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Unless you’ve seen a total solar eclipse in person, nothing you’ve seen or imagined can come close. Even the best photos, the most stunning videos, can’t match the quiet, dazzling anger of the real thing. No cell phone or monitor can capture the endless diamond brilliance of the sun’s corona twinkling around the black moon. I started photographing the total solar eclipse using three of my best camera phones and a Nikon DSLR camera, but decided to enjoy the eclipse in just three minutes of the total solar eclipse. I am grateful.
Before getting into the technical details, I’ll do my best to explain a total solar eclipse for those who have never actually seen it. April 8th was my first total solar eclipse, and until that day I thought it would be my last. I am now confident that I will find another opportunity. I have already witnessed an eclipse occurring in Tunis, Tunisia and Luxor, Egypt in 2027. It could be an amazing journey.
After witnessing a total solar eclipse in person, I knew I couldn’t live without seeing it again. I have never seen such a convincing photo. When I actually saw the eclipse, it was so amazing and beautiful that I felt sad that it passed so quickly.
Here’s what a total solar eclipse actually looks like
I wasn’t shocked when I heard the crowd around me burst into spontaneous applause.
There is a bright flash of light in the split second before the sun goes dark. The world has suddenly become colder, but the landscape is not pitch black. As I watched the eclipse from the shores of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont, the view of Mt. Marcy and the Adirondack Mountains gave me a panoramic sunset, fading light on all sides of the horizon, and a black eclipse in the center. I saw.
The sun’s corona shines dazzlingly with magical wisps. I have never seen light move like that. The contrast between the incredibly dark moon and the incredibly bright corona makes the halo appear bright and distinct, as if the sun were out of her reach, less than seven light minutes away. It looks like
The corona is bright, but not as bright as the face of the sun. My eyes are reaching the limit they can tolerate without feeling pain. It’s a revelation to see something so shockingly intense after an hour of sheltering from the painfully bright sun. It feels like unwrapping a present in the sky. It was a surprise and a joy, and I was not shocked to hear the spontaneous applause erupting from the crowd around me.
I was in awe. At that moment, I forgot everything I had to do. Now I’m thankful I decided to drive to Burlington at the last minute. The clouds were thin and the clouds lasted for more than 3 minutes. A good friend traveled further afield to experience her 30-plus second totality in the Ozarks. Neither of us regret going on the trip.
Ruining the eclipse with too much technology
Let’s get back to technology. My plans were…too many. I brought a telescope, a DSLR camera, three cell phones, and even smart glasses. I don’t know what I was thinking. The solar eclipse lasted 3 minutes. There was barely enough time to focus on one camera, let alone shoot with five cameras. My plans fell apart and I quickly gave up. I got some good shots, so I turned my attention to the sky and just soaked in it.
Seeing the solar eclipse was worth more than the best photo of a solar eclipse I’ve seen.
Here is the equipment I brought to photograph the solar eclipse. I rented a Vaonis Hestia telescope that uses my phone as a finder. I used his iPhone 15 Pro Max to take photos and observed the eclipse through a telescope using the solar filter provided by Vaonis. These photos turned out pretty good, but this isn’t the most powerful telescope. Additionally, a solar eclipse is a very complex scene for lighting, especially for mobile phone cameras.
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There was also a Google Pixel 8 Pro and a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. I had already decided that I wasn’t going to attempt telephoto zoom photography of the eclipse with these phones. 5x range is not enough to capture details. The sensor with the longest lens is also the smallest and lowest quality sensor on your phone. It’s best to take wide-angle photos.
I set up my Galaxy S24 Ultra to capture a time-lapse (Samsung calls it a hyperlapse) video of the entire event. I was quite disappointed with the results. The sun was so high in the sky that even the widest angle lens was unable to capture not only the ongoing eclipse, but also the surrounding landscape. Cameras had a hard time balancing the incredibly bright partial eclipse with the surrounding environment, so it just looks like a clear day until totality occurs. When a solar eclipse occurs, the camera balances the light so that it doesn’t show the changing colors and light of the sunset as I remember it.
I installed a solar filter on my Google Pixel 8 Pro in hopes of seeing more when a partial solar eclipse occurs. No, the filter didn’t cut out as much light as the phone could handle. I could barely see the sun through the filter, let alone take great photos.
At the last minute, I decided to also bring my Nikon D750 camera with a Nikon 80-400mm lens. I don’t have a solar filter for that giant lens, so I only planned to photograph the total solar eclipse when it was safe to look at the sun without glasses. I got some pretty good shots, but I was too busy juggling too many chores. I should have lowered the exposure level or used manual mode and set the shutter speed back. The photos were blurry and blown out, so they weren’t very good.
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I ended up getting some good telescope photos from my iPhone. They were better than the photos my friend took on her phone and impressed the people I shared them with. By my own perfectionist standards, I was disappointed in my photos, but not at all disappointed in the actual experience.
In fact, I decided to sacrifice photos at the last minute to enjoy the eclipse, so I’m glad I didn’t have to try too hard to get great photos. It was amazing. It was the biggest natural phenomenon I’ve ever seen. For the next solar eclipse, I’ll bring just one camera and one simple plan. I don’t care if I fail. The best photos I’ve taken will pale in comparison to the real thing in its entirety.
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