https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/a-partial-eclipse-is-interesting-a-total-eclipse-is-mind-blowing/

You have probably seen photos of the sun in total eclipse such as the one shown above And although it is accurate and may look quite unusual and interesting, such pictures really do not capture the experience at all adequately. Many, probably most, people who have seen them consider it to be by far the most spectacular natural phenomena they have ever witnessed...an “experience of a lifetime.” I have known very experienced world travelers who have been all over the place and seen all sorts of famous and rare sights, man-made and natural, to react to a total eclipse by screaming, yelling OMG!, jumping up and down, running around hugging people, staring with their mouths hanging open, talking about it incessantly for days, etcetera. It is hard to understand from one of the standard eclipse photos why it is quite that impressive, I think. I want to try to explain a little.

The basic explanation is that being in the dark heart of the Moon's shadow involves much more than just seeing a striking and unusual visual in the sky, although that is a major part of it of course. But much else happens, depending somewhat on the location and weather conditions where you view it. Someone said that it is like suddenly being in some sort of CGI of another world or maybe like a drug-induced hallucination that feels (and is) totally real. Here are some of its aspects: