WxBlue

Thanks! I was using my F3.5 zoom lens, but I plan on buying F2.8 wide angle soon!

What was your f/number? Just curious. Thursday night event was my first attempt at spotting northern lights and it was gorgeous to watch from Alton Bay around midnight! Wish low clouds to north weren't there or I would've gotten better pictures, but I'll take a solid green aurora band for my first attempt! Hopefully next good event will have pillars...

I don't care I was dealing with consistent traffic jams the next 30 hours after it ended. I don't care I-81 tried to kill me several times. I don't care I had two hours of sleep on August 21st. I don't care my right foot and my neck are screaming in pain from all the driving. What I saw over rolling hills of Vonore, Tennessee for two minutes was one of greatest sights I've ever seen in my young life... and I took incredible pictures with my full frame camera that I'll hang on wall of my apartment. Thank you y'all for hosting me and providing with excellent information so I could enjoy it with y'all. What a day!

Finally made it back to New Hampshire and what an insane couple of days! We ended up settling on a hilltop field in Vonore, TN. We had no problem with clouds in the valley, with cumulus clouds only appearing over the horizon to west and east. It was insanely awesome to see cumulus clouds dying out to west as moon's shadow approached to us as we got closer to the totality. I don't think I need to explain the rest of what the experience was like, but it was one of coolest sights I ever saw. Up there with McLean tornado earlier this year, but this eclipse has a slight edge over that due to how rare it is in United States. Traffic was horrible the whole trip back to New Hampshire, as I kept running into jams almost every single town on I-81 and I-84. It was awful... but it was still worth seeing the eclipse! So glad I drove south!

I left NH at 5 am and made it to NC by 9 pm. No bueno...

Which is why I took I-81 from NH. Traffic haven't been horrible in Pennsylvania yet, but there's lot more northerners heading down comparing to southerners traveling northward for a nice week in New England.

While my central SC target is looking good, Tennessee is becoming more attractive of a target and is drawing me in despite travel challenges. I don't have a place to stay in TN, but I could make my drive back to NH that evening (rather than Tuesday) and swallow the pill with traffic issues until I get far enough north to stay in a reasonably priced hotel. I'd rather have clear sky than to stress about Cu field...

That's why I'm working on a strategy. You can make photos work for the eclipse, but only if you're familiar with DSLR photography on manual mode and been doing it for years. I've been doing a lot of homework on how to prepare myself for shots I want from the event. Most people will do "bracket" technique (taking a set of pictures at speed of 1/4000 second to 1 second at same f length and ISO) and that should be good enough for the totality phase. I plan on bracketing the first 30 seconds (just to ensure I get something) and leave my camera running by using intervalometer so I can enjoy the last minute and half with my bare eyes instead of staring through the lens the whole time. I'll also do partial phase photography through a sun filter because it'll be a long hour leading up to the totality. However, I do not recommend trying to take photos of the event unless you know what you're doing in a quick manner. Definitely don't take pictures of partial phase without a solar filter (especially with a smartphone).

I'm new to that sub-forum after moving during this summer, but I'm heading south as well. Planning on targeting Charleston, SC area as I'm from there and know the climatology well.

I'm praying a sea breeze boundary doesn't kick in until later in the afternoon at my viewing location. Usually doesn't happen until 4-7 pm, but we'll see...

I also want to give some warnings for Carolinas. To state the obvious, almost all of East Coast chasers will head down to Carolinas via I-95, I-77, or I-81/I-26. That's the population potential of 1/3 of USA trying to fit into two states. Since our busy interstates are four-lane and worn out from frequent travel, traffic jams will be nasty. Expect us to be like rush hour I-95 of the Northeast. This is especially true for those heading to our mountains. There are only two roads from Asheville to southwest NC towns and they are always bad during summertime due to vacationers, campers, and hikers. Loved the region for scenic views when I was a student at UNCA, but never really care much for frequent traffic jams on weekend days and I can't imagine how awful it will be with millions trying to view the eclipse from our mountain tops. Expect to be stuck for hours on way there and back. On top of that, western NC is often cloudy so it's a very risky area to view the eclipse. Upstate South Carolina will offer more breathing room and has the best chance of having less clouds. However, views are limited as that area is one large forest. Greenville/Columbia area will end up becoming one of main targets for East Coasters. Between Columbia and Charleston, we have two large lakes where clouds struggle to form above them if we get a typical summertime Cu field during afternoon hours. I will be heading to one of them as I know someone living on the lake. Charleston will serve as ground zero for East Coast travelers since the city is scenic and full of eclipse vacationers. Keep in mind that Charleston will see the totality for one less minute than beaches to northeast. South Carolina shoreline is another ideal area to view the eclipse due to sea breeze boundary pushing several miles inland and clearing up clouds above them, but they do have to hope that thunderstorm doesn't form along the boundary. Roads are also extremely limited to northeast of Charleston thanks to a large state forest.

I've never had problems with ice storms like so many on here did in the past, so I really don't mind big ones because I like extreme weather. Then again, I'm only 20 year old with parents taking care of everything