The best ways to photograph the eclipse with your phone or DSLR camera
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Whether you are trying to capture the memory with the camera on your phone, or you have a fancy DSLR camera, there are a few things to consider before taking that shot.
Camera phone
It is NOT safe to take a photo of the partial eclipse with your phone without a filter. There are filters made for your smartphone, some even come with an app specifically designed to help you take a better photo of the eclipse. Be careful when looking up to take the picture, your eyes can be damaged by looking up at the sun.
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A tripod can be very useful during an eclipse. keeping the camera still and reducing the chance of blur in your images. You may want to change the settings on the camera to increase a delay between when you press the button to take the pictures to when the photo is taken (delayed shutter release) so that you do not move the camera and cause blur.
If you are traveling to the path of totality, you can try to take a photo without the filter ONLY during totality. You’ll want to disable the flash before the big moment, and this outline suggests skipping zooming in, because the quality suffers so much during a digital zoom. Some models do well photographing totality in “Portrait Mode.”
The same outline suggests that you may need to lock the focus of your shot to get a great photo, on iPhone you achieve that by pointing and holding to the area you want in focus for a few seconds, then, “with plunging light levels just before totality, exactly when and how you do that is key. Once just a slither of the sun is visible in your eclipse glasses and it begins to get suitably dark around you, focus your camera on something in the middle distance — perhaps a tree, building or the bridge on a cruise ship. You can then move the brightness shutter up and down to control the shutter speed — you’ll probably want to take it down a notch.”
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Burst mode might be your friend, possibly helping you capture Bailey’s Beads or the Diamond Ring effect. Another setting that might be helpful to you, check to see if your phone has the ability to shoot in RAW mode, which is an unprocessed version of the image and sometimes a much higher quality. There are third party apps that allow you to shoot in RAW mode. Post process editing of RAW images is where low light situations really benefit.
DSLR Cameras
You will also need special filters to safely photograph the eclipse with a DSLR. A zoom lens was used in most of the great photos you see of the eclipse. A tripod, higher aperture, and lower shutter speed would also be a great place to start dialing in the perfect shot of the eclipse.
Have FUN in the foreground
There are some serious pros out there, really having fun with photographing eclipses. Surfers may be familiar with Brazilian surfer Italo Ferreira, who worked with photographer Marcelo Maragni to capture a once in a lifetime shot of him in front of an annular eclipse that he now displays on the back of his surfboard. You can see the photo better on universemagazine.com.
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