Photography Tip—How To Photograph a Solar Eclipse, Part 2

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Digital photography of astronomical bodies and events can be dramatic and exciting; and partial or total solar eclipses are some of the most interesting. It requires a bit more understanding and practice of certain techniques, however, than taking pictures of the family, pets and/or your vacation. Part 1of the PhotographyTalk.com article included many of the tips you should consider, while Part 2 presents some more you need to know.

Additional Tips for Photographing a Solar Eclipse

If you must shoot directly overhead, almost perpendicular to the ground, then use a right-angle finder on your viewfinder, so you don’t have to contort your body or head.

Since any solar eclipse is rare and you must be in the right place to photograph it, it’s a good idea to make some test exposures. Remember, a partially eclipsed sun is just as bright as a fully exposed sun. Pick a sunny day and set up all your equipment—camera, telescope, solar filter and tripod. Note the exposure settings of all your test frames. You should find 1/250th to be correct. Even with your test results, it’s best to bracket your exposures while photographing an eclipse. The ring of sunlight around the eclipsing moon may fool your camera’s light meter, reading it as a Zone-5 middle tone. Disregard it, so your images reproduce bright sunlight.

Set your camera for more exposure when shooting a partial eclipse, which is another reason to bracket your images.

Exposure Tips for a Total Eclipse

Your digital photos will require even more exposure during the short time the moon fully obscures the sun (except for the corona). 

It’s permissible to shoot during this short period without the solar filter, but continue to bracket your exposures. Remember to attach the solar filter the instant the moon starts to move from the sun.

If you’re using a telescope as a substitute for a telephoto lens, then you won’t be able to change the aperture. To bracket, therefore, you’ll have to adjust the shutter speed, instead. The brightness of the sun’s corona is equal to a full moon, so shoot at shutter speeds from 1/1000th to 1/30th or 1/15th of a second. This is at an ISO setting of 100 and a fixed aperture of f/11.
Don’t be surprised that many of these bracketed images are keepers. Each will capture different, but interesting, views of the total eclipse.

A practical tip is to include a small flashlight among your equipment, as it will become quite dark during a total solar eclipse. It will be easier to see and select all those shutter speeds.
You’ll have to focus the telescope manually, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem, since all the objects are moving in the frame very slowly from your perspective.

Because you’ll be shooting at relatively fast shutter speeds, it is unnecessary to compensate for the rotation of the Earth. You have to shoot a 15-second exposure or slower before that is an issue. That is a technique you must learn if you want to photograph planets, stars and galaxies. Now, the movement of the Earth is a factor because your exposure time may be an hour or more.

 

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