The Camera Cafe Show
Peter: Remember, the Moon is not a complete smooth ball. It's circular effectively, but with lots of rocks and craters on it. So you see lots of edges. So when the Moon is directly in front of the Sun, that's when you get these, what's called these, Bailey's beads. That's a term to describe what effectively is happening is the light is just shining through the gaps between the rocks and the mountains of the moon.
Tom: Greetings, and welcome to The Camera Cafe Show, I'm your host, Tom Jacob and today is the start of a new adventure as we introduce you ShortCasts! We will get our Shortcasts out on a regular basis intertwined with our regular podcasts. They are just shorter episodes about anything news, fun or inspiring moments in the world of photography!
So, today, celebrating the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8, we thought we start off with our first Shortcast, embarking on a little cosmic adventure with astronomer Peter Lewis, from London (UK) and we delve a bit deeper into the world of that solar eclipse and try to unlock the secrets to capturing this celestial wonder through your lens. So let's get rolling!
Tom: Welcome, Peter. How was your evening last night?
Peter: Okay it was very good yesterday. I went to a gig last night so I went to see The Who, you know the old rock group The Who, at the Royal Albert Hall and so I was rocking the night away last night.
Tom: That's a whole different thing than watching the stars and the sky.
Peter, thanks for coming on our podcast tonight. And we have a nice little chat about the upcoming solar eclipse in the United States. Tell me a bit about yourself and your fascination about the night sky and astrophotography.
Peter: I've always been interested in space ever since I was a little boy. I mean, I live in London, and London is not always the best place for night sky watching, for looking at stars, and things like that. But you can even in London see the moon and you can see the sun. And they're the mainstays of astronomy as well. Where I live in London now, on the edge of London, it's not too bad here. And I can do a bit of observing with the naked eye and a little bit of a astrophotography as well.
I was bought a telescope by my family when I retired as a sort of retirement present. And so, I've still got that telescope and I still use it all the time now. And I think they're quite pleased to see me. I think they once said it's probably the most successful present they've ever bought me in their life. Because most presents last about five minutes. But this one has lasted me a number of years now and I'm still using it. And I'm very keen and I'm always looking up in the sky. So, I look out the window and check my stars and see if there's anything interesting I should be looking out for.
Tom: It sounds in a never-ending story, just like photography, Peter.
Peter: As long as the sky is up there, it's never going to be ending, is it? You know, it's going to last longer than I am.
Tom: Peter, this solar eclipse, can you just explain a bit what exactly is a solar eclipse?
Peter: One of the things that we need to know is the sort of sky, sort of looks is up there, and we take everything for granted. The thing to remember is everything is on the move. Everything is moving.
So, the basic construct of a solar eclipse is that the Sun is a ball of gas that's in the universe. And we're on a planet, one of a number of planets, and we revolve around the Sun. As we go around the Sun our positions changed. And with the Earth is one of the few planets in the solar system that has its own moons that orbit around Earth.
So, occasionally you get the situation where the Moon is revolving around the Earth, and whilst the Earth is in line with the Sun, the Moon revolves around and gets in the way. So basically you've got the Sun, the Moon and the Earth. And by a strange quirk of, some people might say fate, some people may say a coincidence, some people might actually believe that there's a greater god that's created this, is that the Moon is about 240, 000 miles away on average from the Earth. And there's a strange quirk of fate, is that the Moon, as we look at it, is the same circumference, the same size basically as the Sun is. Not obviously in real terms, but because the angle that we're looking at the Moon actually completely obliterates the Sun, but only just as it passes through and across it as well. So obviously the Moon was a lot smaller, you get something that they call annular eclipses.
It's a complicated thing, but basically the Moon goes around the Sun in an ellipse, it's not a pure circle. So sometimes the Moon is a bit nearer, sometimes it's a bit further away. So only occasionally does it create a complete hole that covers exactly the Sun. And sometimes the moon is further away, and therefore, uh, the sun sort of creates a ring around the moon, and it's called an annular. But this one, is a total! It's when the Sun and the Moon and the Earth are perfectly aligned so that the Moon is exactly the same size as we look at it as the Sun and covers it up completely. And that is a total eclipse of the Sun and it can happen a few times year, can happen not for a few years. I mean, there was one in Australia last year. The last time it was in America was 2017.
