Hundreds of thousands of people will want to view this once-in-a-lifetime experience (it won't be visible in Ohio again till 2099). You probably know not to look at the sun without special eye protection and precautions. Find out more information on eclipse safety precautions.
Many will want to take a picture of the event either with a smartphone or a camera and may have not considered the potential danger in that. We spoke with Sara Lowthian-Hanna, Lead Photographer at NASA Glenn, for some Eclipse camera advice.
Sara Lowthian-Hanna
In this short video, Sara shares some tips. The most important piece of advice is to make sure both your eyes and your camera are protected. You need a solar filter for your camera (including the camera on your smartphone) so as not to burn the sensors. Sara warns not to look through the eyepiece of the camera without protection. Instead use a solar filter or glasses over the lens and look through the LCD viewer at the back of the camera, not the eyepiece.
Sara also suggests practicing in advance of the eclipse which has a totality of only about 3 minutes.
Watch the video.
Here are Sara's recommendations for Eclipse Shooting Practice.
What you should test to start
Can you easily remove and replace your solar filter?
How many frames per second (fps) can your camera shoot on Burst mode?
How does the Auto Bracketing function of your camera work?
Is your complete setup (body + lens + tripod) solid when aimed up high?
Practice operating the camera and adjusting your settings on Manual.
How long do your batteries last?
What you should test shooting at the Sun (during the partial phases the Sun will have the same brightness)
Practice finding the Sun with the solar filter on.
Practice focusing on the Sun's edge in bright daylight.
Figure out the best exposure settings with your solar filter on.
Check possible framings on a date and time in which the Sun will be at the same elevation as during the eclipse.
What you should test shooting in twilight (during totality the sky will be as dark as twilight)
Figure out the best exposure settings (no solar filter here!)
How do your photos come up in case you have to increase ISO?
What you should test shooting in Full Moon (it has the same brightness as the inner corona).
Practice focusing on the Moon's edge.
Figure out the best exposure settings.
Check how fast the Moon moves across your frame.
What you should test shooting at the Waxing and/or Waning Crescent Moon (it has a similar brightness to the corona).
Figure out the best exposure settings.
Practice taking pictures while rapidly adjusting the exposure settings.
Are your images sharp focused? No vibrations?
Obvious Sara is a very knowledgable professional photographer. She earned a Master of Fine Arts Photography degree from Indiana University.
Personal note - I feel sheepish about talking to an expert photographer while shooting into the bright sun behind her so the video is a little washed out but the information is great.
