Capturing natural phenomenon such as the Solar Eclipse is a challenging task. Apart from a moving object, the environmental conditions would also hold a key hindrance in making good coverage and capture of this once-in-a-while phenomena.
The June 2020 Solar Eclipse is an event that can be seen without much adjustments in allotting time for it. For one, it fell on a Sunday, which is supposedly a free day for most. Second would be the timing – it falls on a mid afternoon time frame; a free time for most on a Sunday as well. And of course, it only comes once in a while (check out future schedules here), so it would really be nice to see it for yourself to enjoy. But if in case you missed it, we’re going to try to share what we have experienced as detailed as we can.
The Experience
We initially aimed for the highest coverage of the moon over the sun, so we set-up our gear around 45 minutes before the scheduled time of the highest coverage. Here in the Philippines, we are not fortunate enough to see the complete annular eclipse also known as the “Ring of Fire” (that was seen in some countries such as in India) but could only see around 80% coverage and we’re glad to take it at that. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see the sun behaving like a moon with its crescent looking persona at this time, right?
Below is a short clip of the moon having around 60-65 percent coverage over the sun:
So far so good. The coverage of the moon over the sun was clearly seen through our camera gear. At this moment we’re getting a fingers crossed to be this way until we get to the maximum coverage. Because during this month of June, the rainy season has started and thunderstorm and rain clouds come often, so we’re really hoping it won’t come on that day.
The Showstopper
But as much as you don’t want it, a thing that you don’t want to happen will most of the time happen. As we cruise along in waiting for the largest coverage of the moon over the sun, we took some decent shots of it and we’re almost very happy. As the scheduled highest coverage nears, we set up our gear into video mode to capture the event. But as they say, all is well that doesn’t end well (wait, that’s not the popular saying).
As the Solar eclipse reaches its peak coverage, a bunch of clouds covered it! Check out the actual video on this link:
With that being said, we sort of missed the peak of coverage by around a minute or two. We ended up with the below images of some of phases of the eclipse. The third one on the right is the highest coverage that we can get. The hazy or smoky look meant that it was about to cover a thick layer of clouds blocking our view:
Nevertheless, it was still a nice experience. The anticipation of looking at this natural phenomenon to reach its peak coverage is a wonderful feeling. For photography enthusiasts like us, it is indeed a lovable one to anticipate events like this, but it is also enjoyable with friends, family, and even for kids. It will just be a matter of carefully educating them on enjoying something that is just there around us.