I think, where I am here in, the United Kingdom, there's not going to be one for many, many years yet. And the last one was in 1999. Obviously on the 8th of April, if you're in the United States, and a few number of other countries as well, there's a total eclipse. We won't see it here on this side of the Atlantic, but parts of Ireland, for instance, see a partial eclipse. That's when the Moon doesn't completely cover the Sun, because as it moves across, it doesn't cover entirely the Sun, but only a portion of the Sun. And that's called a partial. And we've had a few in this country, and I've been able to take a few photos of the partial eclipse, which is quite a spectacular thing to see.
And it's a reminder that is on the move, everything is moving because you watch it and over a period of time you see the shape and the angle changing as it moves, moves across the Sun like that.
Tom: And the solar eclipses, Peter, they can be traced back in history, right? And they can also be predicted in the future.
Peter: Exactly, because um, mean the thing is the path of all the planets, you know, can be fairly easily calculated. Because we know now with our science, our technology and the mathematics, we can work the path of all these planets and their paths and when they're going to meet to cross. And it happens, you know, not just for solar eclipses, we have what's called a lunar eclipse, where basically it happens the other way around, where it's actually the Earth gets in between the Sun and the Moon. So we cover the light of the Sun shines onto the Moon. And that's called a lunar eclipse. I've managed to take a few photographs in the past of that. So that's not quite as rare, but it's still not common as well.
Tom: I think it's good that these things sometimes happen because for normal people like us, it's like you tell, we always think that this standing still everything, but really everything is on the move.
Peter: Exactly. Yeah! A few years ago, there was what was called a conjunction, where two planets appeared to be extremely close to each other. They can be hundreds of millions of miles apart. But as we look at it in the sky, so we look up in the sky there, and you think those two little dots of light, they look like they're almost touching. They’re hundreds of millions of miles away from each other. It was a great conjunction with Jupiter and Saturn that happened in December 2020. Where it looked like a single beam of light. Was it actually in fact two planets that actually appeared almost in directly next to or in line with each other we looked out. And some people think actually that was the Christmas star, the famous fairy story of the Christmas star was actually a great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. Because what has happened is these two planets, they're going around the Sun, and they're going at different speeds, and occasionally one catches up with the other. When they catch up with the other, you get what's called a conjunction. And occasionally, the ones chasing up won't be ever.
So, as I said, the same theory, the same concept is that all the bodies in our universe, in our solar system, they're all on the move. And this solar eclipse is exactly an example where more than one body happens to be moving at the same time, and they just happen to coincide that line as we look at them.
Tom: There's a solar eclipse and now move a bit to the gear question Peter for all photographers under us. Let's do first the safety questions. Are there any kind of filters we should use not to burn our eyes or burn our own equipment?
Peter: Yeah. I mean, I take a lot of photographs of the sun. If you follow me, you'll often see photographs or images of the sun. One of the things about the Sun is it's not just a ball of gas but it's there's lots of energy involved in that and you can see sunspots and changes in the sunspots that happens every single day. So I do a lot of photography of the sun, one of the most important things, well actually the important thing is to remember safety.
So, you always have to make sure that, firstly, you never look at the sun directly with the naked eye, because if I had, I wouldn't be looking at you in the screen right now. I wouldn't be talking to people right now, okay? So, you don't look at it right in, directly in the sun. You can wear what's call eclipse glasses, they're just bits of plastic really, and they can go over your eyes, you know, just like normal, and they're quite cheap, just put them over your eyes if you want to look at the sun, so you don't, you're looking with your naked eye.
