I’ve chased two total solar eclipses. Weiser, Idaho in 2017. Bloomington, Indiana in 2024. Both times I was on a day rate for AFP, standing in a field full of strangers watching the sky go dark in the middle of the afternoon. My photos from those two eclipses ran on BBC, Yahoo, and Sky at Night Magazine, and Forbes featured my work too. That’s not a brag, it’s context: everything below is what actually worked for me on assignment, not theory I picked up from a forum.
On August 12, 2026, another total solar eclipse crosses the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. Search interest in “how to photograph a total solar eclipse” spikes hard before every one of these events, and for good reason. You get one shot at it, it moves fast, and there’s a real safety rule you cannot break. Here’s how I plan for it, what’s in my bag, and how I handle the two or three minutes that actually matter.
Where to Stand: The Path of Totality
Totality only happens inside a narrow band on the Earth’s surface called the path of totality. One mile outside that path and you get a deep partial eclipse, which still looks like broad daylight. No corona, no darkness, none of it. You have to be inside the path.
For the August 2026 eclipse, that path runs through Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain, with the sun sitting low in the sky by the time it reaches Spain. Low sun angle changes your composition options, so factor that into scouting, not just the date.
Once I know the path, I look at historical cloud cover data for that region and that time of year. Clear sky odds matter more than a scenic backdrop. I’d rather stand in a boring parking lot under a clear sky than a beautiful mountain ridge under clouds. I also build in mobility. If the forecast shifts two days out, I want the option to drive two or three hours to a clearer patch of sky without missing my slot in the path.
Scout your spot in person if you can, or at least on satellite view. Know your foreground, know what’s blocking your horizon, and know where the sun will actually sit in the frame at the moment of totality.
The Gear I Actually Bring
- A telephoto lens. 400mm minimum, 600mm or longer if you can get it, for tight shots of the corona and prominences.
- A sturdy tripod. You’re tracking a moving target for over an hour of partial phases plus the main event. A cheap tripod will drift and cost you frames.
- A certified solar filter that fits the front of your lens, rated ISO 12312-2, for every partial phase shot.
- A second camera. I run one body on the long lens locked on the sun, and a second camera on a separate tripod for wide shots, the landscape, the crowd, or the selfie.
- An intervalometer or remote shutter so I’m not touching the camera and shaking the frame during totality.
- Extra batteries and cards. Cold weather and pure adrenaline both burn through batteries faster than you expect.
The One Rule You Cannot Break
Never point your eyes or your camera at the sun during any partial phase without a proper certified solar filter. Not for a second, not “just to check focus.” A few seconds of unfiltered sun through a lens can damage your eyes or your sensor.
The only time the filter comes off is during totality itself, when the moon fully covers the sun’s disc. The instant totality ends and the first sliver of sun reappears on the other side, the filter goes back on immediately. That’s the whole rule. Get comfortable with it before eclipse day so you’re not thinking about it under pressure.
I’ll admit I broke my own prep rule once. I showed up without my solar filter. I ended up taping together a pair of the free paper eclipse glasses everyone was handing out and holding that over my lens for the partial phases. It worked well enough to get usable frames, but it was not a plan, it was a scramble. Pack a spare filter. Check your bag the night before, not the morning of.
Camera Settings and Bracketing
Shoot manual the entire time. Auto exposure will fight you as the light swings from full daylight to near darkness and back in under an hour.
Partial phases, filter on: Start around ISO 100, f/8 to f/11, and test your shutter speed on the actual sun through your actual filter before eclipse day. Filter density varies, so there’s no universal number. You’re looking for a clean, properly exposed disc with no blown highlights.
Totality, filter off: The corona spans a huge range of brightness from the inner ring to the faint outer streamers, so one exposure will never capture all of it. Bracket hard, from roughly 1/2000 of a second up to a full second at the same ISO and aperture. If your camera has auto exposure bracketing, set it to fire through that whole range automatically. If not, cycle through shutter speeds manually every few seconds.
Diamond ring and Baily’s beads: These happen in the last ten to fifteen seconds before totality and the first few seconds after. Keep your filter on until the crescent thins to almost nothing, then pull it the instant the light drops. Fast shutter speeds work here, similar to your brightest totality bracket, because that remaining sliver of sun is still intense.
The Phases to Shoot
- Partial phases. Filter on. Shoot a few frames every ten or fifteen minutes to build a sequence of the moon creeping across the sun.
- Diamond ring. The last bright bead of sunlight against the corona, right at the edge of totality on both sides.
- Baily’s beads. Tiny points of sunlight breaking through the moon’s uneven terrain, visible for a few seconds right before and after totality.
- Totality and the corona. Filter off. This is your bracketing window, and it’s the whole reason you’re standing there.
- Prominences and solar flares. Underexposing and zooming in tight on the moon’s edge during totality is how I’ve caught solar prominences flickering off the sun’s rim in both 2017 and 2024. They show up as small reddish loops right at the edge of the black disc. Easy to miss if you’re only shooting a balanced exposure of the full corona.
Managing Your Two or Three Minutes
Totality on August 12, 2026 runs a bit over two minutes at best along the centerline, less if you’re near the edges of the path or watching the sun low on the horizon in Spain. Two minutes disappears fast when you’re also trying to breathe and take it in.
Build a shot list before you ever leave home and rehearse it. Know your bracket sequence cold so your hands do it without thinking. I let an intervalometer run a continuous bracket through most of totality so I’m not glued to the camera the entire time. That frees me up to actually look up.
And I always take a selfie during totality, with flashes firing, the corona visible in the dark sky behind me. I’ve done it in Idaho and Indiana both. It’s become a habit, and it doubles as a quick sanity check on my exposure once the adrenaline wears off and I’m looking at the files that night.
After Totality
The moment the diamond ring reappears on the far side, your filter goes back on the lens. No exceptions, no “just one more unfiltered frame.” Keep shooting the partial phases as the moon slides off the sun. Some of my strongest frames from both eclipses were actually the crowd reactions in that first minute after totality ended. People cry, people scream, people just stand there. If you’re covering this for a client or a publication, that’s often the more valuable image than another shot of the sun itself.
I wrote up the full story of what happened on both of my eclipse trips, including the filter mishap, in Chasing Totality. And if you want to see more of what I’ve shot of the sky over the years, my Sun & Moon gallery has the rest of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a special filter to photograph a solar eclipse?
Yes, any time any part of the sun’s disc is visible. That means a certified solar filter rated ISO 12312-2 on your camera lens and solar glasses on your eyes for every partial phase. The only exception is totality itself, when the sun is fully covered.
What camera settings should I use during totality?
Manual mode, filter off, ISO around 100, aperture around f/8 to f/11, and a wide bracket of shutter speeds from roughly 1/2000 of a second up to a full second. The corona’s brightness range is too wide for a single exposure to capture it all.
How long does totality last on August 12, 2026?
Roughly two minutes at the best spots along the centerline of the path through Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. Exact duration depends on how close you are to the centerline and how high the sun sits above the horizon at your location.
What lens is best for eclipse photography?
A telephoto lens, 400mm or longer, with 600mm or more being ideal for tight shots of the corona and prominences. I also run a second camera with a wider lens for the landscape and crowd shots, since the sun alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
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