Last night I had the opportunity to photograph the annular eclipse. The annular eclipse is one in which the moon passes in front of the sun, leaving a golden "ring of fire" around the edges.

"Annular Eclipse - Santa Fe, NM"
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I didn't have the chance to drive to an exotic location due to scheduling, so I had to settle for my backyard here in Santa Fe, NM.

All set and ready to go with my Canon 5DII and 300mm f2.8 lens on a tripod, I started photographing once the sun came out from behind a big cloud. I didn't have any of the recommended eye protection for looking at the sun, so I focused and composed my image using the "live view" function of my camera's LCD screen. I had adjusted the camera exposure settings while waiting for the sun to appear, and once it did I noticed it was already in partial eclipse.

The photo above was the 20th photo I took. While Santa Fe, NM wasn't in the direct path of the "ring of fire", if you look closely, one can see the tiniest of slivers of sun around the edge of the moon.

Fortunately I had a little bit of cloud cover to add some interest to the sky. While the clouds did partially block my view, without them I would have had just a simple and boring shot of the eclipse. With the clouds, they add a bit of drama and perspective.