Lunar eclipse in seven images

How many images does it take to tell a story? For a lunar eclipse, I find that seven is the minimum, unless you are only sharing the blood moon. Here’s my Beaver Moon November 2022 version of the truncated full lunar eclipse.

Lunar eclipse captures

I made captures from around 11 p.m. through 6 a.m. All captures were bracketed by five stops and sometimes ten stops made about every five minutes. After lots of editing, I wanted to tell the full story of the Beaver Moon in as few images as possible. Another camera caught the wide-angle view and star field was running a time-lapse of the scene. A single frame was used for the background and to give the moons a star field in which to live.

Composition

Since I watched the eclipse all night going from top left to bottom right, I decided to share it the same way. I placed the moons on a slight diagonal to give an extra sense of movement. Originally, I tried a horizontal set of moons and it was a little too static. Diagonals add motion even when placed in a straight line.

Gear used

For the camera, I used OM-D E-M1 Mark III. To capture the full moon, I used a 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 lens with 1.4 extender for a 1120mm full frame field of view. A Fotopro Eagle E6L supported the camera. Meanwhile, a second Mark III mounted with a 12-100 f/4 M. Zukio Olympus lens caught the wider view. I used Adobe Camera RAW and Photoshop for processing and compilation of the final image.

The next visible total lunar eclipse in North America is in March 2025. Start practicing now, it’ll help!

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob