2010 Lunar Eclipse Ellipse

After far too much fun (and maybe a bit too much eggnog) I give you a galactic lunar circle of the recent total eclipse this past winter's solstice. I really wanted to do something a bit different and, well, I think I may have succeeded, hah. I hope you enjoy!

Wishing all a very happy New Year!

Shot Notes: Time moves chronologically counter-clockwise from the full moon. The last layer number in Photoshop was 33 to give you an idea of the fun I had in post. All of the source images are mine. The stars are from a previous Milky Way shot which was also used to create the swirly galactic background illustration. The star diffraction spikes were added via the excellent Star Spikes Pro plugin. I used my D300 for the telephoto images of the eclipse to take advantage of the 1.5x DX multiplier effect on my Nikon 300 f4 which I had paired to a 1.4x Kenko converter. Exposures varied based on brightness of the moon. Conditions got hazy when I was shooting the eclipse so clarity varies on different stages of the eclipse, but I think it worked out nicely with my idea.

MoonLunaLunarEclipse2010Lunar EclipseTotalFullSeriesCompositeIllustrationPhotoshopScienceAstronomyAstrophotographySpaceStarStarsNightSkySkyscapeUniverseGalaxyGalacticCircleEllipseStagesColoradoArtWinter SolsticeDecember 21December 2010 Lunar EclipseNikonD300Nikon 300 F4Tokina 1116Collage1610