Back in early June, I made sure I spent some time photographing Venus passing in front of the sun... Why? Because it will be the only time in my life I will have had the chance to do so!
I was working up on Lake Superior, which provided an excellent chance to get some clear photos.. Thankfully the clouds also helped out... Here's my take on the event:
The sun is too bright for mortals like myself to photograph during the typical daylight hours... At first, I had to use some passing clouds to "dull" the sun in order to see Venus! (Top right circle on the sun)...
It didn't last long, so I played around a bit... Not really sure how to set the "colour temperature" of the sun, so the above two photos are set very differently...
As the sun got lower to the horizon, it became dull enough that I could just barely make out Venus again! Even though the sun was still too bright, I was happy with how it looked...
By the time the sun was low enough to get a decent exposure, it was starting to feel the effects of distortion from the earths atmosphere (Venus also didn't look as circular as before)...
Similar to before, I tried a few different takes on the scene when everything was at its clearest... I think the other "flecks" are sunspots...
The Sun + Venus + Lake Superior!
Another take.... Setting the exposure differently changed the "colour" quite a bit...
Right before the sun was ready to set, the distortion really took over and made things a lot less circular...
To make the best of the situation, I combined several frames together to show the sequence of the sun setting, combined with Venus for a little extra flare... Was pretty happy with this one (well, all of them really).
If you want some more info on the event, check out wikipedia:
Overall I was very happy with the result!
I take it there's no concern about pointing the camera directly at the sun the way there is with the naked eye in terms of damage to the sensor or the lens coatings? Obviously you're looking at your LCD not the view finder regarding your own eyes...
ReplyDeleteI sure hope not Matt... I sure hope not... And yes, I wasn't looking through the view finder!
DeleteBrandon