The first solar eclipse of 2009 fell on January 26 (coincidentally, the Chinese New Year) and I was there to see it firsthand. Lucky for me I live on the edge of the Philippines, in Zamboanga City, Mindanao. At 4pm Monday, I parked on one of the benches along the coast, armed with my Canon S5 IS and some old floppy disks, then started shooting.
None of the photos below have been altered save for some resizing (the original pics are too high-res), bordering and watermarking. Take a look!
The Red Series
I don’t have a high class IR filter for my camera, or anything like that. All I did to be able to capture the solar eclipse in photo was to dig out one of my dad’s old floppy disks, take out the black film thingy from inside it and then manually hod the film in front of the lens of my camera. How very old-school, huh? 🙂
All photos below are arranged in the order of when they were taken (mostly).
The Black and White Series
The Mixed Series
I find I like this series best. Using the floppy film brought out the solar eclipse but it also blacked out everything else. I liked just covering part of my lens with the filter so my camera could capture the ocean in full color.
This woman had no idea there was a solar eclipse behind her. In fact, very few people knew. There was this one guy who seemed frustrated that his DSLR + zoom lens + very long hood could not capture the eclipse. He kept stomping around in vain. There was a family of three who were trying to see the sun without so much as a pair of sunglasses to block the sun’s rays, so I have no idea if they were actually able to see the eclipse. Most people were just enjoying the sunset, like any normal day. Very surreal.
The Non-Series
No filters were used for the non-series. As you can(not) see, it was next to impossible to see the solar eclipse with bare eyes. But I liked the way that my camera somehow captured the reflection of the partial eclipse. 🙂 Very pretty. The eclipse was only visible during the last few seconds of the sunset. Unfortunately, the sun petered out before it reached total eclipse. 🙁
A Nice Day at The Beach
The Props and Photog
Yup, that’s me in the second and third pics. People were passing by, looking at me with a funny look. I must have seemed quite strange, hahaha. And… that’s Zamboanga City’s busy coastline in the last pic.
Click the pictures for bigger resolutions!
It was a fun day! I love solar eclipses! 🙂 Do you have photos of the solar eclipse? Leave a link!
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I think it is a pretty good shot. We kinda of missed it here in Singapore. It was quite cloudy here.
Nice shots…..Just seeing the pictures via the monitor is straining to my eyes,I wonder how those people saw it with just a pair of glasses!
@BK Here too in the Phils. I’ve been looking for photos from other places but there seem to be very few who actually saw the eclipse.
@Computer and Net, praying for what’s left of their eyesight..!
I wanted to take some photos too but all I have at that time is the view of my computer..sigh 🙂 I’m still in the office kasi. I should have gone home earlier.
Wow, these are great shots! My friend and I missed it because it was cloudy where we were in Manila. Thanks for posting these up. Very very cool indeed, especially the use of the insides of a floppy disk. They have some residual use after all!
Hi there!
Like Rocks, missed the eclipse due to work! I really hate work during these special times. An eclipse happens a few times in one’s lifetime. This was surely a big miss for me being a fan of astronomy! Oh well! Such is life!
Awesome photos and definitely stumble worthy!
aarrrghhh! I missed it.
Lucky you! You have captured the eclipse in all angles. Beautiful!
Those are some pretty amazing, gorgeous pics!
Really great shots.
Wow, what a beautiful pictures. You got a nice camera AND some skills.
I love the red ones.
Me, I’m staying in Thailand and was supposed to be able to see some of the eclipse as well. Just no one told me about it until it was after sunset… I missed it. So, I guess it was not that much of a eclipse here.
I have experienced one before when you get this really strange shadows and all the birds get quiet. Well, that did not happen here, I’m sure. I did not notice a thing!!
At least I get to see the photo’s here.
Thanks for that!
ang nakita kong solar eclipse last ningth ay napakaganda.yun ang una kong nakitang solar eclipse na hindi ko makakalimutan sa buong buhay ko.at sana makita ko next ningth.sige bye bye na po…………..1111111111
Nice shots… No wonder I feel strange that day and the afternoon seems a bit darker than usual.
Ganda ng mga pix! Amazing!
thanks friend. I was wondering if floppy film is a good option. Now seeing your pictures, I will do that tomorrow (22 July 09) total eclipse over India
your photos of solar eclipse is breathtaking but when it came down to your own photo… breathless.. :)mengtotski