Aug 21st Solar Eclipse and the area of totality

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

I happen to live directly in the center of the area of totality for the solar eclipse. I plan to fly during the eclipse and capture it in it's entirety. What plans do other folks living or traveling to areas of totality have?

 

[Advexure]

No totality here

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

How high in the sky will it be in your area? It may be too high to capture with a drone and even if you could, what would be the point? Drones don't really have any advantage pointing up.

Totally different story if it were near sunrise or sunset, that would make for a pretty damned awesome shot. But I'm not sure it will be anywhere near the horizon.

 

[smoak5]

How high in the sky will it be in your area? It may be too high to capture with a drone and even if you could, what would be the point? Drones don't really have any advantage pointing up.

Totally different story if it were near sunrise or sunset, that would make for a pretty damned awesome shot. But I'm not sure it will be anywhere near the horizon.

Maybe a get a sweet shot of the ground when the shadow comes over?

 

[Lance K]

I will be in the zone as well. Not sure exactly how the drone would do? A time-lapse perhaps of the ground? What are your thoughts?

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

That may be a cool shot, but not sure if it would be much different than a twilight timelapse. I don't think you would see the edge of the shadow being so close to the Earth.

It's worth a shot if you're going to be in the zone. It couldn't hurt. This is what the shadow looks like from space. Notice how large the spot is and how feathered the edge is. Having said that, if you DO a timelapse of the ground for the duration of the eclipse, it might look like you got a timelapse overnight (from sunset to sunrise) which would normally be impossible for a drone.

And if you use an ND lense you can make it look darker than it actually will be (like true night shot), in case you're not in the 'full' eclipse zone.

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

I will be shooting both from the ground and in the air. Ground shots will be up observing the sun and since totality occurs at near noon, my UAV shots will be directed towards the northwest capturing part of both the ground and sky. The eclipse will be moving from the northwest towards the southeast.