March 2025 Eclipse

[FowlersFreeTime]

I thought it might be worth it's own thread so members who plan to photograph the Eclipse this Thursday (its technically Thursday night into Friday morning) can post up their preparations and results. Apologies to our members in Europe who may not be able to see this one.

What You Need To Know About the March 2025 Total Lunar Eclipse - NASA Science

A total lunar eclipse will tint the Moon red-orange on the night of March 13 or early in the morning on March 14, depending on your time zone.

science.nasa.gov

Eclipse begins 03/13/25 at 11:57pm EDT and ends at 6am EDT 03/14/25. I'm a father of a toddler who has declared war on going to bed at a reasonable time (and I have work on Friday), so no way I'm staying awake for the whole thing I plan to set up my tripod in back yard and set an alarm to wake up every few hours to snap a photo. No fancy timelapse for me, I don't think leaving my camera out for 6 hrs in the humid Florida air unattended is a good idea. Weather is currently calling for 60 degrees Fahrenheit and clear skies.

I'm also fuzzy on whether the correct event name is "Blood Moon" or "Worm Moon" but I'm really curious to see if it indeed turns reddish brown.

 

[iamdlewis]

I'm also fuzzy on whether the correct event name is "Blood Moon" or "Worm Moon" but I'm really curious to see if it indeed turns reddish brown.

Worm Moon is the 1st moon of spring and Blood Moon is the eclipse moon so this is a Blood Worm Moon.

My insomnia has been acting up so I might be awake for this but they are still saying we will have some level of clouds. Trouble is to see most of the event I'll have to do more than just step outside the door.

 

[TomF162]

Hoping for clear skies but as of now it's not looking promising

 

[THXGEEK]

Hoping for clear skies but as of now it's not looking promising

Same for here in NoVA...

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Just my luck: clouds with 37% chance of rain.

 

[Richard A]

Oh no!!!

 

[iamdlewis]

Just my luck: clouds with 37% chance of rain.

At least you have clouds, I just got a cloud here and it goes from horizon to horizon. They removed the chance of rain but now just show more cloud coverage.
There is another lunar eclipse that hits the Iraq to India area in Sept but next March there is one that hits Hawaii.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

At least you have clouds, I just got a cloud here and it goes from horizon to horizon. They removed the chance of rain but now just show more cloud coverage.
There is another lunar eclipse that hits the Iraq to India area in Sept but next March there is one that hits Hawaii.

Hawaii? Alphashooters field trip?

 

[iamdlewis]

Just checked Clearoutside and it looks like for the start of the eclipse I'll have clear skies but might have issues when totality hits and then after that it looks no good. Of course my work calendar is looking to be busy tomorrow.

 

[THXGEEK]

Hawaii? Alphashooters field trip?

ROAD TRIP!



I'll buy the first round!

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Just checked Clearoutside and it looks like for the start of the eclipse I'll have clear skies but might have issues when totality hits and then after that it looks no good. Of course my work calendar is looking to be busy tomorrow.

Is it supposed to take on more of a reddish hue closer to totality or when full? It was a bit reddish brown when it rose a short while ago.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Stayed up until total eclipse and hastily edited these. Perhaps tomorrow I will try running them through de-noise plugin.

• E 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 A069
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/200 sec
• ISO 100

• E 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 A069
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/320 sec
• ISO 200

• E 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 A069
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/320 sec
• ISO 400

• E 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 A069
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/160 sec
• ISO 800

• E 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 A069
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/13 sec
• ISO 2500

• E 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 A069
• 286.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3000001907349
• 1/1 sec
• ISO 2500

 

[alexpler]

Stunning set, Chris! I love the progression up until that fabulous crimson shot. Well done.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Stunning set, Chris! I love the progression up until that fabulous crimson shot. Well done.

Thank you Alex!
I decided to run that last one through de-noise before bed and I'm pretty happy with it:

• E 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 A069
• 286.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3000001907349
• 1/1 sec
• ISO 2500

 

[iamdlewis]

Nice. I did get up but the cloud was blocking everything.

 

[Richard A]

They look really good. Well done.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Some observations from last night, and a request for feedback:

• Penumbral section of the eclipse was not worth photographing, but good time to setup up camera and tripod and lock focus on the moon.
• Shockingly my battery lasted as long as I needed it to, but to save some juice I had my display set to automatically deactivate after 30 seconds
• Why did I think I needed to use f8 when f6.3 would have been fine the whole time? LOL
• I almost messed up my focus a few times because I wanted to grab the lens when re-adjusting tripod head.

That last part leads me to my request for feedback. I have this tripod head:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1685095-REG/3_legged_thing_ahneoblack2_0_al_ballhead_with_arca.html

and for a single shot or landscapes, its fine, but last night it was a pain to take a few photos and then have to readjust on 2 axis with two knobs before moving on to take more shots and have to readjust every 5-10 minutes. Would a pan & tilt video head have worked better for the purpose of tracking a celestial body as it slowly moves across the night sky?

 

[Richard A]

The Penumbral part of the eclipse is definitely worth capturing if you want to do one of those sequences of images across the frame. They can look stunning and that's what I'm planning on doing later in the year.

As far as battery life goes, how many shots did you take? I have a custom button set to turn my screen off when required.

What tripod are you using that head on? I reckon, when photographing the night sky, the only thing that's going to simplify moving the camera is a properly aligned equatorial mount.

 

[evacguy]

Stayed up until total eclipse and hastily edited these. Perhaps tomorrow I will try running them through de-noise plugin.

View attachment 72378View attachment 72379View attachment 72380View attachment 72381View attachment 72382View attachment 72383

Stunning sequence, love the climax.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

The Penumbral part of the eclipse is definitely worth capturing if you want to do one of those sequences of images across the frame. They can look stunning and that's what I'm planning on doing later in the year.

As far as battery life goes, how many shots did you take? I have a custom button set to turn my screen off when required.

What tripod are you using that head on? I reckon, when photographing the night sky, the only thing that's going to simplify moving the camera is a properly aligned equatorial mount.

I look forward to seeing your results!

I took around 50 photos, not that much. I was trying to manually take one every 5 minutes and was fiddling around with settings plus adjusting the camera position as needed. If I was using an automated tracker and maybe S&Q mode to automate the process, with the screen off I suppose one battery could cover the entire eclipse. I was just nervous because I only have one battery.

Tripod: peak design tripod with a head swap.