Corona Picture, finally <dusts hands off>

[dccole9]

I had been wanting to do an HDR picture of a solar eclipse ever since I saw what was possible over the years. Well, it finally came to fruition and, after catching up on my day job, here's my first result:

21 Aug 2017 HDR Eclipse by Chris Cole, on Flickr

It was a surreal experience. I am very envious of my wife. Her birthday was August 21st and she got an eclipse as a present!

If the opportunity is there, I'll trek to the path of totality in 2024. I can only imagine what tech will make life easier then. Smartphones weren't around when I took my first astrophoto!

Chris

[Carbon60]

Fabulous image, Chris. You've captured lots of wonderful detail here. Superb result.

Any chance of a detailed explanation of your equipment, settings and processing technique?

Stu.

[Derek Klepp]

Well done Chris.

[dccole9]

Sure! From top down:

Stellarvue 90mm f7
Canon 600d camera with Magic Lantern software
Ap900gto mount

The picture was from a HDR composition(sec) 1/4000, 1/1000, 1/250, 1/60, 1/15, 1/4, 1”, 4" exposures although I didn't use the 4" exposure.

Magic Lantern is great for bracketing and completely automates the sequence.

The processing involved using the "Pellet Method" in Photoshop which is outlined on astropix.com. I highly recommend checking it out, the workflow is fairly straightforward:

http://www.astropix.com/html/j_digit/e_comp.html

A few more tweaks in Photoshop and this gives the result above. However, I still haven't figured out how to add the prominences.

I really wanted to join you and the other veterans of Solarchat but the logistics weren't there. Are you considering the eclipse in 2024?

Chris Cole

BTW, love your Ha work! Heck, everyone's work here covers about ever nook and cranny of the event.

[ffellah]

That is a fantastic image, Chris, well done !

Franco

[Bruce Girrell]

Nice!

[Carbon60]

Thanks for the details, Chris. Sharing info is what makes this site so great.

Thinking about 2024 for sure.

Stu.

[OTangen]

HI!

Wonderful detail Chris. One of the best results I've seen so far.

Oivind Tangen
60N 10E

[Montana]

Wow! well done! did you use the first method?
You have answered my post, I will add the link and try it out tonight
Alexandra

[marktownley]

That's a super shot of the Corona Chris!