One of the much anticipated highlights of Liz's and my 2015 trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado was being able to watch the total lunar eclipse of 27th September.
The eclipse was visible over a good swathe of the northern hemisphere, but I reckoned that being at an altitude of 10,000 feet above sea level would give a distinct advantage in terms of clear dry air and lack of cloud cover.
Our chosen spot to view the eclipse, which was due to start just after sunset/moonrise, was the east facing Rainbow Curve overlook high on the Trail Ridge Road.
Not only did we have a great view out over the Rockies from this spot, but there were toilets available too. An important consideration if you're going to be out in the cold most of the night!
We weren't the only ones who had figured out that this was the place to be, as the car park became jammed full of photographers and skywatchers shortly after we'd arrived.
So as well as enjoying the spectacle of the eclipse, we also made a few new friends and had a good laugh along the way.
But what about those clear skies?
Well, for the first part of the eclipse we had a good view, with no clouds to obscure the action, but as the moon started to come out of the earth's shadow a large bank of high cloud started rolling across the sky, covering the moon and effectively ending the show.
To be honest, I wasn't sorry, as after four hours and 1,600 exposures I reckon I'd shot enough to make a decent length time lapse video, showing the most interesting phases of the eclipse.
Once back home it took me a month of editing effort in PhotoShop to get all those individual RAW files graded, cropped, lined up and strung together to make this video.
Was it worth the effort - you bet.
Would I do it again - in a heartbeat!
Filename - lunar eclipse timelapse 01
Camera - Canon EOS 6D
Lens - 100-400mm zoom @ 400mm
Exposure (brighest)
1/125 sec @ f5.6, ISO100
Exposure (darkest)
5 secs @ f5.6, ISO200
Capture interval - 5 secs
Location - Rainbow Curve, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, U.S.A.
This clip - HD 720p
Clip duration - 65 seconds
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