The second total solar eclipse visible from the United States of America within a decade is now only a month away, and it’s time to start preparing for this extraordinary visual event now. The next time a total solar eclipse will be visible from our continent is more than 20 years from now, so I’d advise finding a way to see it if you can! I know my wife and I will be on the road to make it happen.
The April 8th, 2024 path of totality follows, roughly, a contoured line intersecting Dallas and Cleveland. You can track exact times and coverage amounts using NASA’s Eclipse Explorer (click here).
So, aside from knowing where you’ll be and when, what else do you need to work out ahead of time?
A note on safety
It is never safe to remove your protective glasses or lens filter while looking at the sun except during full totality. Permanent damage to your eyes and/or your camera, including blindness, may result.
Plan your photography precisely
With a little preparation, you’ll dramatically reduce the risk of missing “the shot” when things get real. You should even be able to reserve a little time for being present and looking with your own eyes, rather than watching the whole thing on your little camera screen. There’s just something a little different to the experience in the moment, so don’t miss it!
If you’re able, scope out a comfortable place to observe the eclipse with a clear view of the sky and room to set up a tripod. Bonus points for easy accessibility and/or good vibes. Higher elevation isn’t going to make a ton of difference, but the less atmosphere between you and your subject, the better.
Practice photographing the sun. It’s a bit of an odd subject and everything you’ve ever known about exposure is going to be thrown out of the window. The more confident you are with your exposure ahead of time (more on that shortly), the less time you’ll spend fiddling with dials.
If your end goal is a collage depicting the event in several stages like the image below, you may want to determine your shooting schedule. Every minute? Every five? The more carefully you capture the images, the more evenly the results will turn out.
Exposing for the thing you’re not supposed to see
Ultimately, exposure is going to be very subjective. Practice ahead of time lets you determine what it will take to get the results you like. A few general guidelines, though:
- Set your camera to native ISO (usually 100) for minimum noise. There will be plenty of light… until there isn’t!
- Pick an aperture with a decent depth of field to minimize missed focus. f/8 is great.
- Pre-focus the lens and leave on manual for the same reason.
- Try a variety of different shutter speeds. If your camera can bracket, so much the better.
- Lean toward slightly under-exposing so that you don’t completely lose details.
- Capture RAW files so you have the maximum latitude in post-processing.
And remember that you should never look at the sun directly* or point your camera at the sun directly without proper safety gear such as solar glasses or a solar filter. ND filters should be rated for a minimum of 16 stops of light reduction to protect your camera while photographing the sun directly.
*Except for the moment of totality in a total solar eclipse.
Tips for totality
The short few minutes of totality present a unique photographic challenge. The difference between the lighting during a partial eclipse and total eclipse is difficult to overstate, and even during the totality there is a huge difference in light between the light at the very edge of the moon’s figure and the outer limits of the sun’s corona.
As soon as totality is achieved (but not a second before), around the appearance of the “diamond ring,” you’ll want to remove the protective filter from your lens. Ideally, you will have picked an f-stop and ISO to manually set, with your exposure freely adjustable. In order to capture a reasonably broad range of the different parts of the corona, we’d recommend that you shoot a series of images very quickly, from a very fast aperture (1/1000th or so) all the way up to a much slower aperture (1/8th, maybe? depends on your aesthetic taste).
Having the other two components of exposure set ahead of time (as well as your focus) offers the added benefit of relatively automatic operation. You can run through the cycle of images while still engaging the eclipse directly with your eyes. While we would love to have the whole world prioritize photographic excellence above all else, we also recognize the palpable difference between even the best images and the actual, in-person experience of the event. Make sure that you take time away from your screen or viewfinder to absorb the breathtaking majesty!
Pack the right gear
Here are a few recommendations for gear that will make the event more smooth for you. You are also more than welcome to stop in to any of our locations and pick the brains of our imaging experts!
Protection
Stability
Warmth