Secondly, is with equipment, is to make sure that any equipment that you use that you intend to use to photograph or to look at the sun, you use a proper safe filter, a solar filter using film or some other fabric substance, which actually diffuses the light from the sun. So, you're not looking at the bare sun. I use a telescope, to take most of my photographs. And I have a filter which fits over the front end of the telescope as well. And that filter has a safety film that is purely for solar photography and solar imaging as well. And you have to make sure that it doesn't just fit over the front of it. You have to make sure that there are no pinprick holes and gaps in the film that might have split. Because any bits of light that felt through will actually be picked up by your camera lens and could actually seriously damage your camera lens. Or if you use a phone as most of the time I do when I touch a phone to the telescope eyepiece as well, is that any shafts of that sunlight will actually burn through your camera lens. So, imagine what that would do to your eyes, never mind a camera lens.
And the other thing to also make sure I think with these lenses is that there's different types of filters. When you're taking photographs of the sun, by and large, you're doing what's called a white light image, creating a white light image. Our vision of the sun is the sun is yellow. The sun isn't yellow, it's actually white. It's a white ball of gas. So, you have what's called a white light filter. Often you see these photographs and things like that, and I do it all the time, is I put a false color in. Not because I'm trying to create a different color to what the sun is, but because it satisfies everyone's, how we grew up as babies. You know, the sun is yellow. And so, we're accustomed built to seeing the sun as yellow. So, I put in a false color, but in reality, the sun is white. So this is called white light filters. They go over your telescope or over the front of your camera as well. So, I can't stress enough, and I do repeat often when I'm posting these photographs, is: don't look at the sun, make sure you're using a proper safety filter and make sure that actually you test so that there's no damage and there's no way that any light can penetrate through the gaps. Really, really important.
Tom: I saw them like 30 or something by on-line retailers, the solar filter. So, it's not a cost to keep your eyes healthy.
Peter: Yeah, cost of getting your eyes repaired costs an awful lot more money than a safety filter, safety glasses, yeah.
Tom: And Peter, picture wise, you've got any tips or settings when you start making the pictures?
Peter: Yeah, I mean the first thing to remember is that solar eclipse, the actual period of totality just about, you know, three or four minutes. Okay? But the process from the time when the moon starts to creep across the face of the sun to the time it disappears, can be a few hours. And all that's what's happening in that time is the light is changing. It's starting to get darker and darker and darker, but very slowly. Then it comes out the other side and it's starting to get lighter again.
So, the first thing to remember is that you don't have one setting and you stick with it. So, if you're starting off to taking photographs, you have your solar filter on all the way through, if you're taking photographs. Then what you're doing is you're changing the settings in your camera. So, you would have, when the sun is actually shining even with the filter on, you'd have quite a very low ISO. So ISO 50 or something like that, which would reduce the amount of light that's coming through, the camera lens as well. And then you would increase that. And also, you would change the exposure time as well when you were doing it.
I can't give, there's no precise answer to that. No one will say this is what you must do. So I mean no one will say it must be this, it must be that. You experiment and remember this is over a period of a few hours until you get to totality, which happens in just four minutes. So during the period it's happening, you can experiment until you get the figures, the flavors, you're right. Well, then you get towards totality and when you get towards totality, that's the time you have to make a judgement about when to remove the filter. Because what's happening is as the light disappears, because that's what happens when the moon moves across, light disappears, the filter is not going to be much good because everything is going to be so dark. At some stage, however, you're going to have to remove the filter, because then you can start seeing the exciting bit during the eclipse, which is there's the shafts of light that just permeate at the edges.
Remember, the Moon is not a complete smooth ball. It's circular effectively, but with lots of rocks and craters on it. So, you see lots of edges. So, when the Moon is directly in front of the Sun, that's when you get these, what's called these, Bailey's beads. That's a term to describe what effectively is happening is the light is just shining through the gaps between the rocks and the mountains of the moon.
But you only see that with the filter off, and you have to make sure that you're changing your ISO settings to get it absolutely right well. Because you only have a few, minute or two to do that. And then what happens is that the Moon is moving across. Then it suddenly reveals as it moves to the other side, a shaft of light appears. Because basically it's the first bits of the sun shining again as the Moon moves on. And then you get this sort of diamond ring effect. And the diamond ring effect is really a bit of burst of sunlight that is starting to emerge, where you've actually got a ring around the moon, which is the sunlight. And there are big shaft, which is the first bits of the Sun.
