Gadgetory

for the first time in 99 years on August 21st a total solar eclipse will pass over the United States from coast to coast and it's going to be an amazing sight to see and also an amazing sight to photograph here's how I'm prepping for the celestial event and a few things you need to know about photographing the Sun for starters what is an eclipse and why is it so rare well it's a serendipitous alignment of the earth the Sun and the moon around every 18 months or so the moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun on its orbit and those in the direct path of the moon's shadow called the path of totality will see the Sun completely covered up by the moon here in this path the eclipse will last about three hours from when it starts to become obscured so when it's fully visible again don't worry even if you're not in the path of totality the length of the Eclipse will vary but basically anyone in the continental US is going to see the Sun mostly covered now if you're going to be watching this remember that staring at the Sun is bad for your eyes even during an eclipse if you'll want to get a pair of solar filter glasses these are like your regular sunglasses though these glasses block over 99.99% of the sun's light so all you'll see is either an orange or white disc in the sky NASA and the American Astronomical Society have lists of approved manufacturers that sell standard solar eclipse glasses if you still need a parent now you're going to want to get a picture of this and your phone might not cut it if you're looking to get a jaw-dropping shot you're probably going to manually focus and if you zoom you'll be sacrificing a lot of quality going to risk some blur some noise and you'll notice the Sun is still pretty far away in the frame other than buying specific telephoto lenses for your phone this is likely the best you'll be able to do so if you have a DSLR it's definitely time to break that out we talked to Justin star and amateur astrophotographer about what to expect and how to get a perfect shot we have three key pieces which is our telescope our camera in the solar filter correct just like your eyes need a solar filter so does your camera if I did not have a solar filter on here I could really fry the imaging sensor on my camera justin is using a telescope here but will be using a 70 to 200 millimeter with a two times converter which should get as close enough and you'll need a solar filter to go on top every one now you want to make sure that your solar filter is threaded properly for your lens basically do they match together plus a tripod in order to keep the camera steady and focus on the Sun with all this equipment here's what you need to know in any photograph there are three things you have control over you have your aperture you have your exposure and you have your ISO the aperture is the size of the opening that's letting light in if you are using a telescope chances are that your aperture is fixed so to compare this to a camera lens this would be a 400 millimeter because it's a foreign jamila meter program so this is at f5 I have no control over that it is what it is I have the camera currently set at one 125th of a second exposure so that means that the shutter is going to be open for one 125th of a second very quick because we don't need we don't need that much time we're looking at the Sun even with 99.9 percent of its light being blocked by my solar filter it's still pretty yeah exactly and what is is now again one way you can describe it I think of it like gain on an amplifier because I'm a musician and a guitar player you'll get more volume more signal more brightness if you turn the gain up but you're also going to introduce some noise right ideally you want it to be as low as possible once you have your camera set up and focused on the Sun you'll want to fire off a few test shots to make sure your settings are as you want them to be when the Eclipse reaches totality be an even lunar surface causes beads of light to pop out from behind the moon those are called Baily's beads and their result of the moon not being perfectly round as this is happening you're going to have to adjust your camera settings to make up for the drastic changes in life so you want to be checking your camera and your settings as it goes one sixtieth that's one sixtieth of a second might be good as it's getting really dark khaki um and when you reach total totality you can even take the solar filter off and photograph the connector and ready that's a sense atmosphere that we usually can't see because it's way too bright it looks like delicous threads of light emanating from the solar disk you will not capture the corona with the solar filter on it's not that bright I got to do it you got to do it yeah that's the thing to remember if you are in the path of the total solar eclipse you definitely want to take your glasses off for those two-and-a-half precious minutes of totality it's the only time of the Eclipse you'll be able to see with your own two eyes this is also the only time you can photograph the Sun without your solar filter and get that perfect shot of the corona as the moon starts to reveal the Sun again you'll want to make sure to put your glasses back on as well as your solar filter to get the shots that you need and remember to adjust your settings as necessary as things get brighter you'll want to speed up your shutter and close your aperture or lower your ISO again as for me I've got my camera and my lens I'm using a Canon 5d with a 2 x convertor and a 70 to 200 millimeter lens my solar filter is on the way I'll be heading down to Nashville along with the rest of the world see if I can get an awesome shot let's hope I don't mess it up got more questions about the total solar eclipse check out our explainer links in the description below also we'll be rolling out more covers as we get closer to the Eclipse in the 21st so be sure to visit the verge comm learn more about this blessed she loved it