Don't Miss the Eclipse Shot!
How to photograph a solar eclipse with Chris Juhn

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In this episode of Get the Picture, host Brad Sigal talks with Chris Juhn about how to (safely!) get great photos of the solar eclipse that will be visible in many parts of the world on August 12, 2026. Find out what equipment and settings you need, how to find the best location, and ideas for photo compositions so you can get amazing photos of the solar eclipse! Chris speaks from his experience photographing two solar eclipses. 

See Chris’s work https://www.facebook.com/chris.juhn 

My previous episode with Chris Juhn on how to get great photos of the Northern Lights https://youtu.be/9bhMk7Rl-_8  

To avoid damage to your camera’s sensor or lens, you need an ISO 12312-2 Certified solar filter at all times during the eclipse except during the couple minutes of totality. If you’re seeing the eclipse where totality will not be visible, you need to keep the solar filter on your camera and eclipse glasses on the whole time of the eclipse. It’s likely those filters will get bought up quickly so you should try to buy yours soon if you don’t have one!

Some recommendations for camera settings for shooting the solar eclipse:

• Use the longest lens you can get (highest mm possible)
• Shutter speed as fast as you need to avoid camera shake (so if you have a 600mm lens, your shutter speed should be at least 1/640)
• Aperture as narrow as you can get it (the highest number possible on your lens)
• ISO as low as you can get it for the period before totality, but then be ready to crank up your ISO when totality hits because it will suddenly be a lot darker. Know how high you can set your ISO on your camera without noise making the photo unusable. On most modern cameras with denoising in post, you should be able to safely shoot at 6400 or maybe even 12,800 ISO.
• You should be able to use autofocus, especially once totality hits

See some of Chris’s photos for MPR News in 2017 of the solar eclipse and the people gathered to watch it https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/08/21/photos-its-an-eclipse 

PhotoPills app to see where the sun will be in the sky during the eclipse so you can plan where you want to be to get the picture you want https://www.photopills.com/ 

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Music: Fresh Flow Fiesta by Oleksii Holubiev: https://pixabay.com/music/beats-fresh-flow-fiesta-160920/