Photographing an Eclipse

At the end of this, there is a general piece of advice that is very commonly given to people going to their first total eclipse

On the evening of 12th August, there will be a Solar Eclipse that tracks from Iceland, down the North Atlantic and across the Spanish mainland and the Balearic Islands

Credit : Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC - http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Solar Eclipses have two phases - but most people will only see one of them.

The Partial phase is when only part of the Sun's disc is covered by the Moon.

The Total phase is when the Moon fully covers the Sun's disc and the sky goes dark.

Visibility of the Partial phase covers a much wider area on the Earth's surface, and lasts a lot longer in time as well, so most of your photographic opportunities will be for Partial eclipses - and if you're not fortunate enough to be on the path of Totality, this is the ONLY type of photography you'll be able to achieve.

Point 1: For the Partial phase of the eclipse, you must use a suitable filter, and ensure it is firmly attached to your camera

Point 2: Even if you are on the path of Totality, you will only have a short time to be able to take the photographs.

A comprehensive summary of the options available can be found at Alex Conu's article

https://www.photographingspace.com/photograph-total-solar-eclipse/

There are software tools to help you with imaging eclipses - though many will only work with specific camera brands

Eclipse Orchestrator (free version) – laptop + Canon/Nikon

http://www.moonglowtechnologies.com/products/EclipseOrchestrator/index.shtml

SETnC – laptop + Canon

https://robertnufer.ch/06_computing/setnc/setnc_page.htm

Eclipse Droid - Android phone + Canon/Nikon

https://www.strickling.net/eclipsedroid.htm

Eclipse Maestro – Mac + large range of cameras

Despite what is said elsewhere this software does not run on iPhone/iPad

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/Solar_Eclipse_Maestro_Photography_Software.html

Basically, you plan what image settings you want at each stage of the eclipse (aperture, ISO, exposure time) and block them out beforehand.

With the eclipse details loaded alongside your plan - on the day you enter your location and time as accurately as you can, and the software makes the camera follow your plan.

The piece of advice that I mentioned

If this is your first total eclipse - be aware that it's more important that you experience the eclipse than that you get the best images of it. Very likely you will not be getting the best ever images - so concentrate on enjoying it. Maybe use a video camera (with a filter) to capture the progression of the partial phase, and then scan around during totality to capture the responses of the people around you.

The press next day will be full of really excellent images that will remind you of the day itself.

Thanks to Paul K for the links