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Smoky Eclipse

This photo was taken on December 4, 2002, in Sydney. I had found a good spot to shoot the partial solar eclipse, but during the day a bushfire had started, and the smoke drifted across the Sun as the day went on (the colours are from the smoke).

During the eclipse itself, which lasted probably 30 minutes, I noticed an aircraft taking off from the nearby airport. As luck would have it, it flew right across the solar disk, and I managed to get this photograph.

The details are: 1/1000 second at an effective aperture of f/16. The image is entirely unmanipulated besides slight tidying up in photoshop for purposes of online publication.

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hossein esmaili 7 months ago

well done.

BLOAS Meven 8 months ago

terrible !

Marc Adamus 10 months ago

Well, you really don't see that every day! What a unique and dynamic image!

Alireza Abedini 10 months ago

WooooooooooW

Sabrecs MerahSaga 10 months ago

Wonderful moment!

Nastaran Sweetbrier 10 months ago

finally I see what I want ... this is awesome amazing and perfect

Neil D. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

hamid shahidi 10 months ago

very nice shot with a good chance

Lubomír Hnat (Cheron) 10 months ago

+++

Ben Goossens 11 months ago

Superb capture... bravo:-)

Neil D. Thank you Ben!

mohamad abasi 11 months ago

nice shot

Helle Lorenzen 11 months ago

Great shot in beautiful colors....;-)

mohamad reza moazeny 11 months ago

just +++

Dragos-Radu Dumitrescu 11 months ago

Ermm...Hope you've used a solar filter...especially during eclipses...
Very moody!

Dragosh

Neil D. Don't worry: I lined it up through the viewfinder without looking directly at the Sun: it reflected off the frame of the viewfinder, so I had a good idea of where the Sun was within the frame without looking directly at it (risky, I know, but I had the dangers in mind at the time).

I now have a solar filter (I didn't at the time this was taken), so if I do this again I will use it :)

Tom Rohrer 11 months ago

Luck favors the prepared. Its great you were there when this perfect storm came together.

Neil D. I agree 100% - we must be ready to take advantage of what may come about.

Gaurav Singh 11 months ago

Excellent capture!
Congrats.

siavash_shojaee 11 months ago

LilleG 11 months ago

That's a fantastic capture! It looks like the sun is a balloon being created by the plane's exhaust.

TJ Millar 11 months ago

Great picture, great debut! Well done.

Richard Spurdens 11 months ago

Great image congrats on the publication

Neil D. Thank you!

_ Reboot © __ 11 months ago

Bad luck really this plane just in the middle of it !

Neil D. LOL!

ubaldo lorenzo dati 11 months ago

Great!

Assaf Gavra 11 months ago

Very good image and compo !!!

nini_filippini 11 months ago

just fantastic
perfect job
luck and technical knowledge make wonders ;-)

Neil D. Luck we cannot control, but if we can be ready for it (and by this I don't mean that we have to know what form it will take beforehand) then it won't be wasted, and the results can be amazing!

nini_filippini exactly !!!!
"be ready for it"
I keep this word

Neil D. {:-D}

Paulo Penicheiro 11 months ago

fantastic moment, the light is awesome

mohammad reza mokhtari 11 months ago

A wonderful shot !!

Dinu Bodescu 11 months ago

Very nice!

Tuca 11 months ago

worth the waiting!! brilliant

eyup yurtsever 11 months ago

OOOuuuhh!
this is my favorite

Neil D. And mine :)

Paul Clapa 11 months ago

Great capture, congratulations!

Remus Tiplea 11 months ago

superb

Guido Brandt 11 months ago

Great photo!

Saad Salem Al Sheihk. 11 months ago

You have done it masterful,with great result.
great and fine catch.

Neil D. Glad you like it!

syamsul bahri 11 months ago

Great moment & timing...

Emad mohamadi 11 months ago

really great shot...

Nicolas Marino 11 months ago

wow! that is really neat!

