TCampbell
Been spending a lot of time on here!
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- Mar 31, 2012
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The expert on Eclipse photography is Fred Espenak (a.k.a. "Mr. Eclipse"), a retired NASA physicist who still does their eclipse prediction calculations even today (the path of totality that you see on various maps when you search for info on it was calculated by Fred Espenak.)
I happened to see him speak last fall. He generally recommends that if this is you first solar eclipse that you NOT try to take photos.
The experience of totality is too impressive to miss. A partial eclipse does very little except take a chunk out of the sun (although any light shining through a pinhole will project the image of the sun rather than a circular spot - so watch the shadows on the ground (e.g. as light shines through a tree and you see small dapples of light on the ground... those will start to go crescent shaped as the moon eclipses the sun.)
If you are in the path of totality, within about 2 minutes of totality (still a crescent sun visible) things start to get interesting... the light has been going eerily dim, the air temperature drops, if you watch the ground you may see "shadow bands" (ripples caused by diffraction rings of sunlight bending around the moon) and these start to form about 2 minutes before totality. Within about 30 seconds of totality it is finally safe to remove solar filters and observe directly... and you'll see the "Bailey's Beads" effect and ultimately the "Diamond Ring" effect.
If you're on high ground (a high hill that lets you observe the surrounding landscape for miles) you'll see the moon's shadow racing across the face of the Earth (it's moving at about 1500 mph).
Suddenly you can see the solar corona (about 3x the width of the sun) and you'll also notice a 360º sunset effect of reddened skies near the horizon. The brighter stars in the sky will also be visible.
It's a pretty impressive event... but if you are heads down working out how to photograph it (especially having never done it before) you'll likely miss most of the fun.
Oh... and the event is only just over 2 minutes long (it depends on how close you are to the precise middle of the center-line on the path of totality - the path of totality is roughly 60 miles wide (30 miles to either side of the precise center line.) So you don't have much time to get things working.
If you REALLY want to get pictures... you're going to need a computer and some software.
If you own a Windows PC, get a program called "Eclipse Orchestrator". If you have a Mac, get a program named "Solar Eclipse Maestro". Both are recommended by Fred Espenak.
The software builds a "script" that can control multiple cameras shooting the eclipse throughout the event -- all automatically. The script uses a fairly simple language and they do explain how you can modify the script to suit your needs. The main key to the software is that it uses your precise GPS location (including not just latitude and longitude, but also the altitude) to determine the precise (and I do mean "precise" - it's down to the fraction of a second) time for each of the "contacts". There are four "contacts" in any eclipse or transit event. For a solar eclipse, "1st contact" (often abbreviated as "C1") is the moment when the edge of the moon first touches the edge of the sun. This is basically the moment when the eclipse officially begins. The second contact (aka "C2") is the moment when the moon finally finishes covering the entire face of the sun and totality begins (for a total eclipse. If it's an annular eclipse (this next event is not an annular eclipse) then C2 is the time when the silhouette of the moon is finally fully within the disk of the sun.) C3 is the time when totality ends and the moon starts to reveal the sun again. C4 is the end of the eclipse when the sun is not obscured by the moon at all.
The "script" commands are all based on times relative to the contacts. This way you can have a script that works even if you have to change locations (as long as you have a GPS with accurate coordinates to feed the software).
So for example, to shoot the "diamond ring" effect, you'd need to have the camera take an exposure 9 seconds prior to C2. For Baily's Beads you need to get the exposure precisely 1.5 seconds before C2 (see what I mean about precise?) You'd probably never be able to achieve this by shooting manually.
Also, during totality, the software takes a series of exposures bracketing the exposure time (via shutter speed) by 12 full stops!!! (if you don't have that much range, the outer areas wont show up when the inner areas are properly exposed and when the outer areas are properly exposed, the inner corona will be blown out.
The Mac program is modeled after the PC program and so both programs basically use the same scripting languages. While the user interface looks a bit different (the PC version is a bit more basic) the overall features that both programs offer are nearly identical. The Mac program will yell warnings to you (it plays .wav files) to warn you as the contact is approaching ... 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, and at the 20 second mark it will yell "filters off! filters off! filters off!" to remind you to pull the solar filters off your cameras. At 20 seconds after totality ends it will also yell "filters on! filters on! filters on!".
The programs also have simulation/practice mode so you can connect everything and simulate the run to get some practice in before the day of the eclipse.
You WILL need proper solar filters for both your camera lenses and for yourself. I buy mine from ThousandOaksOptical.com (I've been using them for years.) The filters will render the sun with a yellow/orange color cast. Baader film will render the sun in a blue/white color cast.
If you're serious about wanting to photograph totality (having been warned that you may ruin the event for yourself) then I highly recommend you pick up the book "Lessons from the Masters" edited by Robert Gendler and read the chapter on imaging and processing the Solar Corona written by Fred Espenak.
BTW, the author of Solar Eclipse Maestro refers to the 5 minute mark as being a kind of go/no-go time. If the software and camera are working perfectly at that time then let it continue and the only thing you have to do is pull the filters off and put the filters back on when you hear the computer yell at you. If it is NOT working perfectly at the 5 minute time... that's it... your done. It's "no go". Do not attempt to fix the problem. Just sit back and enjoy the live experience.
