Are you tired of these eclipse shots yet??

Some really excellent eclipse shots posted below. They make me really wish I had a real super telephoto lens option to have captured the Total Lunar Eclipse, but we all have to work with what we have. I shot mine with a 70-200 paired with a 1.4TC on a full frame. No huge moon shots unfortunately, so I went with a different angle of showing the entire first half of the eclipse to totality.

I'm sure most are tired of seeing these, but I would still appreciate some critique.

Image Info: I processed all six images individually in RAW, paying special attention to noise reduction and sharpening for each image. Then all images were hand blended in PS manually, with the stars manually blended from one of the six images. Minor curves adjustments for contrast and absolutely NO color/hue adjustments done.

Nice image These composite images are always cool to see. I too took shots of all phases of the eclipse but don't know if or when I'll get around to making a composite. I might place the leftmost moon a tad higher. Also, you might try some extra sharpening to bring the stars out more. You can mask out the moons so that they're not oversharpened. A lot of sharpening can really make the stars pop.

Yeah I have noticed that with a lot of my other night shots Grant. I will add some more sharpening to make the stars pop. I could have taken a completely separate image just exposed for the stars, or pulled in stars from multiple composites, but I really wanted to go for more of the natural feel on this with the stars, so I chose to just use stars from one of the natural images. Great suggestion and I really appreciate your feedback!

I really like these phase sequences. You did a great job on the composite.

Where did you shoot from? Our area had clouds all the way to totality, so I felt fortunate to even get a single phase shot.

Bill, I shot from my house here in Highlands Ranch and was fortunate to not have the moon covered at all throughout the night. There was a lot of clouds to the north that I saw, which is probably what you hit, but the moon was high enough that it did not get in the way down here. Sorry to hear about the cloudy conditions for you.

I actually prefer phase sequences over a single image, and this one is great!
Grant addressed the issue of star clarity well.
As so many of my girlfriends have said, 'size doesn't matter', especially with multiple exposures in one frame. In fact, I would like to have seen the opposite phases from the full eclipse here at a smaller size.
Regardless, you did a fine job here, Koveh! This was what I planned to do if we could have had clear skies down this way.

Wonderful images Koveh. I prefer these to the single moon. Thanks for sharing. No, I'm not tired of them.

John, thank you for your comment and feedback. My original intention was to capture the full cycle all the way to finish, but being my first time doing this I made a noob mistake. As the moon started to transition out of the totality full eclipse stage, I started exposing for the darker side, because I did not want to have the initial image just show a small sliver of the moon. This lead to the first shot in the back transition to be the full moon with a sliver of really bright section, kind of like the 5th shot above. However, for my next transition I was tired and feeling stupid and forgot to change back to exposing for the bright section and having the rest in complete darkness. I caught my mistake on the 3rd shot, but as a result missed a key step in the transition, which in a series just looks off and not right. I suppose I could have taken one of the images from the first half and inverted it to make it fill in the gap, but it just seemed like cheating. =) As a result I chalked it up to a learning mistake and just decided to go with the first half. I will not be making that noob mistake on the next total lunar eclipse, I can tell you that.

Never tired of seeing 'em I too prefer the composites over single images. Now if only I knew how to do it! This is a very good one Koveh!

Outstanding Koveh - best of the bunch so far!

Of all of em, this one explains an eclipse best. Just love it!

Nice composite!
Judging from all the nice eclipse shots I see on this forum, I think I may have just wasted my time out there!

Koveh,
That's why I didn't bother adding my eclipse photo to the bunch! Your composition is very nice. I suppose that the orientation and spacing of the individual shots is more a matter of personal preference.
We ought to get together sometime, since you must live close to me.

Really nice work, Koveh!

Jim, yeah I decided to break perfect symmetry on orientation and go with more of a rounded shape, but there is always room to play around with the arrangements. As for getting together, i'd be happy to meet up sometime. I'm certain we are very close! Shoot me an email sometime.

I definitely not tired of seeing these images, especially well processed ones like yours. This is also what I had intended to do, but clouds had obscured some of the earlier phases so I only got shots around the total phase. Other than the star sharpening method already mentioned I wouldn't do anything different here. Nicely done!

Wow, great work for your first attempt Koveh! I kind of like just the first half of the sequence as you've presented here. If you could make those stars pop a bit more it would push this right over the edge. Def one of the better eclipse shots I've seen thus far, nice work

I really like this composite, too. Not tired of eclipse shots! I like the "rounded" presentation - was that how you put it?--avoiding total symmetry. I think it would benefit, though, from the spacing between the phases being evened out a bit. Five and six are a lot further apart than 1 and 2. Wouldn't want to give the impression that the moon is going to fall right out of the sky
Thanks for sharing.

Great comp, I really like it.

Not one they're this well done!

Koveh--I never get tired of the Eclipes photos. You did a great job!

That is just an exceptional image! Absolutely outstanding.

This type of shot is my favorite and you did a great job. The moons are sharp and the PS blending is great.