Jacob Tuinenga 11 months ago

Wow, what an awesome moment and photo.
Great work.

mohammad mahdi shaghayegh 11 months ago

very nice shot

Milad Hamadi 11 months ago

Great

David Senechal (polydactyle) 11 months ago

Just wow!! Congrats!

rajan paul 11 months ago

You are extremely lucky dear....Brilliant shot.

Neil D. Not lucky to get the eclipse, as I'd found a spot days before and then sat there for 3 hours to make sure I didn't miss it... but yes, I'm extremely lucky regarding the plane and the bushfire (although it feels awkward to refer to a bushfire as lucky: lucky for me, at least!).

Niels Christian Wulff 11 months ago

Wow...! This is amazing!!
/Wulff

Cusnir Dragos 11 months ago

Amazing moment caught.The colors and moment are superb
Really god job

Onur DUMAN 11 months ago

wow excellent work

Hani Metanes 11 months ago

successful shot

simona7569 11 months ago

I like a lot!

Monique 11 months ago

really spectacular shot !
wonderful...my congrats!

Gilles Quesnot 11 months ago

Quel instant, quelle scène!!

ibranoglu 11 months ago

Suuuuper !

mehmet ç 11 months ago

gerçek olamayacak kadar güzel bir kare...

Marie-Louise 11 months ago

Impressive shot!

Standa R. 11 months ago

super

Sedef ISIK 11 months ago

woooowww!!!

John Colbensen 11 months ago

Awesome shot!

Alexander Evensen 11 months ago

That is one great capture. The bush fire was well timed :P I first thought it was form the newest eclipse that was now recently.

The result is awesome!

Neil D. I've only got one other good eclipse photo since this one I'm afraid (and that was some years back). I was going to try to photograph the recent total lunar eclipse: it would have been very red due to assistance from the Chilean volcanic ash cloud, but unfortunately it was raining heavily here at the time.

Alexander Evensen Well, I think you did a great job on this one, and eclipses are elusive :) I got some time lapse of this recent one, but it was only partial here (I live in Alta, on top of Norway), and it was a midnight sun eclipse, but it didn't become nearly as nice as yours :) http://arcticexposure.posterous.com/a-partial-eclipse-of-the-midnight-sun

Neil D. Actually, you did well! I'm no expert and was indeed lucky the smoke was there (I consider the smoke to be more of a blessing than the plane, because the photos I took before the smoke arrived were just of a white Sun on a black sky - it turns out I was under-exposing the shots too much, but the smoke dimmed the Sun and at the same time brightened the sky - in terms of reflected light at least). Therefore, without the smoke, I would have had an almost invisible plane (silhouette on black) and the photo would have been a "so what" kind of shot.

You, on the other hand, have managed to keep colour in the sky without the aid of smoke, so you did well!

Alexander Evensen Thank you for that :) I think that might be due to the long focal length, the color in the sky, so the sun covers so much of the image.

A.G. photographe 11 months ago

mon dieu :|

A.G. photographe c'est beau !

Michael Macho 11 months ago

Cool

Anis Tounsi (Hammam-lif) 11 months ago

Good job. i like the dramatic effect, it seems like the aircraft is fleeing doomsday.

Itay Gal 11 months ago

WOW!! Amazing!!!!

Gert Klay 11 months ago

Nice job!! Sometimes the luck is on the photographer side.. Moment well captured!

Neil D. Yes, the trick is to make use of the good luck which comes your way: it worked out this time, but I've missed out on others.

Tanha 11 months ago

Wonderful , congratulations .

John Parminter 11 months ago

Brilliant Neil, JP

Jerry Berry 11 months ago

Without a doubt an exceptional moment caught. Congratulations Neil.
I see a series happening here between you 2.
http://1x.com/#!/photo/32851/portfolio/41218

Neil D. Yes indeed! Thanks for the link, I hadn't come across this one, but it is spectacular isn't it?!

Jerry Berry Both are. But I would have to say yours (because of the serendipity and quick action involved) is more impressive.