Can you take pictures of the sun?

pgriz · Jan 9, 2015

^^^ ???

wfooshee · Jan 9, 2015

That's the same eclipse I was shooting, this past October 23rd. A group of us were on a beach here in the Florida panhandle. We were so excited to see the eclipse start, but as the sun set there were clouds on the horizon, so the fun stuff disappeared behind the clouds just four or five minutes after the image I just posted above.

Like I said, no filters, but I didn't have my eye at the viewfinder, just stole a peek from as far back as I could be and still hold the camera, which was not mounted. Did not want to leave it aimed at the sun and maybe burn up the metering system.

BananaRepublic · Jan 10, 2015

Looking directly at the sun with your naked eye is a bad idea even with sunglasses, unless the sunglasses double as a welding mask, and whatever you do don't zoom in on the sun whilst looking through the viewfinder.

The best Gunfighters always kept there back to the sun for a reason!

TCampbell · Jan 10, 2015

BananaRepublic said:
Looking directly at the sun with your naked eye is a bad idea even with sunglasses, unless the sunglasses double as a welding mask, and whatever you do don't zoom in on the sun whilst looking through the viewfinder.

The best Gunfighters always kept there back to the sun for a reason!

There's a NASA article I wanted to link, but I can't find it. In any case, they had an astronomer who is also an ophthalmologist explaining the safety issues. In the article and video, I think he says that #14 welding glass is "safe" but most others are NOT safe. The spectrum being blocked by many types of welding glass is specific to the types of harmful light emitted by the types of welding. The sun emits nearly as much harmful energy in the IR, which we cannot see. It's critically important that the filter ALSO block the harmful IR energy. Don't use just any welding glass.

We jokingly warn people "Do NOT stare DIRECTLY at the Sun with REMAINING working eyeball!" In other words, unless you absolutely know the filter you are using is safe for solar observing (e.g. it was designed for solar observing or you've done research to make sure it is safe for solar observing) then don't use it!

petrochemist · Jan 11, 2015

dennybeall said:
I've heard people say they used a welders mask to shoot through to take sun pictures. Never tried it myself.

As welding glass is designed to block UV & IR to at least the same extent as the visible it's safe to use, but you should use high factor welding glass if you've got any magnification.
I used shade 13 welding glass to photograph the lunch time sun here in the UK with a 200mm telephoto. Sharpness & contrast wasn't ideal but with a little playing on the computer the sunspots could be made out & match those shown on NASA's SOHO website.

pgriz · Jan 11, 2015

I've been interested in the solar spectrum profile since it impacts some of the work I do. There are many sources accessible on the internet that show the solar spectrum as a distribution of energy by wavelength. One such graphic is File:Solar Spectrum.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In summary, about 53% of the energy of the light from the sun is in the infrared portion of the spectrum, with ultraviolet making up 3% and visible light making up the rest (44%).

We all know how a little optical aid (magnifying glass) can concentrate enough sunlight to cause burns (wood, paper, etc.). The same effect will happen in the eyeball. Fortunately, when the sun is close to the horizon, almost all the UV is filtered out by the atmosphere, which is why we can usually admire the sunset without going blind. Even then, when I shoot the sun, I use the camera's live-view function to avoid any possibility of seeing sunlight concentrated by the optics.

bribrius · Jan 11, 2015

interesting thread. I never actually tried to take photos of JUST the sun before, more of it is in the shot then it is in the shot.

PropilotBW · Jan 11, 2015

I guarantee everybody that owns a camera has taken a sunset photo

BananaRepublic · Jan 13, 2015

pgriz said:
I've been interested in the solar spectrum profile since it impacts some of the work I do. There are many sources accessible on the internet that show the solar spectrum as a distribution of energy by wavelength. One such graphic is File:Solar Spectrum.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In summary, about 53% of the energy of the light from the sun is in the infrared portion of the spectrum, with ultraviolet making up 3% and visible light making up the rest (44%).

We all know how a little optical aid (magnifying glass) can concentrate enough sunlight to cause burns (wood, paper, etc.). The same effect will happen in the eyeball. Fortunately, when the sun is close to the horizon, almost all the UV is filtered out by the atmosphere, which is why we can usually admire the sunset without going blind. Even then, when I shoot the sun, I use the camera's live-view function to avoid any possibility of seeing sunlight concentrated by the optics.

In fact the reason the sky is blue is during the day down to the atmosphere.

another interesting fact: Or eyes capture light, from the sun, moon, light bulbs etc or brains then process the image and we see what we see. Effectively we see objects because light from the Sun/etal, hits objects and or eyes capture that light "reflection", sort off. Anyway light from the Sun takes a certain amount of time to reach earth, say 8 minutes, and in turn light from an object takes a certain time to reach or eyes, fraction of a second, So we are actually seeing things in the past.

Solarflare · Jan 16, 2015

Woa !

I've never seen anyone use "miles" for astronomical distances before.

I'd rather just say the sun is 1 astronomical unit, or about 8.5 lightminutes away.