People watch with their mobile phones as clouds part to reveal the sun obscured by the moon during a ... [+]
Should you hold a smartphone up to the eclipse sun on April 8 and film a short movie of nature’s greatest spectacle? No—that way lies a blurry, shaky video that will make you feel sick whenever you watch it. Instead, you want to create a short video of you and your loved ones enjoying the precious once-in-a-lifetime moments of totality.
Why to shoot two eclipse videos
As well as capturing the dramatic changes in light and colour during totality, and you in silhouette against a darkened sky with an eclipsed sun in the background, a movie will capture the sounds of the eclipse. That’s priceless and, years later, it’s the audio that will take you back to those moments in a way that a photograph just cannot.
This is how to shoot a smartphone movie of the total solar eclipse—and why and how to shoot two:
NOTE: This article only applies to those that are in the path of totality, which is set out in this map (below). If you’re not within the path of totality (which you can check on this interactive map, this eclipse simulator and in this eclipse look-up then you’ll see just a partial solar eclipse, which requires solar safety glasses at all times and is not rare or unusual.
Eclipse movie #1: totality
Method: a smartphone perched on a tripod behind your group, in wide-angle 4K video mode.
Those close-ups of an eclipse sun you see all over the internet are spectacular, difficult to capture and—whisper it—not all that useful when trying to recall your own experience of a total solar eclipse. Creating a movie of your group watching the eclipse is one of the best ways to preserve the memorable moments of totality. “Use a wide angle shot without any filter and you’ll get the foreground, the people in your group in silhouette and the action happening in the sky,” said Alan Dyer, experienced eclipse photographer and author of the excellent ebook How to photograph the solar eclipses, in an interview. “The eclipse is going to be high in the sky, but you’ll get the scene that you remember.”
Dyer recommends keeping it steady by putting it on a tripod so you can leave it running, in 4K movie mode. “You can just leave it to run on its own and you don't have to worry about it,” he said. “You’re not trying to operate it during the eclipse’
Top tip: If you’re with a family group assign this task to one of the kids to operate and keep an eye on. Get them to start the movie three or four minutes before totality and stop it a few minutes after totality has finished—but only one the excitement, the tears and the emotions have died down.
Eclipse movie #2: reactions to totality
Method: get someone in your group to use their smartphone to make short movie of your group as soon as totality is over, asking everyone in turn for their reactions.
How you react to the experience of totality is priceless. Your first video will capture the whoops, the wows and the “Oh my God!” utterances, but only a purposeful reportage-style movie shot in the minutes after totality will capture genuine emotions of you and others around you—your response to experiencing something so few humans ever get the chance to.
Top tip: frame this video in the same orientation as your movie to you can edit them together to make a movie of eclipse day. If you can get short videos of anything else that happened that day—the drive into where you watched the eclipse, people selling eclipse glasses and the general festival atmosphere—all the better.
For the very latest on the total solar eclipse—including travel and lodging options—check my main feed for new articles each day.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
