e-clipse (i-klips') n. The partial or complete obscuring, relative to a designated observer, of one celestial body by another.
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e-clipse (i-klips') n. The partial or complete obscuring, relative to a designated observer, of one celestial body by another.
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How Does Eclipse Timer Help You?
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Solar Eclipse Photography How Does Eclipse Timer™ Help You? If you read eclipse photography tips on any of the websites of veteran eclipse chasers, you will find that they all implore you to practice, practice, practice, your eclipse photography plan in advance of the actual eclipse! Why should you practice and have a set plan? Because the time in totality is short and precious. There is a lot of excitement and commotion. You must quickly document the beauty of totality with your camera, and then you MUST take the time to observe with your eyes. You MUST allow yourself the time to look at the eclipsed Sun in the darkened sky and the 360° colorful horizon. That is a lot to do in 1 minute and 30 seconds, the approximate duration of totality in eastern Africa on December 4, 2002. We wish we had a program like Eclipse Timer™ in Africa in 2001. It would have helped us tremendously. We were so enthralled with the dropping temperature, looking for shadowbands and seeing the approaching shadow that we completely missed photographing 2nd contact. Despite our pre-eclipse practicing, we still got behind schedule in Africa and did not spend enough time viewing totality with our eyes. It was our experience in Africa in 2001 that prompted us to develop Eclipse Timer™ and we are looking forward to using it for the first time, during the eclipse in Africa this year. So, how can Eclipse Timer™ help YOU, photograph an eclipse? 1. You can use Eclipse Timer™ for your practice sessions! In the comfort of your home, when it is convenient for you, you can program the actual eclipse contact times into Eclipse Timer™ and then simply change the internal clock settings on your computer or handheld device to just a few minutes before the 2nd contact time. Then you can turn Eclipse Timer™ on and do dry runs through your choreographed photography plans under the pressure of time, just as it will be at the eclipse. You can make a list of the important things to do at the points when eclipse timer will call out the times to you. You can practice this over and over so during the actual eclipse there will be no fumbling around! Please believe me, you will be amazed at how fast the time passes when you really have to keep on a time schedule; you will be amazed at how much smoother you will get with practicing under strict time pressure; you will be amazed at how much Eclipse Timer™ will help you! Listed below are some basic, generic, examples of what you might choreograph and practice: ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "2nd Contact In 2 Minutes" Your "to do" list could say things like; check that microphone on video camera is turned on; check final alignment of telescope; check that cameras are turned on; check that binoculars are available for totality with solar filters off. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "2nd Contact In 60 Seconds" Your "to do" list could say things like; take final picture of crescent phase and change shutter speed to setting for 2nd contact; check that solar filter is loosely on camera lens and/or telescope and is ready to come off easily; get into position at camera and have remote shutter release in hand. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "2nd Contact In 20 Seconds" Your "to do" list could say things like; take solar filter off of video camera ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "2nd Contact In 10 Seconds" Your "to do" list could say things like; take solar filter off of camera and begin planned sequence of Baily's Beads and diamond ring phase exposures; or; hit shutter button to begin automatic bracketed sequence for Baily's Beads and diamond ring phase. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and plays it's 2 second warning tone TOTALITY HAS BEGUN! Your "to do" list could say things like; change shutter speed and begin sequence of totality exposures from short to longest exposure, continue exposures until Max Eclipse. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "Max-Eclipse in 10 Seconds" Your "to do" list could say things like; finish final totality exposures. When Eclipse Timer™ says "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and plays it's 4 second warning tone, MAX/MID ECLIPSE point is reached and TOTALITY IS HALF OVER!! Your "to do" list could say things like; STOP taking pictures no matter what and look at totality with your eyes and through the binoculars!!; adjust exposure on video camera if necessary. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "3rd Contact in 20 Seconds" Your "to do" list could say things like; get back into position at camera. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "3rd Contact In 10 Seconds" Your "to do" list could say things like; begin planned sequence of Baily's Beads and diamond ring phase exposures; or; hit shutter button to begin automatic bracketed sequence for Baily's Beads and diamond ring phase. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and plays it's 2 second warning tone TOTALITY IS OVER! Your "to do" list could say things like; replace all solar filters on cameras and video camera; take picture of crescent phase at one minute after totality; change film in cameras.
You can see from reading the above description of things to do, that Eclipse Timer™ will help you organize your plan and keep you on a schedule through totality. In the time it took you, just to read this description, totality would have come and gone. During the actual eclipse, you won't be sitting there reading, you will have to be doing the photography and I cannot emphasize enough how important it will be to practice before. I am certain that Eclipse Timer™ will be a benefit to you.
2. Using Eclipse Timer™ during the eclipse! During the actual eclipse Eclipse Timer™ will help you in a number of other ways. It will help you photograph the partial phases before and after totality. It will help you enjoy the natural phenomenon that occur between 1st contact and 2nd contact as things darken. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "1st Contact In 60 Seconds" Your "to do" list could say things like; check that camera is on and that shutter speed is set for partial phase photography; align, check and turn on video camera. ◊ When Eclipse Timer™ says "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and plays it's 2 second warning tone the initial partial phases have begun! Your "to do" list could say things like; take exposure exactly at first contact; remember to take next image in 10 minutes. During the partial phases you have to make some decisions about how you want to document them. When you take an exposure exactly at 1st contact the Sun will be perfectly round, you will not see the Moon indent the Sun yet. You are simply documenting the point in time. You will slowly begin to see the edge of the Moon over the next couple of minutes and it will not be a clear indent, as far as for photography, until 2 to 4 minutes after 1st contact. You will have to make your own artistic decision about when your next image should be taken after 1st contact. Some people take pictures randomly during the initial partial phases. Some people decide to take an image every 5 or 10 minutes. Other people want to have a number of images exactly spaced in time during the first set of partial phases and the second set of partial phases. The two sets of partial phases (before and after totality) are not the same duration! If you want to have evenly spaces images you must carefully calculate the partial phase duration in seconds and divide it by the number of images you would like to have and then make a list of the actual time (clock time) that you should be taking your images. You can then monitor the Eclipse Timer™ clock and take the images at the proper time. ◊ Eclipse Timer™ will remind you to observe for all of the interesting natural phenomenon that occur as the sunlight gets slowly dimmer during the initial partial phases This is a unique and interesting capability of Eclipse Timer™. At 6 pre-programmed times prior to 2nd contact, you will be reminded to observe for a natural phenomenon that is appropriate for the depth of the partial phase of the Sun. Click on this sentence for ideas on how to set up Eclipse Timer in the field!
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