How to Take a Picture of The Ellipse with an iPhone

Take a look how to capture the beautiful Solar Eclipse with your iPhone to safeguard this memory for the rest of your life and share it with your close ones

By Sagar Thakkar 08 Apr 2024 | Updated On 08 Apr 2024 23:38 IST in Mobile

New Update

How to Take a Picture of The Ellipse with an iPhone — iPhone (Image via TechFirstNow)

The next solar eclipse is coming, and people badly want to capture this event. Although the idea of a fancy camera might look great, you might be astonished by the power that you already have in your pocket! With these tips, you will be able to fully make use of the iPhone's capabilities to get stunning pictures of the eclipse with it.

So let's delve into fundamental techniques, from maximizing steadiness to achieving the best focus and exposure, all right in your iPhone’s camera app interface. So, just grab your iPhone, get into the position, and use these tips to take the best picture of the eclipse to slay your friends.

Get Ready First

To get the most out of your ellipse photography experience, you would better take some safety precautions before you start shooting with your iPhone.

1. Wear Your Glasses: Despite how much you may want to photograph the eclipse, safety must come first. This is the best tip in this guide. Do not stare directly into the sun. You cannot risk losing your sight to take a picture of an eclipse. It is always recommended that you purchase solar eclipse glasses before participating in solar photography alone or with a friend.

The best pair are likely to be found on Amazon or at the nearest optician.

2. Safeguard Your iPhone Lens: Lens filters don't always have to be used with your iPhone. But if you love and treasure your iPhone, I would recommend it. Since harsh light can affect the iPhone lenses. Besides, using a filter, you get better eclipse photos.

Prepare Your iPhone

Camera App: Use the default Camera app for capturing eclipse pictures as it will work well most times. If you're looking for more manual controls, you can consider third-party apps like Halide or Camera+ 2 (these might offer RAW capture for better image editing later).

Focus Lock: During the eclipse, the sun's brightness will constantly change. Make sure you are familiar with the focus lock function on your iPhone. To lock the focus on an iPhone photo, tap and hold the area where the sun appears.

Capture the Eclipse

Stability is Key: Capturing a celestial event like an eclipse requires sharp images. Even the slightest camera shake can blur details. A tripod is your best friend here, offering a stable platform to keep your iPhone perfectly still during the entire photoshoot. If a tripod isn't available, improvise! Find a flat, sturdy surface like a park bench or a table and prop your iPhone against it.

Focus and Exposure: As light levels change, it is necessary to pay attention to focusing and exposure adjustments. Tap to select the sun, and then use the slider up or down in the sun to brighten or darken the images. The sun icon usually shows next to the focus square. Try intentionally getting a photo that stops under exposure to keep the corona (sun's outer atmosphere).

Capture Burst Mode Photos: The most dramatic moments of an eclipse happen in a flash. To ensure you capture the perfect peak of the eclipse, utilize your iPhone's burst mode function. Hold down the shutter button and your iPhone will rapidly take a sequence of photos. This will increase your chances of capturing that split-second moment of totality - when the moon completely covers the sun - or the dazzling "diamond ring" effect that occurs just before and after totality.

More Tips

Third-party Apps: There are hundreds of third-party camera apps to capture great-quality pictures right on your iOS device. Some of them I would recommend are Pro Camera, Varlens, Focos, etc.

RAW Capture (if available): Shooting in RAW format (usually supported in Pro iPhone models) allows for more flexibility during post-processing. If you happen to own a Pro iPhone, you can leverage this functionality and capture some really detailed RAW pictures.

Editing Apps: After you click your pictures, you can edit them to make them look even more stunning. The iOS App Store is the home to numerous photo editing apps. Some of the best that I recommend using are Lightroom, VSCO, Picsart, and Snapseed for editing eclipse photographs.

You can’t underestimate the power of your iPhone. It’s great at capturing pictures, regardless of its model. Just follow the tips we discussed above and make use of the right technique, you will be able to document this celestial event for many years to come.