Lunar Eclipse Above Hohenzollern Castle

A photo sequence of multiple exposures. From the photographer: “The castle was built between 1846 and 1867 as a family memorial by Hohenzollern scion King Frederick William IV of Prussia. It is located atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the edge of the Swabian Jura of central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As a hilltop castle, it makes for a great foreground motif with the moon, which is why I chose this spot for the total lunar eclipse on 7 September 2025.

The conditions were far from ideal, as there were dense veil clouds, as can be seen in the 50 mm timelapse. In addition, the moon was already completely eclipsed at sunrise and only very faint in the still bright sky. In the end, however, the 2.5-hour drive to the spot was worth it I think.

Technical details:
The original shots were taken from a distance of 3 km with an old manual 400 mm lens and a Sony A7sIII. ISO 500, f2.8 and 1 sec exposure time. The images were opened as layers in Photoshop and blended with brighten mode. The sky and castle are from the image with the third moon, and I also blended in a little of the first image for the foreground.”