Full, but not eclipsed...

As mentioned in yesterday's post, tonight it is full moon. Not only that, but there is a total eclipse of the Moon, although unless you live in the Shetland Islands in the UK it would not have been visible as such.

As it is, I'm thwarted by cloud cover by early evening from a photographic standpoint, and I resign myself to getting no shots of even a partially eclipsed disc in the sky.

I'm chatting with a friend on Skype in the late afternoon and making regular checks of the sky in the hope that something may appear. It's during one such visit outdoors that I see the cloud has broken sufficiently to get something on camera, so I hastily set up on a tripod and start making exposures.

Unlike yesterday, when I was able to expose solely for the Moon's disc, this time I have to compromise detail if I want to record the amazing cloud formation that contributes so much to the image. It's just not possible to record both within the latitude of a digital sensor or film. Something had to go.

300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor with TC-14EII converter. 1/80 second at f/5. ISO 400. Tripod and remote release. Mirror lockup. Time: 17.26


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