“ Amanzimtoti Witness the Spectacular, the longest and most dramatic total Lunar eclipse this Century “
Blood Moon “ we did see the moon turning reddish colour for over an hour which made a unique photograph, I started photographing the moon from 18:00 until almost 23:00, using Spot meter in my camera, changing apertures from F11 to F5.6, different kind of speeds from 1/2500 to 1/50s and ISO from 400 to 25600 was a challenge.
A total lunar eclipse is not to be confused with a solar eclipse, a total lunar eclipse is far easier to capture using any camera equipment with a decent zoom capability.
What is a total lunar eclipse?
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon moves into the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow projected into space. It can only occur during a full moon, where Earth is precisely between the sun and our satellite. Although a full moon occurs every 29 days, the moon has an inclined and rather wobbly orbit around Earth, which means it very rarely passes through the Earth’s shadow. When it does pass through some of the shadow, a partial lunar eclipse is the result.
Why does the moon go red?
As it begins to enter the dark shadow of Earth, one edge of the moon begins to look pinky-orangey-brown, changing to red as the event peaks. Once it has entered into that darkest zone of the shadow, it’s what’s called totality, where sunlight is being bent through the Earth’s atmosphere and on to the moon.
Equipment used :
- Nikon F4s
- Lens Nikon 200-400mm F4 AFS ED VR + 1.4 Nikon Converter + crop = 840mm lens
- Manfrotto Carbon Fiber tripod
- Shutting in RAW / Aperture / Spot meter
- ISO was set for the last shot at 25600 /F5.6 / 1/50s
