Solar Eclipse

According to Wikipedia...

Solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun as seen from the Earth. The type of solar eclipse event depends on the distance of the Moon from the Earth during the event. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Earth intersects the umbra portion of the Moon's shadow. When the umbra does not reach the surface of the Earth, the Sun is only partially occulted, resulting in an annular eclipse. Partial solar eclipses occur when the viewer is inside the penumbra.
 

Did you get that?
No neither did I!
In other words...
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun. In a total eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon. In partial and annular eclipses only part of the Sun is obscured.

As reported from Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand :

ECLIPSES DURING 2012

There are four eclipses predicted for 2012, two each of the Sun and Moon. Of there three are visible from New Zealand, although very little change will be visible during one of the lunar. eclipses. The second solar eclipse in November will be total, but only visible as partial from New Zealand, although seen as a very deep eclipse from the far north. The first solar eclipse in May is annular, visible across the north Pacific Ocean...

The second solar eclipse is on November 13. This is total, but the path of totality crosses even less land than May's annular eclipse. It starts at dawn in the north of Northern Australia. After crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria and York Peninsula including Cairns, the total eclipse path then heads across the southern Pacific, touching no further land.

So that meant I was going to go out to take pics. Now I know you cannot look at the sun or watch it but if I just held up the camera and aimed surely I would get some photos. 
Hmm... well not so, but I am pleased to say I did get one or two out of the twenty or so I took!

 
At first I thought if I stood in the shade and stuck my hand and camera out I could just take pics of the sun. Well sure that happened but all you see is this.

First pic was at 9.10 when the eclipse was starting

As the morning progressed, I went to work and was soon thinking wow this is going to be great, its getting duller already.






I went outside to take another pic only to be greeted with this.
No wonder the sun wasn't shinning as bright - the clouds had arrived. These were not in the weather report, or were they?
How was I going to take photos now?

I actually felt disappointed. I was thinking I was going to do a blog entry and it was going to be so cool with all my photos!



I waited for a bit to see if I could grab a moment when the sun peeped between some clouds.
Unfortunately the odd time that happened and I managed to take a shot I still just got a glare of sun and no indication of an event of any sort.

The whole idea was rapidly going down hill.

In the end with the need of getting on with my work and not having to stay too long after 12.00 I just snapped away at the sunny hoping that something would come out of a photo.

I got home and checked out the TVNZ website to see what photos others had taken and soon discovered that having the clouds was a bonus. I wondered if I had any shots like some of theirs.

And to my surprise I discovered when I cropped the pics down I had some almost as good.

Original pic

 So thanks to the clouds here I my pics of the eclipse.

 November 14th 2012

My best November 14th 2012

My best - touched up