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Don't Let The Eclipse Be The Last Thing Your iPhone Sees

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Updated 8/21 with information about selfies

With eclipse madness practically upon us, I've heard a lot of panicking about what will happen when anyone even casually glances in the direction of sky from inside their triple-shielded "eclipse-bunker."

It's always certain blindness and sudden, painful death.

Crazy viral science articles aside, you're definitely going to want to take pictures of Monday's solar eclipse with your iPhone. You might say that you're not; but at some point, you're going to want to point your phone at the sky and take a quick pic. Here's how to do it safely:

I can't even look at this picture without wincing

Anthony Karcz

1. Don't Stare At The Sun

Just...don't. Out of habit, we have a tendency to assess things with our eyes before we get our camera out to take pictures of them. Unless you have certified eclipse glasses, don't stare at the sun. You wouldn't do it when it wasn't eclipsed, and you shouldn't do it when it is. That big ball of plasma emits plenty of invisible light that will cook your retinas if you stare at it too long!

2. Your Picture's So Bright…

...You gotta wear shades! iPhone cameras have greatly improved in lens size and resolution in the past few generations, making them just big enough to take in sufficient light to do permanent damage to the sensor if you leave it pointed at the sun for more than a couple of seconds (other than during totality). If you have eclipse glasses (or are lucky enough to have sheets of material used to make the lenses), you can use them to cover the lens of the camera while you take your shot. Just know ahead of time that this will block out everything except the sun in these pictures. You'll want to employ a tripod to make sure the shot is steady. Oh, and see Rule 1 - if you put your eclipse glasses on your phone, they're not on your face. Don't stare at the sun!

And for those of you that want to take an eclipse selfie, feel free to do so without covering the lens on the front of your phone, it's too small to collect enough light to do any damage to the front-facing iPhone camera. Just don't stare at the sun through your screen while you do so. Keep your eclipse glasses on!

3. Moon River

Since the sun is approximately 400 times the size of the moon, but 400 times farther away from Earth, they're roughly an equivalent size in the sky (which is why the moon totally blocks out the sun during a total eclipse). What this means, is that you have a handy template for Monday's eclipse hanging in the sky right now. Well, it's currently a crescent moon, so not really, but you can still get an idea of how your phone will handle photographing something so far away. Not to be a spoilsport; but it's probably not going to be all that great. Ever try to get a picture of a gorgeous full moon only to end up with a pixelated white blob? Don't expect your eclipse picture to be any better.

4. Tips and Tricks

So why even try to take pictures of the eclipse to begin with? Well, there are a few things you can do to get better results.

Take the "automatic" out of exposure and focus if you want more control

Anthony Karcz

Once you have the sun centered on the screen in your Photos app, press it and hold until AE/AF LOCK appears. This will engage the autoexposure/autofocus lock so that you're not constantly losing focus when you move your phone around. You can use the slider next to the autofocus aperture to either raise or lower the exposure of the image manually, making it lighter or darker.

See the bird? No? Let me zoom. See? I'll zoom in more. Oh, now he's a blob.

Anthony Karcz

Don't zoom! Unless you have an iPhone 7 Plus, which has up to a 2x physical zoom, digitally zooming in on a picture doesn't make it any bigger, all you're doing is pre-cropping a photo that's been taken at the default distance for your camera. Ever notice how when you zoom in on your iPhone, distant subjects look even blurrier? The camera can't capture an increased resolution at that distance, but it can make it fill more of your screen. Hence, Blur City. Population, You.

Take pictures of other things! This may seem like a cop-out tip; but if you look around during the eclipse, especially during totality, you'll see all kinds of shadows and tricks of light around you. I can guarantee they'll be much closer to you than the moon (or sun) and will be much more interesting than the blurry, over-exposed, retina-burning shots that will be littering your social media feed come Monday afternoon.

So keep your iPhone's camera (and your eyes) safe on Monday. In the meantime, be sure to check out NASA's excellent information page for even more tips and information about the solar eclipse.

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