Solar eclipse photography

Hi everyone, tomorrow there's a partial (84%) solar eclipse in Holland, and I intend to photograph it. Any tips on how to do this are very welcome!
I'm specifically worried about the safety of my eyes and my equipment. The only protection I have is a variable ND filter, which has a maximum density of 400. I have never used the filter before, so I have no idea whether this is enough to have me look through the viewfinder without risk, or give me good images.
I read loads of warnings that many filters do filter out the visible light, but not the damaging radiation like UV and IR, but I have no idea if this is also the case for the ND filter.
Is the use of liveview a safer option? Or does the direct sunlight through the lens also damage the sensor?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Don't do it! You'll risk frying the sensor and shutter curtain along with your eyes. Lots of info online. It's too late now, but get a mylar solar filter from Thousandoaksoptical and stretch it over the lens.

Thanks Diane! I was afraid it would. I was mainly planning on making more of a lanscape image with an eclipsed sun in it, e.g. at 30 or 50 mm with an interesting foreground. Would I run the same risk, or is it especially the case with telephoto close ups (where you could burn a hole right through the back of the camera I guess......)?

So far I've got the best protection I could have: a thick cloud cover.....:c3:

Sorry, I misunderstood that you were going to do a telephoto shot of just the sun. With the solar filter everything but the sun will be black.

With a wide angle you should be fine, with some reasonable caution. Of course, the less wide, the more of a problem you'll have. You see many lovely shots with the sun being almost a dot and making a starburst. But with it 85% eclipsed you won't see the bite-out-of-the-cookie detail. You'll just see a bright dot.

I'd establish both focus and exposure with the sun out of the frame and set both to M. The go to live view and frame the shot and shoot quickly and then cover the lens with a thick cloth while you evaluate and changes for another exposure.

Sorry about the clouds -- that is such a common problem when a great sky event occurs!

Thanks Diane for all the info. I've seen quite some nice images where the (partial) eclipse is nicely visible, probably using a strong filter. Most have an FG element as just a black silhoutte. I was contemplating a composite image with a separate exposure for the FG.
Unfortunately, the thick cloud cover remained all during the eclipse. The clouds were so heavy I couldn't even tell where the disc of the sun was. It did get quite dark though at the peak of the eclipse, which was also quite an experience. About an hour later we had clear blue skies.....:Whoa!:. Well, on the bright side, now I've got another 12 years to get my gear and technique in order :bg3:.

That's too bad -- my sympathies! I wonder if the pictures you saw were with some cloud cover, fog, smog or smoke in the sky acting as a natural filter for the sun's brightness. That's a different effect than you can get with a filter on the lens.

You can practice in the meantime using the full sun -- the partially eclipsed sun is the same brightness, just a full circle instead of a crescent. A composite would be fun to play with! And you can "simulate" the look by cutting out part of the sun's disk. You've shown some beautiful landscapes here -- I'd love to see what you come up with.

You can see some images here that show what you get with a solar filter: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/31799...4436&k=t58jVdz

Thanks Diane, those are some amazing images! I'm especially stunned by the images of the nebulas and andromeda galaxy. I wasn't aware that this sort of images can be created with relatively normal equipment. I always thought that you needed a very large telescope or a spacecraft for such images! I can also imagine that such nightsky photography can become quite addicting! I've recently done some aurora photography that got me completely hooked!

I'm not sure what techniques the photographers have used for the images I saw, but I believe they were not taken under very clouded conditions. I do think that many of the images I saw were composite images using separate exposures for the sequence of the eclipse and the FG. Here are some links to examples I have been looking at. I think especially the first one was created using a filter for the sun images and a separate exposure for the FG. That was sort of the approach I was going for.
http://www.users.on.net/~simsg/astro/gsa-se1203.htm
http://www.mreclipse.com/SEphoto/SEg...TSE95.50mm.JPG

Also check out this insanely amazing image from the recent eclipse showing the International Space Station ISS transiting the sun during the eclipse: http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv...load_id=110405
According to the photographer, the time window for this image was 0.6 seconds!

Gorgeous images! Thanks for sharing them!

The first, with the tree: The partial eclipse phases are composited. The middle sun, which is in total eclipse, might have been shot at the same exposure as the landscape. But it does get fairly dim during the total eclipse phase, so hard to know. The corona during a total eclipse isn't that bright -- you can look at it with no eye protection and photograph it with exposures that aren't extreme. So it could have been done as an in-camera composite, where the solar filter used for the partial phases would have recorded completely black on the sensor or film, it was removed for the total phase exposure and the landscape was bright enough to record, and then the filter put back on to shoot the partial phases as the moon's path moved away from the sun.

The second, with the building, is a total eclipse with the corona overexposed to get a nice exposure on the sky.

