Following the Sun

I don’t get too excited about photographing sunrises and sunsets. It can be a bit cliché. However, sometimes it is so beautiful, you just can’t help yourself.

Lake Superior Sunset

Fiery Sunset

However, I do include the sun quite often in my photos. It can be very dramatic if you can catch it at the right time.

Spring Thaw, Bruce Peninsula, ON

Spring Ice Formations

Canoeing the French at Dawn

Of course silhouettes are fun to shoot as well.

Oil Pumpjack at Dawn

Great Sandhills at Sunset

This summer the sun was one the dominant subjects with the solar eclipse visible in much of North American to some degree. I was tempted to try to photograph it here in Toronto. I have a ten stop neutral density filter but that is not quite strong enough to protect my eyes and camera. Lee Filters sells a Solar filter that is 20 stops and a deep blue colour that removes harmful infrared light. I hope to get one of these for the next eclipse:
https://www.dpreview.com/news/8485854753/lee-filters-introduces-solar-eclipse-filter-and-new-filter-wash-fluid
I was also not in the path of the total eclipse. So, what was I to do? I didn’t want to risk my camera or my eyes. The best thing I could come up with was to create an illustration in Photoshop:

Solar Eclipse (digital illustration)

The next solar eclipse will have a path through Ontario. April 8th 2024 will provide an opportunity for many of us here in southern Ontario to witness one first hand. I will have my filters and be ready. Now if we can just get clear skies that day…