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In a couple of weeks (March 20th) the UK will experience a near total eclipse (~90%).

So, I've read the information in these two questions:

but both are talking about the sun as the main subject of the photo. I'm thinking of heading out to photograph landscapes containing the sun, but not as the subject.

Obviously I'll need filters to do it safely, so what kind of filters and techniques would I need to be using to shoot these kind of photos?

For the record, I'll be using a Nikon D7100 with a Sigma 10-20mm F3.5-5.6 or a Nikon 18-200mm F3.5-5.6G lens.

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    \$\begingroup\$ One issue that I would look into is the following. When the Sun is obscured for a large part, the surface brightness of the unobscured part of the Sun is obviously still the same (ignoring limb darkening ). But it's now a lot darker, so you may expose for longer which may damage the pixels that are imaging the visible part of the Sun. \$\endgroup\$
    – Count Iblis
    Commented Mar 2, 2015 at 13:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ Besides the saftey, I would make a bracketing to take different exposures, one to the sun/sky/clouds and other for the landscape, and compose them later with an HDRI technique. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rafael
    Commented Mar 2, 2015 at 14:28

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I was privelaged enough to be able to take a picture of a solar eclipse. Here's what happened when I took the pictures. Perhaps this will be of use to you.

"Before" the eclipse happened I took some test pictures. To my disappointment the sun ended up setting behind the mountains before the eclipse ever came. Then as I was going back through my pictures I realized that I caught the eclipse in my test pictures without ever realizing it.

You can see the pictures here

My advice would be to take the picture just as you normally would, and then take the picture a little bit darker to bring out the sun. Afterwards you'll be able to choose which picture you like better.

Also keep in mind that a bigger percentage of the sun will be covered if you're closer to the epicenter of the eclipse.

Good luck capturing the solar eclipse.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ WOW PETER! Thoose photos trough the clouds... WOW! If you make somekind of hdri composition of that, would be amazing! \$\endgroup\$
    – Rafael
    Commented May 27, 2015 at 15:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks Rafael. What does the i in HDRi stand for? \$\endgroup\$
    – wp-overwatch.com
    Commented Jun 1, 2015 at 14:01
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    \$\begingroup\$ Images. High Dinamic Range (This can be processes, techniques, photographs, images) \$\endgroup\$
    – Rafael
    Commented Jun 1, 2015 at 17:48
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If your subject is the landscape, but you still want the eclipse in the photo, then I will suggest using an HDR approach. Take 3 up to 5 photos of the same landscape with different exposures. Later using the Lightroom 6, Photomatix, Photoshop or another application to create HDR images, join all the images in one.

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Don't look into the viewfinder. Compose everything through live view (possibly block viewfinder with DK-5 Eyepiece Cap) and your eyes will be safe.

The biggest problem of solar eclipse is that sun will suddenly pop up into the image, when your aperture is not ready for it. Use auto exposure in a mode that will allow it to close aperture, eg P or S mode, as it can do it way faster than you can. Other than that, your regular experience with sun-in-the-image applies. ND filter may or may not be useful.

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