Public Service Announcement: This post is about me taking pictures of the Sun. For the love of God, DO NOT stare at the Sun, you WILL damage your eyes... DO NOT take pictures of the Sun without taking proper precautions or you WILL break your camera. You have been warned...
A few days ago I spoke about my Journey as a Photographer. When I delved back into the ever increasing archives for some sample images, I stumbled across one of the pictures I am most proud of. Not just because it is an awesome picture (because it totally is awesome) but because I consider it the first time I thought of myself as a 'Photographer' and not just a bloke with a camera.
What do I mean by that?
If you ask people what makes a photographer, some will say a person who owns an expensive DSLR camera. Others will disagree, and say that a Photographer has to be professional i.e a person who does it as a career and makes money out of it. I disagree with both views. I feel that it comes down to how someone approaches the image. Do they just press a button and move on, like a holiday snap? Or do they spend time with the subject, exploring different ideas and different angles to create a more interesting image? Do they plan ahead and choose the time when the sun is setting, because they know the light will be golden and beautiful and create a much more interesting image?
Its with this kind of planning in mind, that I created some of my favourite images. The first one is shown above and shows a sequence of the Solar Eclipse seen in the UK in 2015. Read on for the background to how I created this set of images...
It all started with an idea way back in January 2015. While wandering aimlessly around the internet I looking for pictures of space (pictures of Galaxies and Nebula and other cool stuff), I stumbled across images of Solar Eclipses. I was suitably impressed, and searched for more Information. As I looked deeper I found out that there was actually an Eclipse due to occur in a few months time (March 2015), and that here in the UK we would have a chance to see almost a Full Eclipse!
I decided in that moment: I was going to take a picture of this awesome astronomical event
So I threw myself into research. At this point I had already started taking pictures of the moon, and I know that my current Bridge Camera (Canon Powershot SX50 HS) already had the zoom to get close to it. I also knew I needed a tripod, and therefore I also required a Cable Release to minimise any shaking. The entire sequence will last for over 2 hours, so I purchased a spare battery to change halfway through.
The biggest issue was of course, the Sun is really really, REALLY bright! We all know we shouldn't look directly at the sun, and if I pointed the camera at the sun unprotected, there was a real risk of destroying the sensor (basically killing the camera). Other people had managed to capture images, so I did some more research an it turns out that all I needed was a really strong ND filter. These are small round bits of glass which attach to the front of the lens, and are designed to reduce the amount of light picked up by the camera sensor. I found a cheap 2nd hand Hoya 400 ND (10-stop) Filter on Ebay for 15 quid...
Hey! just because I am researching and planning, doesn't mean I'm going to waste my money!
...when it arrived I put it on the camera, checked my settings and pointed it at the sun. I looked at the LCD screen (not through the viewfinder for obvious reasons) and took a shot. The result was this slightly sickly looking yellow orb.
Success! this was an image of the sun. It isn't perfectly sharp so I needed to adjust some settings, and I needed to tweak the white balance to turn the sickly yellow into a more orange colour. But the research had paid off and I was now ready.
Look out for Part 2 cmming soon!
