That's right, my little town of Dundas, Ontario, Canada is in the path of totality for the solar eclipse on Monday. For 2 minutes my world will get darker, colder and from what I understand - completely spectacular.
I wasn't really all that interested in the eclipse that would be passing right over my house until a few weeks ago. A rainbow? Sure. I'd run out with my camera for that. A rainbow is sparkly & fun like a box of Lucky Charms in the sky.
An eclipse on the other hand has a certain doomsday, nuclear reactor charm to it. The idea of a photograph of a black circle with a bright ring around it bored me.
Eventually I realized I didn't HAVE to take a photograph of just the eclipse during the eclipse. I could take a photograph of people looking at the eclipse in their eclipse glasses. Or a shot of the eclipse with my house in the foreground. Or a poodle.
Things that are more interesting than just the single circle of the sun and moon.
With my newfound imagination I decided I would photograph the eclipse, I would just do more of a wide shot of my neighbourhood. And maybe a sequence of all the phases. And maybe a zoomed shot. And every other type of solar shot I could find on the Internet.
At the time I figured I'd just haul my camera and tripod outside the afternoon of April 8th, point it at the sun and hope for the best.
Wouldn't that be great? It sure wood. But that's not how eclipse photography works.
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Getting a shot, any shot of a solar eclipse takes preparation. It's here and gone in about 120 seconds which doesn't leave a lot of time for pressing buttons and shrieking.
Since I am more of a whirl the buttons around until I like what I see kind of photographer, it's best if I go into these 120 seconds with a plan, especially since the most famous thing about those 2 minutes - is that they're going to be in the dark.
I can barely see my camera dials in perfect lighting conditions let alone in darkness while I'm hopped up on astronomy.
Getting a really good shot takes a lot of preparation and equipment and it's STRESSFUL. In fact it became so stressful for me that I have dialed back my aspirations from taking every shot of the eclipse imaginable to only one. One decent photograph.
Above is a great video from photographer Alyn Wallace showing what lengths he and others go to to get solar eclipse photos and video.
I will try to just get 1 nice shot of the eclipse. On the weekend I'll take my stuff outside and practice taking photographs of the sun in the direction I'll be shooting into with different lenses to see which one I like the best.
I'm not teaching you how to photograph the eclipse because a) what the hell do I know about photographing an eclipse?? and b) if you're serious about photographing the eclipse you've already Googled everything you need to know.
How I'm preparing
- Making a solar filter to place over my camera lens. This consists of forming a cardboard tube that I can slip over my camera lens with a piece of solar film I bought attached to the end of it. There are tons of Youtube videos on how to make a tent for your camera lens or phone. You can even just place an extra pair of solar glasses over your phone lens.
- Figuring out where exactly the sun is going to be from my viewing location so I know what direction I'll be shooting from.
- Practicing. A couple of days before the eclipse I'll go outside at the same time the eclipse is occurring and take some practice shots. I'll write down any exposures and settings I want to remember.
- Set up bracketing. Bracketing is something you can do with your fancier cameras. It is a setting that will force your camera to take a series of photos one right after the other at various exposures. It will do it automatically once you set the bracketing up on your camera.
- Automate and preset anything that I can so when the day comes I won't be stressed and can actually experience and enjoy the eclipse.
Unless it's cloudy.
P.S. Don't worry. One photo. Maybe even with my iPhone when it comes down to it. I won't sacrifice the experience of a total eclipse for a photograph. 👍🏻
Linda in Illinois
Sure wish i was able to see that. So awesome. Thank you for the video. Very exciting.
Arthur Soles
Nothing like this ever happens on Vancouver Island. Pretty but not fancy effects, like eclipses! Waiting for the big earthquake! That will be a real hoot!
susang
living right on the south side of lake erie kind of across from crystal beach. have been looking forward to this for years. even if it is cloudy just want the whole experience. please post everything you experienced. comparing will help extend the experience.