2014 Partial solar eclipse - Brisbane, Australia

Location: Morningside - Brisbane, Australia
Timing: 29-April-2014 17:05 (UTC+10)

Today we had a fantastic sunset eclipse, which I photographed against the backdrop of the Brisbane skyline.  Touch and go capturing this amidst the clouds, but I had faith in the cloud cover predictions from BOM and Astro Panel :-)

The eclipsed sun appeared briefly through the clouds around 17:00 and then again from 17:11 until setting at 17:15.  Not much time for snapping photos!

Partial Eclipse over Brisbane Skyline - 17:05

Camera: Canon EOS 550D Lens: Sigma 150-500mm APO HSM Mount: Monfrotto 290 Date: 29-April-2014 Time: 17:05 (UTC+10) Focal length: 267mm Aperture: f/29 Exposure: 1/4000 sec ISO: 100 Exposure bias: 0 step

Partial Eclipse over Brisbane Skyline - 17:13

Camera: Canon EOS 550D Lens: Sigma 150-500mm APO HSM Mount: Monfrotto 290 Date: 29-April-2014 Time: 17:13 (UTC+10) Focal length: 403mm Aperture: f/9 Exposure: 1/4000 sec ISO: 100 Exposure bias: 0 step

PICKING THE LOCATION

I was very happy with a "home" location for this event as it gave me the chance to capture a sunset eclipse.  Nice counterpoint to the sunrise last year in Newman.  I considered some locations around the city, but in the end I found I could get an excellent view from the top of our street.  This also meant I could easily check the sunset location in the leadup to the eclipse to make sure I had the alignment right.  Not a simple feat given how quickly the sun's azimuth is swinging north at this time of year.  After picking the location and planning the equipment setup, I tested the exposure settings on a couple of sunsets prior to the eclipse.

EQUIPMENT

I used one camera for this eclipse - Canon EOS 550D with Sigma 150-500mm zoom lens on a Manfrotto tripod.  Camera was set on full manual (including focus), single shot, fired with a manual remote.

Setup time was minimal - I just needed to level the tripod, attach the camera and fine tune the focus in live view.  No bracketing on this shoot, just relied on the live view and photo review feedback to make adjustments to exposure settings.