Capturing the wonder of a total eclipse is not truly possible. Photos can't quite capture the entire context, the strange lighting followed by increasing darkness gathering around you, the ominous drop in temperature, and the sudden appearance of a blazing black hole in the sky. Just as a picture of a waterfall doesn't capture the feeling of the mist and the roar of a cascade, my best attempt to capture the eclipse is only an approximation of reality.
I credit Russell Brown's excellent YouTube videos on eclipse processing, (
https://youtu.be/Smn-fUJUadQ?si=Yi6v3lJIS3VvR9-W and
https://youtu.be/G2u7J-pgwwM?si=MWFSfsVJUhPvFj0f)
as well as Leo Schatz's beta-Planetary Tracking in PHD for tracking the sun and keeping the eclipse exactly centered, and Gordon Telepun's Eclipse Timer app. Backyard Nikon allowed me with two clicks to sit back and enjoy the rest of totality while the bracketing sequence ran. This shot is a mean HDR composite of 14 exposures, starting at 1/4000s, ending at 4s, at ISO 100.
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