I think you really have to have a very fast shutter speed to get the best light on that. And secondly again keeping your ISO down and you've got your finger on the ISO button on your camera and you're starting to move it, and you're pressing the button.
Two things I'll say. Firstly, your camera really ought to be on a tripod. Mean, some people do hand-held, but you know, you ought to be on the tripod. Because the less you're moving the camera around the better. And secondly, if you've got a remote trigger, so that you don't have to press a button as well all the time. And they're things that most photographers know about. And even if you don't really know about it, I'm sure you can do that. So there's some of the key tips as well, I would say.
Definitely practice as much as you can, and you can't really practice if you haven't got an eclipse to practice on. But it's not a brand-new science, you know, people have been doing this for a long time as well. And here's the final tip say give to everyone, which is: make sure you're wearing your glasses, just stand away from your camera and just look up, just look up at the sky and just take in everything that's happening because this is a remarkable event, a natural event. And people are just forgetting to actually look.
Tom: Peter, you know that this event will be watched by millions of people, but throughout history, it's been always a fascination by artists or photographers to capture this event. Why I think it captures our imagination so much?
Peter: Well, I think you have to think back to the days where, before people knew or understood, what was happening, before people understood about these bodies. You can imagine the first time it happened for people, and experienced this period where the sun went out, the sun disappeared, and people thinking, what happened? You know, it was there you go, it's not nighttime, this is the people that actually looked up and didn't blind themselves, because you imagine people are puzzled. So there's always been a fascination because, you know, from the days where people didn't understand, but now we do understand.
You know, a solar eclipse isn't the only thing that happens. I mean, a lunar eclipse can be tremendously exciting to see the moon being bright and then suddenly it gets very, very dark and then it turns red. The moon turns red, it's called a blood red moon. This is where the atmosphere of the earth bent around, but from the sun shining. So actually what you've seen is the see the moon, but actually it's totally red. Now I've taken photographs of that as well. I have to say that I find that just as exciting because you think, it's a another natural phenomenon as well.
I mean, the solar eclipse isn't the only one, but clearly predicted unlike this, unlike an aurora. It's predicted exactly when it's happening, people know exactly where to be, and it's hyped incredibly by the media. You know, there will be a huge amount of fuss in the media, and I can't imagine. Well there was one a few years ago in America, I remember my brother went over it, but you can imagine there’s, millions and millions of people will be in the line going to see this.
Goodness knows what the traffic's going to be like as people try to move in towards that narrow line of totality as they get there. And they'll be selling t shirts and just about everything else in time to turn it into a commercial opportunity. But for people who really enjoy this natural experience, it's not about that. It's about the wonder of it all.
I mean, you have to remember in a few years’ time, we'll get one in Europe. I think down in Spain, there'll be a total eclipse in August the 12th, 2026. I think it is as well. So, we'll all be going down to the Costa Brava and the Costa del Sol. Yeah. Looking for this total eclipse down there.
Tom: I will think I will do a live podcast by then, Peter, you will sit next to me and we will explain everything.
Peter: That sounds fantastic. I'll take you up on that.
Tom: Peter, it's been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you for explaining a bit, , what is going to happen. And for those lucky in Mexico, the US and Canada, who are going to see it, we will surely see a lot of pictures and we will see each other in 2026 and here in Costa Brava, Peter.
Peter: Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. I wish everyone a cloud free sky, you know, keep those clouds away. That's the one thing I can't predict,
Tom: Peter, thanks again. And we keep in contact.
Peter: That's great, you’re welcome.
Tom: See you. Thanks, Peter. Bye.
Peter: Okay, bye.
Tom: There you go...We hoped you enjoyed our first Shortcast and it helps the photographers under you who will be fortunate enough to see it on April 8. Don't forget all the advice Peter has given you and share your pictures with us.
Thanks again for joining us on this stellar journey through the cosmos today and keep your eyes on the skies and your camera ready. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple or Spotify and stay connected with us on social media for more photography inspiration and all the updates. You'll find everything back in the shownotes!
Until next time, keep clicking and Move Your Photography! Bye!