BLACK HOLE SUN...

     This is undoubtedly something I should've written over a month ago while my memories of the event were still fresh but not only did I take my first real vacation in over 25 years last August, I also got to see what will hopefully not be my only total solar eclipse. Though I was primarily visiting North Carolina, staying with a hosting family, I traveled to a town called Blythewood in South Carolina to witness the event.
     We really could not have asked for a better location to view it. Though we did not get the maximum totality possible for South Carolina, we did get about 1.5 minutes worth and as can be expected, that was a very quick 90 seconds...

Blythewood Park in Blythewood, SC

A friendly family we got to share the experience with made this

     The host family and I arrived about an hour before first contact. We found a nice park with good open space and a variety of land textures (it had a mix of grass, baseball fields, a playground for the kids, sand, asphalt, and trees for shade) which would later prove fortuitous.

courtesy of Google Maps

     I had originally planned on not taking pictures at all but the slow-motion nature of the event prompted me to experiment.
     This was my first real good use of the digital camera my Mom had bought me back in 2014 for Christmas. Unlike my previous camera which only allowed certain features to be tuned manually, this camera allows all its features to be controlled manually. This proved important as setting a fixed shutter speed and being able to manually focus were very much necessary, especially near and during totality when the once slow-motion events proceeded at what now felt like a lightning pace. Simply put, there is no way my previous digital camera could've captured the kinds of photos I did get.

     I had built a crude rig to fix the eclipse viewers to my camera and lens at maximum zoom and while it worked, it was cumbersome to remove and replace so I opted for simply holding the eclipse viewers in the path of my camera's lens. I didn't bring a tripod which, in retrospect, would have come in handy as it got darker but I'm nevertheless happy with what I did get.
     I also brought my darkest moon viewer (13% transmission) hoping I could've used that instead to get a more proper white sun than the amber one the eclipse glasses show but that element proved woefully inadequate: the sun still looks like a diffraction spike explosion even at my camera's fastest shutter speed and highest f-stop setting. Eclipse viewers it would be!

(12:45 p.m.) left: sun through moon filter - right: sun through eclipse viewers at same scale

     The park wasn't crowded at all. Probably no more than fifty people chose this particular location which I'd have to say was a good thing as it allowed for much freedom of movement even though I found myself happy to stick to the shade in between photographs.
     We were also lucky to have both relatively cloud-free skies throughout the event and temperatures which, while hot, were not the humidity hell the South is known for.

(12:47 p.m.) some revelers

(12:47 p.m.) additional revelers

(12:45 p.m.) pre-show: total sun at 3x magnification

     The sun's disk was unfortunately bland. There were no giant sunspot groups like could be seen a couple of years ago. It would've provided an interesting contrast but I guess one can't have everything ;-)
 

Giant sunspot group from October 2014 (even though, had it been there, the Moon would've blotted it out immediately)

      First contact happened some time after 1 o'clock. In the first sequence posted below, I was trying to find an appropriate focus and shutter speed. The first image told me I couldn't rely on autofocus so I switched to manual thereafter and I increased the shutter speed in subsequent shots, settling on 1/1000th of a second. I let the camera choose the f-stop and I noticed for all the shots taken through the eclipse viewer, it had selected an f-stop of 2.8.

first sequence

     I'm still not comfortable guessing an appropriate f-stop which is unfortunate as certain photos taken later that weren't of the sun but the darkening scenery around would've benefited I think from both a fixed shutter speed and f-stop. Oh well...
     Things seemed perfectly normal during this part of the eclipse, its Pac-Man phase. The kids that were with us and with other families had already become predictably bored, some opting to return to the park's playground. In fact, I would say everyone who had come at this point in our group except me had become bored. But the adults at least stuck it out and were making friendly conversation with other families at the park.

second sequence

     During this part of the eclipse (the second sequence) I noticed that, while the illumination from the sun was still bright, it no longer felt hot to be out in.

(2:15 p.m.) the halo and spikes are camera artifacts and were not actually visible

     However, even with more than half the sun blotted out, it is still painful to look at and shows no noticeable deviation from its round shape to the unaided eye (though some deviation could be seen in my eye's after-images for several seconds afterward).
     It reminded me of an annular eclipse that happened while I was in school back in '94. I remember peeking up at the sun through a window I opened in the hallway maybe twenty minutes before the area around us darkened considerably. While for only a moment, I recall the after-image of the sun in my eye showing a large chunk taken out of it by the Moon.

margin drawing I made of what I saw back on May 10, 1994

     But back in South Carolina, what could be seen by the end of the second sequence was a noticeable dimming in the sun's illumination. By this point, it looked as though someone had been fiddling with the contrast knob on an old TV, turning it to its lowest setting.

2:19 p.m.

      Throughout the third sequence, you could feel it growing noticeably cooler and the light continued to slowly fade...

third sequence

      I decided to take another shot of the sun without the eclipse viewers and while that sliver of sun was still too bright to look at for any length of time unaided, the light you could see was now deforming from the circular (even more so in my eye's after-images)...

2:33 p.m.

2:21 p.m. - revelers checking out the ever-darkening sky

2:25 p.m. - shadows were becoming sharper too

      What stands out to me in that photo is the string attached to my lens cap. It's normally not visible at all under a full sun. In the minutes before totality, I could see the hairs on my leg each casting their own shadow. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of that nor did I get a picture later of me in a similar pose under a full sun to show the difference so you'll have to take my word for it that yes, shadows get very well defined the smaller the source of the light becomes.

