallpaper photo for free!
The solar eclipse began around 10:25 local time:
About 50 minutes later, it had progressed at least half way. Around this time, you could definitely tell that the overall quality of ambient light was different and slightly darker:
A few minutes before totality, it was getting quite dark outside, and only a sliver of sun remained:
And then, the moment of totality! At this point, I removed the solar filter from my Nikon 200-500mm lens so I could capture the sun’s corona.
Totality was an absolutely incredible experience. First of all, it was as dark as twilight. You could see a black hole where the sun was supposed to be, and the sun’s corona was clearly visible. It was safe to view the sun during this time without any eye protection, too.
As the sun began to emerge from behind the moon, I was able to capture some wonderful coronal ejections (visible at the 1 and 3 o’clock position in this image. This was one of my favorite shots from the entire day, and I’m making it available for free when you sign up for my email newsletter below.
Free Download! Solar Eclipse Wallpaper
I’m offering the above image as a free desktop wallpaper file in four different formats to be compatible with most desktop computers and mobile devices.
These are incredible photos of the solar eclipse. Where can I download or purchase them? I would like one for my daughter’s bedroom.
Thank you