Photographer gives tips to capture solar eclipse
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) - The total solar eclipse of 2024 is just days away, and the eclipse won't last long -- only about three or four minutes in the path of totality. So, if you want to document the experience, a photo or video might help. "It's really an amazing experience and it's a very, [...]
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) - The total solar eclipse of 2024 is just days away, and the eclipse won't last long -- only about three or four minutes in the path of totality.
So, if you want to document the experience, a photo or video might help.
"It's really an amazing experience and it's a very, very powerfully moving one," said experienced photographer and educator Jeff Sagar at Midwest Photo in Columbus.
Sagar held a solar eclipse photography class at Midwest Photo on Saturday afternoon. He teaches a variety of photo-taking skills but preaches safety the most.
"Not only do you want to protect your gear, but you want to protect your eyes, too. So that's a thing that I stress the most," he said.
To protect your eyes, solar filter eyewear is required. To protect your camera, a solar filter does the job.
"It protects the camera lens and the sensor within the camera and being blown up because if you remember, if you were a kid and, you know, using a magnifying glass like paper on fire or something like that, I mean, when you bring it to a fine focus, that's what it does to the camera sensor. So, it wouldn't ruin it really quickly," Sagar said.
Sagar recommends having your equipment ready to go on the day of the eclipse so you can enjoy it, since it won't last long.
"The birds stop singing and nature gets really quiet and so, therefore, you get quiet. You can see the shadow literally coming at you, you know, all of a sudden, it's eclipsed and you look up there and it's dark now. But the corona, which is the sun's outer atmosphere is shining, it's shimmering. And it's really an amazing experience to see. There are bright planets and stars out. You can actually see some of the brighter ones during the eclipse," he said.
Jeffrey Millhouse is a sales associate at Midwest Photo. He recommends finding the right size filter well before the day of the eclipse, so you have time to practice.
"Look for the size, the filter sizes on the lens so you can match that up with your solar filter," he said. "And if you don't match exactly, you can always get the step-up rings and the step of rings will allow you to put a larger filter onto your lens."
During totality, however, you can take the filter off.
"During the period of totality, when the sun is mostly covered by the moon, you can take it off just for that time; but then through that, so it starts to come up from behind the moon. You definitely want to put that right back on," Millhouse said.
If you're a few seconds early or a few seconds late, the sun can damage your lens.
"No amount of time is safe," Millhouse said. "So you don't really want to aim a lens directly at the sun, especially a telephoto lens for any amount of time directly at the sun, because that could cause damage."
If you don't have a camera, you can use your phone.
"If you're shooting with a wide lens like your cell phone, it's not going to damage it," Millhouse said.
The wide lens of a phone camera won't be damaged by the sun during an eclipse, but the image quality may not be great. Millhouse recommends using a filter like your eyewear or a solar filter made specifically for a phone to get a better image.
Whether you use a phone or a camera, Millhouse said, "Get a good tripod, sturdy tripod, and then that way you can have a stable shot."
One of the biggest keys Sagar and Millhouse recommend before April 8 is practice. They said to set your camera up on a tripod, figure out your settings, and go through several trial runs days before the eclipse to make sure you get the shot on April 8.