S-Curve with Totality Cross
After your darkest hour, the sun will shine again.
To contrast the large panoramic images, I also wanted to showcase all the different phases of totality in one image.
To have the whole eclipse experience look within a more rectangular shape.
A shape we are more used to seeing when consuming and enjoying art.
It was actually quite difficult to come up with a cohesive rectangular design to showcase the entire Total Solar Eclipse. I kept coming up with circular designs.
There is a natural curved look that happens when flipping through the photos of the Sun getting smaller and then larger again. I embellished that curve, and added the linear length of time passing, and came up with this gentle s-curve centered around the Sun's Corona bursting in the middle as it happens during Totality when the Sun is lined up perfectly with the Moon.
There are so many effects that happen so quickly in the seconds before and after Totality of the Eclipse that I wanted to showcase those as well. They are each unique and so beautifully fleeting. While considering how to incorporate those effects, I thought about my panoramas, but didn't want to create multiple rectangular designs.
I wanted one image that fit nicely in a common rectangular frame with interest throughout.
I wanted to make one image to simply show you the best parts of the Total Eclipse experience. That is when I noticed the almost cursive x like nature of my composition, it just needed a cross line to finish the effect.
I selected my favorite image of all the special Eclipse effects I captured, the Diamond Ring and Baily's Beads, before and after Totality, and the Solar Prominences that graced our eyes that day. They give one cross section of the image interest, while the orange fading and growing Sun do the same for the other side.
This image is 16x20 inches.
I have spent hours looking through this image in awe and wonderment. I could spend hours more, and I invite you to do the same.
I like that the Corona and Diamond Ring announce themselves proudly, they almost punch you in the face. Your eyes gracefully follow the partial phases of the Sun, then the Baily's Beads invite you to look closer, and the Solar Prominences demand you give them more attention by being so subtle as you experience the entirety of the event in this one image.
This image would also look good hung vertically, as shown here in a small 8-inch print size.
