Photographing and Editing a Partial Solar Eclipse Timelapse

Level of Education of Students Involved

Undergraduate

Faculty Sponsor

Aimee Tomasek

College

Arts and Sciences

Discipline(s)

Digital Media Arts, Photography

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-25-2024

Abstract

On April 8, 2024 a total solar eclipse passed through a large swath of land in the United States, blanketing millions of people in darkness in the middle of the day. Valparaiso experienced a partial eclipse with 96% of the sun being covered by the moon during the celestial event. My fascination with the event led me to buy the necessary solar filter which would allow me to safely photograph the eclipse as it happened. The filter was used in conjunction with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens which was paired with a 2x range extender before being mounted onto a Canon R6 Mark II camera body. This setup was then mounted onto a standard video tripod which allowed me to regularly adjust the angle which allowed me to keep the sun at the center of the frame. A photo was then taken every 30 seconds which would allow me enough time between shots to adjust the angle of the tripod as well as give me enough shots to compile a compelling timelapse. The hardest work came during post production work where — due to the nature of the tripod setup — it was necessary to stabilize the frames for position and rotation to keep the final timelapse from being overly jittery. The result is a 20 second long timelapse showing the full progression of the partial solar eclipse.

Biographical Information about Author(s)

Eliot Aust is a Senior Digital Media Arts Major who has a passion for photography and all things space. Eliot has served as the Photography editor for The Torch for his first three years of undergrad and as Managing Editor for his senior year. He has also worked for the University Marketing Department as a photographer.

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