How to take photos of the April 8 solar eclipse with your Android smartphone

A total solar eclipse will be over North America on Monday, April 8th, and it’s more than worthy of a great photo or two. This guide explains the basics you need to know about shooting with an Android smartphone to capture the best-looking images in 2024.

Modern Android smartphones are undoubtedly some of the best devices for capturing images. Our go-to photography smartphone, Pixel 8 Pro has the best post-processing features and superior hardware to capture stunning images that rival professional mirrorless and DLSR cameras.

Simply put, an Android smartphone may be the only camera you need to capture good images during the 2024 solar eclipse.

How to photograph a solar eclipse

Before you start taking photos on April 8th, it’s a good idea to mentally prepare for things like the eclipse. Basically, you need to be prepared to tweak settings as light conditions change.

If you are on the path of totality, when a solar eclipse occurs, the light will gradually fade until the moon is directly in front of the sun. When that happens, the surroundings become completely dark and a bright ring outlines the moon. Remember, don’t look at that ring because it is the sun and looking at it can damage your eyes.

Gear that is useful to have

To get the most out of your eclipse photos, you may need some equipment. None of these devices are required. The only equipment you actually need is a phone. However, some items are fine.

The main items we propose are: solar film. This is a glorified name for a film that only allows a certain amount of light to pass through at very bright levels. Similar to those used in welding for eye protection, but much less durable. Some companies make small film packs that are made specifically to cover camera lenses, but in reality, even if they are the kind of solar film that is advertised as being safe for the sun, Badre is fine. If you wish, you can also place the eclipse glasses over the lens to take photos.

If you want to make the task easier yourself, you may want to bring a tripod. We love Peak Design’s Travel Tripod and Mobile Creator Kit to pair with the company’s Pixel and Galaxy cases. The Creator Mount fits snugly into place on your tripod, making it easy to attach your Android smartphone. If you’re looking to lighten your load and keep the equipment you need to a minimum, the Peak Design has a very minimal setup.

Of course, that tripod might be a bit overkill for one or two quick shots. For one-time use, a small portable tripod can free up your hands to hold the solar film and change settings.

In either case, there are several reasons why having a tripod is useful. First, it frees up your hands as mentioned above. I need some help as I have solar film and am trying to change the camera settings on my phone. Second, depending on your eclipse photo, you may need to use a slower shutter speed. That is, it must be completely still. Using a tripod means you shouldn’t move your phone when taking slow shutter speed images.

use a telephoto lens

One thing that is certain when photographing a solar eclipse is that you cannot photograph it with your main lens. In reality, the lenses you use most of the time are wide-angle units. This means that everything you use will be wider than it actually is. To photograph the moon and sun in combination, you need the following: Please switch to telephoto lens If you have it. This is usually done by tapping the highest number listed in the viewfinder.

Don’t be tempted to use the highest zoom possible. Both the Pixel series and Galaxy series utilize high zoom rates, but their high zoom rates aren’t the best visually. The idea is to get as close as possible without losing image quality. The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 100x zoom makes this very easy. If quality is important to you, don’t use 100x zoom.

At most, 20-30x magnification is sufficient to photograph a solar eclipse. Still, that’s the highest level for me. The Pixel 8 Pro is much more forgiving than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, even at 30x zoom, thanks to its AI-assisted post-processing capabilities.

Use manual mode

Given the nature of solar eclipses, there is no guarantee that your phone’s settings will automatically change to capture perfect photos of the event. If you’re used to it, we recommend switching your phone’s camera to manual mode. Here’s how:

For Pixel smartphones

1. Open. camera app.
2. Tap. Adjustment icon It’s in the bottom right corner.

For galaxy phone

1. Open. camera app.
2. switch to more select mode Professional.

You should see an array of new settings on both devices. The basics are:

• ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor. A higher ISO means your phone can capture more light.
• Shutter speed is the speed at which the image is taken. Lower shutter speeds let in more light, but require the phone to be completely still.

There’s one main reason you don’t have to be a professional photographer to use some of these settings. Android smartphones almost always give you a real-time preview of what the image will look like when you change settings. There’s very little guesswork involved, and if you follow the basics you’ll get great images.

We recommend practicing this routine during the day outside of a solar eclipse. Once you have your solar film, try placing it over your camera lens and setting it toward the sun. The abundance of light means you need a high shutter and low ISO.

Although it may be easy to assume that there is no light in a solar eclipse, the ring around the moon is actually still very bright. Because it’s the sun. It is best to set the shutter speed to around ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/500 or higher. Maybe even 1/4000 will work.

The goal is to be comfortable playing with these two settings and have maximum control over your shots.

If you are not familiar with manual mode, press to switch to automatic mode. reset all Press the manual slider and swipe down to close the menu. From there it reverts to automatic mode.

Even if solar eclipses only happen infrequently where you live, there’s no need to worry about getting the perfect photo. Enjoy this moment, take the best photos and share them with others.