Up early today to witness the hugely anticipated solar eclipse. Had many fingers and toes crossed the previous night that the Met Office had their forecast correct and that Cornwall would be one of the better places in the UK to witness the eclipse under clear skies. Good news on waking at 06:00, the predicted relatively clear sky was indeed a reality and I was now trusting that this would continue to be the case until at least when the eclipse was due to start to take effect at around 08:30. I needn’t have worried though as it was not only a beautiful Cornish morning, even with the slightly hazy Cornish mist that lingered over the hills early on, but after the eclipse the sun remained shining gloriously all day long.
Eager to get started with camera gear at the ready I made my way up the road to an elevated position overlooking the Tresillian River valley where I have an allotment. My intention was not to photograph the moon eclipsing the orb of the sun, it was only ever going to be partial in Cornwall anyway, but to capture the effect of fading light on the surrounding countryside. The results of which are reproduced below. Pointing the lens directly at the sun I had my camera set to fully manual mode so that the automatic exposure function would not interfere and distort the diminishing light levels. My eyes, however, gave me a different impression because of the brain’s natural ability to compensate for varying levels of light, which made the darkest period seem less dark to me than in those images captured by the camera that when set to fixed manual mode has no option other than to reproduce the actual light level entering through the lens.
08:48 GMT Photo © Keith Littlejohns
08:55 GMT Photo © Keith Littlejohns
09:00 GMT Photo © Keith Littlejohns
09:05 GMT Photo © Keith Littlejohns
09:10 GMT Photo © Keith Littlejohns
09:15 GMT Photo © Keith Littlejohns
09:20 GMT Photo © Keith Littlejohns
09:25 GMT Photo © Keith Littlejohns
After the maximum point of darkness had been reached at 09:25 the sun gradually started to regain its brilliance and continued shining down on us for the rest of the day.