Practice and Luck

Who would have thought that it would be so tricky?

I mean, I've taken photos of the sun before—but then, I really haven't. I mean, the sun has appeared in many of my photos throughout the decades, from sunrise to sunset, and there has never been any real risk.

I've taken pictures of subjects where the sun has appeared in the background: a small, bright dot in the sky like a drop of paint that's hit the floor of a room I'm painting. There's no definition, no detail.

This one has two suns!

For sunrise and sunset shots, the sun is pretty much the star attraction (no pun intended) but because it's low in the sky, somewhat more diffused by our atmosphere, there hasn't seemed to be the danger to either my eye, looking through the viewfinder, nor to the camera's sensor.

Zooming up on the sun, high in the sky, though, is a whole other matter.

In anticipation of the upcoming total solar eclipse, on April 8, I want to make sure that my equipment and my eyes are protected, so I've purchased a couple of ND 100000 solar filters. I need one for each of the lenses I plan to use on the big day.

Through these filters, the sun is the only thing you can see. Everything else is in total darkness.

I intend to use two cameras to capture this rare phenomenon: my Nikon D750 will have my 24–70mm lens, set to wide; my Nikon D7200 will house my 70–300mm lens, which will be zoomed out all the way. Because the D7200 has a cropped sensor, the effective focal length is 450mm.

Not powerful enough to fill the frame but allows for cropping. I've considered investing in a teleconverter, perhaps a 1.4x magnification, but I'm sitting on the fence, not sure I want to invest in something I may not use often afterwards.

And time's running out. The longer I hesitate, the less likely I'll be able to get my hands on one before April 8.

I'm also looking for a place to capture the total eclipse. Ottawa is not in the zone of totality, so I've determined that I have to drive south, toward the St. Lawrence Seaway. This weekend, DW and I drove to Spencerville and Prescott, and I'm leaning toward the latter.

For my wide-angle shot, I want something picturesque in the foreground, and I intend to make a composite shot with a trail of the sun through its various phases of the eclipse. I think I've found my spot.

For now, I'm keeping it to myself.

I've never taken these kinds of pictures before so I'm reading up on photographing the eclipse, watching videos that provide helpful tips. I've learned that except for the totality phase, the solar filter stays on the lens and the exposure settings more or less remain the same. Only during the total blackout of the sun can I remove the filter.

In Spencerville and Prescott, that totality is less than two minutes. I have less than two minutes to get the exposure right on two cameras.

No pressure.

In the final weeks leading up to the big day, I'm practicing photographing the sun. We haven't had many days of clears skies, so far, and I haven't always been available to snap several shots when the sky has been clear, so the pressure is on to make sure I know the best exposure settings.

I've read somewhere (but of course, can't find the source now that I want to confirm it) that the next total solar eclipse won't happen in this part of the world for 20 years. I doubt I'll be around to see it and I have no idea what kind of technology will be available to get the best shot. But I'm fairly confident that this will be my only chance to get it right.

And so, I practice.

I see sunspots. I added colour to the sun in post processing.

Of course, if the weather doesn't cooperate and we can't see the sun, it's all for naught.

Fingers crossed.