How to Take Photos During Today’s Solar Eclipse Using Your Smartphone
Today, everyone wants to take the perfect eclipse photo, but not everyone has thousands of dollars worth of professional photographic equipment. It turns out you can take some decent shots with your smartphone.
Be safe
As we mentioned, make sure you are not looking directly at the eclipse. You must have suitable eclipse goggles and avoid fakes . Wear them all the time while taking pictures and watching the eclipse. If you don’t have them – or a special box with holes – don’t look at it.
Use a sun filter and lenses, if you have them
Apple assumes that your iPhone can shoot eclipse directly without any special equipment . He could even handle shooting the sun right now. The same goes for GoPros and some other smartphone cameras. Why? Everything you shoot will be wide-angle, which means the field of view is quite large and the amount of light coming from the eclipse won’t damage the camera’s sensor.
That said, NASA cautions against using any camera without some kind of sun filter , especially if you’re going to be using some sort of telephoto lens on your phone. So if you have filters and lenses, use them. However, if you’re worried about damaging your smartphone’s camera sensor, just wait until the sun is completely behind the moon. Then you don’t need a filter for any camera.
Turn off the flash
The flash can help when shooting in dark places, but not during eclipses. Explora’s Todd Forenkamp recommends turning off the flash. First, it is useless when the sun is not shining and your flash will not illuminate the dark side of the moon in any way. In addition, your flash will annoy others and possibly ruin their pictures.
Don’t count on autofocus
Before heading out to shoot an eclipse, make sure you are not using autofocus on your smartphone’s camera. During an eclipse, low light confuses the camera and produces blurry out-of-focus shots. To do this, simply touch the screen and hold your finger on the moon to lock the focus on it.
Adjust the exposure
To prevent your images from looking overexposed and washed out, you need to adjust the exposure or limit the amount of light that can enter your smartphone’s camera. On iOS, after touching the moon and locking focus, slide it down to darken the exposure (you should see a small sun). On Android, the process is similar, but you can also adjust the “exposure value” manually in the camera app.
Use a tripod
During an eclipse, it will be dark and you will be letting as little light as possible onto your smartphone’s camera sensor, so the slightest movement or push can turn your picture into a blurry mess. The tripod will keep him from moving too much.
If you don’t have a tripod or can’t get one on time, you can try building one yourself with whatever materials you have on hand. Anything that holds your phone at a right angle will do. Hell, I once used my hat to capture a long time-lapse of a sunset.
Record slow motion or video, capture other subjects and enjoy eclipse
Okay, let’s face it. You are not going to capture a stunning eclipse photo with your smartphone. Good things will come from professionals using really expensive gear. However, what you can do is something more personal to you. A video of you and your friends or colleagues watching an eclipse can be a great memory. Or better yet, set your phone to record a time-lapse while you enjoy the eclipse.
You can also find other things to photograph during an eclipse . Look for interesting shadows on the ground , capture a picture of someone doing something interesting with an eclipse in the background, take a picture of the confusion of your pets, or consider taking some quick memorable snapshots and just enjoy watching the eclipse with you. (protected) eyes. Be present and appreciate it all. In the end, there will be many great photos of the event.