The third link, for the ISS transit, doesn't go to a picture. Would love to see it!

Partial solar eclipses are not nearly as spectacular as total ones. Lunar eclipses are beautiful but exceedingly dim if "total." Total for a lunar eclipse will show one edge of the moon brighter than the opposite unless it is in the dead center of the earth's shadow, because the earth's shadow is very diffuse at that distance, whereas in a solar eclipse it is the moon itself that moves in front of the sun, so it has sharp edges.

Here's a good reference for eclipses:
http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/

Hi Diane, the link to the ISS image seems to work for me but try this one: http://spaceweathergallery.com/full_...1426865069.jpg
Otherwise, try to Google the photographers name, I bet the Internet is exploding with this amazing image!
I've experienced a total eclipse only once (I think in 1999). We had to drive to the north of France, but it was totally worthwhile, an amazing experience. I wasn't into photography back then, which may have been a good thing, because I would probably have been to preoccupied with photographing the whole thing than actually enjoying the awing experience!

Here's the link to his own website, which has loads of other amazing images: http://www.astrophoto.fr/

Found it! Awesome stuff!!

One of my astro friends has told me how they get all that detail in the sun, and now I don't remember. There are some very specialized solar telescopes. I'll settle for a $20 filter that is basically metal-coated mylar.

I'm very interested in this because we just heard that on August 21 (happy birthday to me!) this summer there will be a double eclipse of the sun and the best place on earth to see it is 20 miles south of my house! So, I've got to study up on camera techniques. Is the mylar solar filter from thousandoaksoptical what you would recommend? I have a Nikon D7000. Current lenses are Tamron 70-300. and Nikon DX 18-135.

That filter has been highly recommended and is inexpensive. I found a shipping tube that fits over my lens hood, cut off a 4" length and taped the filter very securely over the end, stretched back several inches over the cylinder. I used black gaffer's tape but gorilla tape would do, too. It is claimed some slight wrinkling isn't a problem, but don't let even a tiny hole get punched in it. You can also get solar viewing glasses from them -- just cheap cardboard things but the black plastic lenses are the only safe eye protection, contrary to what you might read about welder's glass or exposed film (remember that?).

The term double eclipse means something else will also intervene over the exposed portion of the sun -- I'm curious what it is. That percentage of total will you get? Is there a link to it?

In August 2017 there will be a total eclipse, visible all the way across the country from SC to OR. Totality will be for 4 minutes, I think, in the narrow band of maximum shadow.

Your Tamron 300 should give you an excellent sun size. You can autofocus with the filter in place -- practice with the full sun!! Use Live View if you have it, to get the sun centered in the viewfinder. You can't see the edges of the field looking through the eyepiece, as everything but the sun will be black. I'd go to manual focus one it's set. Your shutter speed will be fairly fast but you'll want to be on a tripod for control. A good exposure should be ISO 400, f/8, 1/500 sec. Maybe a teleconverter would be good.

well, my husband read the article wrong.....it's august 21, 2017! Got plenty of time to practice with the equipment.

And that will be a SPECTACULAR one!! Start researching and practicing now. You can find suggested exposures on the internet for the corona at totality. No filter needed then.

The corona extends out at least 1 solar diameter on all sides so your 300 might be enough. Shoot the moon to check. You'll want to bracket like mad and combine exposures as the inside of the corona is way brighter than the edges.

Thanks. I'll start now so maybe by then I'll have it right:)

Hi Hazel, I found these resources quite helpful for preparing:
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And...r-Eclipse.html
http://www.mreclipse.com/MrEclipse.html#Sun

Very good links Jerry -- thanks! I would add a couple of caveats, though.

The more telephoto you go, the less you should rely on setting focus to the infinity mark on the lens. It's just not precise enough. For the upcoming lunar eclipse, while the moon is still full before the eclipse you should be able to autofocus very well. Tape the focus ring so you won't disturb it, choose one focus sensor and put it on the limb (edge) of the moon, or wherever it seems happy to lock focus. Then switch the lens to manual focus and don't disturb the focus ring.

You can test this with any moon in the coming nights and have a look in the computer to see how successful you were. It sounds simple but practice helps with everything.

For exposure, unless the moon is very large in the frame (as in a 600mm lens with a 1.4X on an APS-C sensor) the histogram will be about useless. Rely on blinkies and bracket around the point of just getting them.

Also -- the eclipsed moon can be VERY dim, but this isn't a "deep" eclipse so it will be brighter. There will be quite a discrepancy in brightness across its disc so I'd bracket exposure quite a bit. And definitely shoot in raw to give you the best leeway in bringing up shadow and highlight detail.

It's off the subject of solar, but I shot the lunar eclipse yesterday -- some details in the post in Landscapes.