Timing is everything. Amy’s challenge this morning is on contrasts: shadows and light, colors, hard and soft, etc. It just happens that this is the morning of the annular (partial) solar eclipse. We didn’t see much of it in California, but NASA put on a good show for us. Amy, I hope you were able to see the totality in Texas.

NASA gives this explanation of a solar eclipse: A solar eclipse happens when, at just the right moment, the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth. Sometimes the Moon only blocks part of the Sun’s light. This is called a partial solar eclipse. Other times, the Moon blocks all of the Sun’s light. This is called a total solar eclipse. As the Moon blocks the Sun’s light, it casts a shadow on part of the Earth.The Moon’s shadow creates a trail as Earth rotates. This trail is called the path of totality. If you want to experience total darkness during an eclipse, you have to be in the path of totality. In that path, the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s light for a few minutes. It gets so dark that it looks like night time during a full Moon!

So why am I mentioning this? Watching the eclipse unfold on my computer screen, I thought there is no better contrast between the sun and moon during this rare occasion. This took me back to the total solar eclipse Richard and I viewed in Idaho in 2017. That was an amazing experience. We were camping in our trailer, but crowds came in that morning. During the eclipse the crowd went quiet until totality. Then the clapping and yelling started. Wow!

I took pictures with my Nikon D3100, armed with a solar filter, handheld. Here are my results of nature’s contrast of the sun and moon from beginning to totality and the end.

I hope you enjoyed my cosmic contrast scenes. Thank you Amy for encouraging me to look back. When you post your contrasts, please remember to link to Amy’s post and use the Lens-Artists tag. I enjoyed seeing all your varied displays last week as encouraged by Ann-Christine. I always enjoy your unique posts and interpretations to our challenges. Next week John is presenting the challenge so be sure to look for his post.

56 thoughts on “Lens Artists Challenge #271: Contrasts”

  5. Great shots of the eclipse in Idaho, Anne! Today too many of us woke up to cloudy skies. The light was gloomier than usual, so I know it was happening. Spokane area would have seen the eclipse at 75% in totality, but we’ll have to wait until the next one.

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  7. A great choice for the challenge Anne and your images are fantastic! I remember that eclipse very well but didn’t take photos. I love the way you displayed them also. We didn’t get much of this one here in the southeast, and our day was pretty cloudy even if it HAD been visible so I’m glad I wasn’t disappointed!

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    1. Thanks Tina! We were supposed to go to Winnemucca NV to see this eclipse, but I haven’t progressed in recovering from the auto accident and it was super cloudy. However, one photographer in West Sacramento got an amazing cloudy shot this morning from his yard.

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  17. Wowwwwww. Great great GREAT photos Anne. M’lady and I watched it from our home in the south Denver suburbs. We had eclipse viewing glasses from 2017 but no photo capability. Here the moon entered from the upper right, like in yours, then moved downward just right of center. It was a pretty cool thing to observe.

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    1. Thanks Ana. We didn’t have a great view of yesterday’s either, plus I’m still feeling the effects of an auto accident–so no current images. My post was of the 2017 total eclipse in Idaho. If you ever have an opportunity to see one, do it. Just watching the partial on TV yesterday brought back those memories, so I just had to post it.

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      1. I hope you feel better from that accident.

        With my photographic equipment I wouldn’t be able to capture it very well, but I will be attentive to be able to enjoy an eclipse live in the future when I have the opportunity.

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  19. Beautiful Anne 🙂. I have seen a proper solar eclipse in front of me only once and will never forget it – so spectacular it was with the diamond ring phenomena!

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    1. Thanks I. J.! You need a filter for your camera and glasses for your eyes. Most photographers use a tripod. I didn’t, being more comfortable holding the camera. What did you mean when you wrote, “Having a star Next door…?”

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  23. Wonderful shots of the eclipse. I saw that one as well, but didn’t take photos. I am in Wyoming this week so we didn’t get a full view of this one. We did notice a darkening of the skies, but I didn’t have a filter to see the percentage of coverage.

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    1. Thanks John, I had a great time in 2017. This year we were supposed to go to Nevada to see the annular eclipse, but between my car accident and clouds, we decided not to go. We’re hoping to be in Texas next year.

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