BERLIN: Whether it's the Northern Lights, a lunar eclipse or the Milky Way, the night sky often offers spectacular photo opportunities.
This August is a particularly special month for stargazing photography fans around the world, with two major celestial events coming up.
A solar eclipse in Spain – partial across Europe
On August 12, the sun totally disappears in eastern Greenland, western Iceland and parts of Spain, as well as in the Balearic Islands and the western Mediterranean.
The cosmic event will also be partially visible for people across Europe and parts of North Africa, reaching as far as Ukraine and Morocco.
Ireland, the UK, France, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland and Algeria are among the countries where around 90% of the sun will be covered by the moon.
The event begins when the sun begins to be obscured to viewers in Scandinavia and Greenland around 5 pm GMT on August 12, with the eclipse increasing in size as it sweeps down through Europe, reaching its peak between 6:15 pm and 6:45 pm GMT.
A partial lunar eclipse in North and South America
August also brings a partial lunar eclipse to Europe, Africa, North America and South America, with the best conditions in Latin America and the west coast of the US and Canada.
The full moon appears on August 28 in the constellation Aquarius. As the moon passes through the Earth's umbra, a partial lunar eclipse takes place, appearing as a near total lunar eclipse to most viewers in the Western Hemisphere. At the peak of the eclipse, 94% of the full moon's apparent diameter will lie within the Earth's umbra.
Making best use of your smartphone
For the longest time, you could only photograph such natural phenomena with expensive equipment. But thanks to internal image optimisation, many smartphone cameras can now take good photographs of the night sky.
Location: To photograph subjects in the night sky, find a spot where it is as dark as possible. Light pollution maps such as the "Light Pollution Atlas" can help as they show the levels of sky brightness in different colours. The darker the colours (such as green or blue), the darker the location is in principle.
Reduce light: Reduce the display brightness and activate night mode (dark mode) in the display settings so that your eyes can better adjust to the darkness.
Pick the right mode: Activate night mode in the camera app. Many smartphones now even have a mode for astrophotography.
Current Google Pixel smartphones automatically activate astro mode when the device is pointed at a suitable subject and it is dark enough. After pressing the shutter button, a countdown displays the remaining duration of the longer exposure, often 4 minutes.
In the camera app settings under Advanced, Pixel users will need to activate time lapse for astrophotography. On many Samsung Galaxy phones, you can use the Expert RAW app for astrophotography.
If possible, set the camera focus to "Wide" or "Far", especially if your camera app does not offer a special astro mode.
Best with a tripod: A tripod is your best friend for astrophotography. Small, universal mobile phone tripods that can hold your smartphone are available for around US$10 (RM40.89) or €10 (RM46.69). You can also just try holding the camera as steady as possible – image stabilisation on smartphones is much better than it used to be.
Alternatively, if the perspective allows, get all the settings ready to take the photo, then set the self-timer and place your phone flat down on the ground. Setting the countdown timer means that you tapping or laying the phone down won't add to any blur.
Solar eclipse essentials
Experts strongly warn against viewing the event without special eclipse glasses, as sunglasses don't offer adequate protection. A smartphone camera, carefully pointed at the sun, can help you see and photograph the eclipse – so long as your eyes are still looking away from the sun.
To photograph the outline of the sun, you will need to tweak your photo settings to the lowest possible brightness setting, which you can often do by tapping the sun icon when taking a photo.
To let children watch the solar eclipse, the projection method is a better choice. This involves not looking directly at the sun, but instead projecting its image onto a bright surface, for example using a small mirror or a pinhole camera. – dpa
