A Wide-Angle Eclipse Sequence

Close-ups of the Sun's notched disk are easy to take through a filtered telescope, but a wide-angle sequence of images can be spectacular. Each solar disk should be exposed with the filter in place, of course. But you must remove this filter to expose the foreground scene and place the solar images in a deep blue sky. Be sure to underexpose the sky by one or two f/stops so the solar disks will stand out prominently in the final image.

Astrophotographers of one school insist that the camera be left undisturbed on its tripod, with the same lens in place, for each image throughout the event. That way all elements of the scene are scientifically recorded in their proper, relative places; to do anything else would be "cheating." During an eclipse the Sun moves across the sky by its own diameter every 2 minutes or so, so an interval longer than this is needed to keep the images from overlapping (many people like to use a 5-minute interval). The foreground scene can be exposed earlier or later in the day when the uneclipsed Sun is well outside the frame.

Other imaging enthusiasts prefer to leave the compositing until later — a necessity if your film or digital camera can't take multiple exposures. You can then select a foreground to your liking and plan the eclipse sequence for dramatic effect. One idea is to take the solar images through a normal or telephoto lens, arranging them along a shorter arc of sky than they would traverse in real life. The possibilities are endless for amateurs willing to let their imaginations run wild.