2:28 p.m. - I felt bad for anyone stuck watching the eclipse under those clouds

2:38 p.m. - getting darker

     With the Moon's umbral shadow nearly upon us, things had grown considerably darker and everyone was getting excited, even those who had been bored or uninterested from the start.

fourth sequence

     By the end of this sequence, the sun was no longer painful to look at and everyone waited anxiously for totality. Our host had an app on her phone that alerted us to keep an eye out for shadow bands and sure enough, because we were on a bright patch of sand, we could see them. I got no pictures or video of them but they were cool to look at. These little wavy shadows were all around us but most plainly visible on the sand. It reminded me of the ripples of air you can see coming off a roadway on a hot Summer's day (or those from a radiator near frigid air).
     And just like that they disappeared and the sun's light had shrunk to a pinprick.
     The last two photos in that sequence used the camera's automatic settings for shutter speed and both used its maximum f-stop value of 16. The 2:40 p.m. one had a shutter speed of 1/3200th of a second while the 2:41 p.m. picture was 1/1000th of a second so a proper comparison of the sun's increasingly rapid dimming isn't possible. The leisurely pace of the eclipse was now giving way to blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments.
     I'm not a professional and there simply wasn't time.

2:41 p.m. - I got lucky and snagged a diamond ring

2:42 p.m. - totality

     Suddenly everyone was in awe and I have to admit, the best part was that it was not a silent awe. The commonest refrain was, of course, "Oh my God!" but the excitement of everyone there was electrifying. The sky was like that of twilight but the camera would not capture that. It instead presented a picture of total blackness like that of night which wasn't the case. The now visible corona too, could not ever be properly captured...at least not in a single shot.
     Never discount your eyes' ability to adapt to its surroundings as well as their ability to show contrasts. The solar corona was much bigger than anything I captured on my data card. I would say it was about 3 moons wide and 2 moons tall and while colors are not my thing, the sight was certainly ethereal and deeply moving.

2:43 p.m. - totality: slightly longer shutter time and the most I could tease out with a photo editor

      I mean, when you think about it, all it is that you're experiencing is being caught in a shadow. It happens all the time when a cloud passes over the sun and every day at sunset and yet, while it's the same thing, it's so very different because it's a shadow that's not possible to cast from an Earthly vantage point. You can blot out the sun with just your finger but its illumination still fills the sky and it certainly does not make the corona visible. When the sun sets, its light is still reflected and refracted throughout the atmosphere.
     But the Moon, when the Moon does it, the shadow is coming from a source above the atmosphere, something that no other shadow you've experienced can do. It's a surreal experience and it really does affect you. One particular joy I felt during totality was simply the ability to look directly at where the sun was supposed to be and not having it be blindingly bright. It felt subversive...like I was getting away with something :-)
     During this time, I took a quick survey of the sky and caught sight of both Jupiter and Venus. I almost missed Venus because it was nearly obscured by the trees we were using for shade. I made no attempt to photograph them with the eclipsed sun: there simply wasn't time for something like that and both planets were well separated from the sun. I think a star or two showed up in some of my totality photos but I really can't be sure if they weren't random noise.
     But I'm also ashamed to say I didn't take it in as much as I should have, choosing instead to photograph it both for my posterity (and aphantasia) and for the benefit of friends and family who could not see it for themselves.

     Once I reached shutter speeds too slow for me to get a clear image of the solar corona, I switched it to video and recorded the sun's re-emergence. In retrospect, this is where my old camera would've come in handy. I could've set it upon our car and just let it record the people's reaction to totality in its entirety while using my good camera as I had.
     I also feel, again in retrospect, that I should've chanced a higher ISO setting for my totality pictures. I almost always keep the setting at its lowest, in this case 100, but maybe if I had chanced a setting of 400 or 800, I could've gotten some of the nearby stars to show up and maybe have gotten a hint of color in the sky. But it's not important. What's important is that my photos of totality looked better than literally everyone's smartphone version of it on Instagram :-P
     Again, I regret not simply watching. That was the reason behind my not wanting to take photographs in the first place. It was always the top recommendation for people for whom this was their first eclipse: just watch it. There's another one in 2024. Maybe I'll be able to see that one. Perhaps even with the same friends I got to see this one with. It'll pass through Dallas, Texas and I'd like to think they'd want to check that city out. It'll last longer too and I think that time, assuming I get it, I'll just watch...

     The video was taken at 2:43 p.m. as the eclipse ended. I'm sorry it's shaky but I was really more interested in watching what was left of totality than making sure I was holding the camera steady. I'm sure you understand but it does capture a few fleeting moments in time when a group of strangers were all suddenly interested in something going on in the sky and I'm glad I got to share that with them.

2:44 p.m. - some selected frame captures from the above video

2:44 p.m. - getting too bright to look at anymore

final sequence

     Even that teeny-tiny little sliver at 2:45 p.m. was painful to look at. It truly was a reminder about what they say regarding solar eclipses: It's all about totality! Because yeah, that's the life-changing, looking into the face of a Vorlon moment. Everything else is merely changes in lighting...

2:49 p.m. - ...and little sun crescents shining through gaps in the leaves

The eclipse as seen from where I live was far less dramatic and nearly clouded out

      Once the sun came back out, I knew there would be no persuading everyone to hang around for the official end of the eclipse so I didn't even try and like everyone else there, we all got back on the road at the same time.
      The last picture I got after third contact was taken through both the eclipse viewers and the car's window. The show was completely over by the time we got home.

     And while there certainly was traffic on the road heading back home, they all kept moving at a fair pace and did not jam up, a bonus I'm sure for the host family kind enough to drive us all the hour or so it took to get there.
     All in all, I'm very happy to have gotten the experience and I hope to get to see another solar eclipse before I die. It's a shame they don't happen on a more regular basis. But I did get to see this one and that can't be taken from me :-)