protections and tricks that you have to know

Astronomical phenomena have been accompanying us from the dawn of the times. Literally. Solar eclipses, for example, have been transcendental elements for many cultures and even today, although we already know that they have no link with other facts, they continue to awaken admiration. AND On Saturday, March 29, we will see one in Spain.

It is a sun eclipse, more spectacular than those of Luna, but it will be partial, not total, in our country. For a total we must wait for August 26, 2026. Despite that, many people will want to take pictures of the event, either to save them or to share them on social networks or with their contacts in messaging apps.

To take these photos as well as possible you have to follow certain steps And, above all, be careful not to do according to what things not to endanger our visual health. In addition, it is important to know in which places it will be better or what time the greatest sun coverage will be given by the moon.

Where to see the eclipse

One of the most important issues is where you can see the eclipse in our country. Since it is quite large (Spain has more than 500,000 km2), it will not look the same in all autonomous communities or in all cities.

To know what time it is better to see it and in what places you will appreciate better we can use Services like this website that in previous eclipses gave us information about them. For example, in Madrid there will be a partial coverage of the sun of approximately 20% around 11 in the morning, As NASA explains. Here you can check The best hours depending on the city in which we are.

When they occur on a Saturday, It is surely easier to see it and take some photo, since most people rest. But even if we have to work, the process lasts less than an hour, and just a minute. To take the photos it is better to have identified the site where we are going to do them And, if possible, even have practiced before.

How to take photos of the eclipse

The first thing we have to know is that in order to even look at the eclipse, it is necessary to take precautions. The ideal is to use Special glasses that have international certification protection ISO 12312-2: 2015. If we do not have them better to see the eclipse indirectly, with a Stenopic projector. Another option is to see it using a welding glass with opacity degree 14 Or more, in case of not having special glasses. Another option is to use ND1000000 type filters or 16 steps.

To take the photo we must take into account that we will need A mobile that has a manual or expert modeor at least it is more convenient. If we do not have it, we must use the exposure controller at least. In addition, a tripod It will also be helpful so that we can lower the ISO a lot and still avoid trepidations. If we also have a Remote triggerlike a smartwatch, we will not have to play the screen to take the photo and avoid vibrations.

To take the photos it is advisable to modify the parameters of the manual mode of the mobile, controlling the exposure, the ISO or the shutter speed in the case of having it available. The ideal is Put a low ISO (100 or 200)with An exhibition also somewhat lower than normalwhat the sun will highlight on the moon. The Cable speed is advisable that it is below 1/1000 and the White balance above 6000K. Obviously with a professional camera, equipped with special lenses and filters, more spectacular photos can be obtained, but for most people that is neither an option nor what they are looking for. Also, whenever we can, it is a good idea Shoot in Raw to then edit the images with the highest possible quality. In the case of using a Samsung, it may be a good idea to opt for your Expert Raw app.

It is normal to want to look for photos of the sun and the moon, and for this it is best to use a zoom. If your mobile has Optical zoom That will be the best option. On the contrary, if we also want to get the environment, we will opt for the angular (the main camera) or the Ultra wide angle. Of course, the latter usually has a lower resolution and that may deprive us of the detail we want in the sun and the moon. And if we want to do something different, we can opt for the Timelapse function that some mobiles have and that will give us an image of the entire process.

Editing the photos

Once we have the images taken, we can take the opportunity to edit them, taking into account that they are unconventional images and that whenever we dedicate some time to the postproduction photos we will obtain better results.

Two editing ideas are that of lower the lights and Use a black and white process. In the first case, what we will do will be to highlight the sun in front of the other elements, making photography slightly subexposed. It is something that we can do in any photography editing application, but if you do not have any advance it is also possible to do in Google photos.

In the second case we will seek to highlight the shapes on the colors, with the contrast of the white of the sun with the grays of the moon and other elements. In this case, perhaps using an optical zoom to have closer the stars is a good idea.