Hopefully we have good weather.
I happened to see him speak last fall. He generally recommends that if this is you first solar eclipse that you NOT try to take photos.
The experience of totality is too impressive to miss. A partial eclipse does very little except take a chunk out of the sun (although any light shining through a pinhole will project the image of the sun rather than a circular spot - so watch the shadows on the ground (e.g. as light shines through a tree and you see small dapples of light on the ground... those will start to go crescent shaped as the moon eclipses the sun.)
If you are in the path of totality, within about 2 minutes of totality (still a crescent sun visible) things start to get interesting... the light has been going eerily dim, the air temperature drops, if you watch the ground you may see "shadow bands" (ripples caused by diffraction rings of sunlight bending around the moon) and these start to form about 2 minutes before totality. Within about 30 seconds of totality it is finally safe to remove solar filters and observe directly... and you'll see the "Bailey's Beads" effect and ultimately the "Diamond Ring" effect.
If you're on high ground (a high hill that lets you observe the surrounding landscape for miles) you'll see the moon's shadow racing across the face of the Earth (it's moving at about 1500 mph).
Suddenly you can see the solar corona (about 3x the width of the sun) and you'll also notice a 360º sunset effect of reddened skies near the horizon. The brighter stars in the sky will also be visible.
It's a pretty impressive event... but if you are heads down working out how to photograph it (especially having never done it before) you'll likely miss most of the fun.
Oh... and the event is only just over 2 minutes long (it depends on how close you are to the precise middle of the center-line on the path of totality - the path of totality is roughly 60 miles wide (30 miles to either side of the precise center line.) So you don't have much time to get things working.
If you REALLY want to get pictures... you're going to need a computer and some software.
If you own a Windows PC, get a program called "Eclipse Orchestrator". If you have a Mac, get a program named "Solar Eclipse Maestro". Both are recommended by Fred Espenak.
The software builds a "script" that can control multiple cameras shooting the eclipse throughout the event -- all automatically. The script uses a fairly simple language and they do explain how you can modify the script to suit your needs. The main key to the software is that it uses your precise GPS location (including not just latitude and longitude, but also the altitude) to determine the precise (and I do mean "precise" - it's down to the fraction of a second) time for each of the "contacts". There are four "contacts" in any eclipse or transit event. For a solar eclipse, "1st contact" (often abbreviated as "C1") is the moment when the edge of the moon first touches the edge of the sun. This is basically the moment when the eclipse officially begins. The second contact (aka "C2") is the moment when the moon finally finishes covering the entire face of the sun and totality begins (for a total eclipse. If it's an annular eclipse (this next event is not an annular eclipse) then C2 is the time when the silhouette of the moon is finally fully within the disk of the sun.) C3 is the time when totality ends and the moon starts to reveal the sun again. C4 is the end of the eclipse when the sun is not obscured by the moon at all.
The "script" commands are all based on times relative to the contacts. This way you can have a script that works even if you have to change locations (as long as you have a GPS with accurate coordinates to feed the software).
So for example, to shoot the "diamond ring" effect, you'd need to have the camera take an exposure 9 seconds prior to C2. For Baily's Beads you need to get the exposure precisely 1.5 seconds before C2 (see what I mean about precise?) You'd probably never be able to achieve this by shooting manually.
Also, during totality, the software takes a series of exposures bracketing the exposure time (via shutter speed) by 12 full stops!!! (if you don't have that much range, the outer areas wont show up when the inner areas are properly exposed and when the outer areas are properly exposed, the inner corona will be blown out.
The Mac program is modeled after the PC program and so both programs basically use the same scripting languages. While the user interface looks a bit different (the PC version is a bit more basic) the overall features that both programs offer are nearly identical. The Mac program will yell warnings to you (it plays .wav files) to warn you as the contact is approaching ... 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, and at the 20 second mark it will yell "filters off! filters off! filters off!" to remind you to pull the solar filters off your cameras. At 20 seconds after totality ends it will also yell "filters on! filters on! filters on!".
The programs also have simulation/practice mode so you can connect everything and simulate the run to get some practice in before the day of the eclipse.
You WILL need proper solar filters for both your camera lenses and for yourself. I buy mine from ThousandOaksOptical.com (I've been using them for years.) The filters will render the sun with a yellow/orange color cast. Baader film will render the sun in a blue/white color cast.
If you're serious about wanting to photograph totality (having been warned that you may ruin the event for yourself) then I highly recommend you pick up the book "Lessons from the Masters" edited by Robert Gendler and read the chapter on imaging and processing the Solar Corona written by Fred Espenak.
BTW, the author of Solar Eclipse Maestro refers to the 5 minute mark as being a kind of go/no-go time. If the software and camera are working perfectly at that time then let it continue and the only thing you have to do is pull the filters off and put the filters back on when you hear the computer yell at you. If it is NOT working perfectly at the 5 minute time... that's it... your done. It's "no go". Do not attempt to fix the problem. Just sit back and enjoy the live experience.
Hopefully we have good weather.
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