"Blood Moon" early morning Oct 8

[WarrenH]

Two shots from the 8th Oct 2014, from the Yass Plains in NSW, South Eastern Oz.

The eclipse from the start took about an hour and a half to reveal a Blood Moon. Although it wasn't very bloody ... and not as bloody as some that I've seen.

About an hour into the Total Eclipse.




Blood Moon and stars.




This eclipse was considered spectacular because of the moon's relative closeness to earth, following the previous month's Super Moon, and lit by sunsets around the globe.

My setting, for the progression of the eclipse and I took about 60 shots (at manual and spot metered), was 1/160sec @ f5.6. The ISO was set to 400.

When the total eclipse phase happened, the setting was changed to a shutter speed priority, which was 1/3sec @ f5.6. The ISO was then changed to 1200.

I did some bracketing, reviewing the shutter speeds and sharpness, during the Blood Moon phase and settled on 1/3sec, as an adequate compromise for exposure and sharpness.

If I had my time again, I would find a better location. Sheltered from the wind, that was gusting. Also, further away from the flair caused by city lights (about 20 kilometres away) and with an interesting foreground to shoot through.

Warren.

PS, Supposedly it will be about 3 decades before it is this spectacular again. I was surprised that I had to open up about 8 stops once the eclipse was total. I hope I can remember this exposure correction in 3 decades from now.