A fun way to photograph an eclipse is to make several exposures on one piece of film. This will need to be done with a shorter focal length lens. A "normal" 50mm lens will allow the sun to travel through a 35mm negative for almost three hours! Once again, you should go out a few days before the eclipse and find a location where the sun will not be blocked by a building or tree, and test your framing. You will need to start with the sun in the left side of the viewfinder, and the camera needs to stay absolutely still. A tripod can be bumped, so you may want to clamp the camera to a wall or unmovable object. You can then make exposures at set times during the eclipse.

    At totality, your exposure drops greatly. For those photographing the eclipse where totality happens, once the moon begins to block all the sun's light, you will need to remove your filter and use longer and longer exposures. When the Bailey Beads happen, exposure is back to the same level as the unblocked sun. Once they disappear and the the corona is visible, the longer your exposure, the more of the corona will show on your film. With a full frame view of the total solar eclipse and ISO100 film, exposures of almost any speed will give a different view of totality. The longer your exposure, more of the outer corona becomes visible and streamers will carry further out from the sun. On shorter exposures, the inner corona will give a bright, hard edge around the moon. It is a win, win situation. Most important of all, take off any solar filter during totality! You don't need it and it will make the exposure too low for good photographs.

    Use tape on your lens barrel to make sure your focus doesnąt move. Usually your lens marker should point to `infinity,ą but some mirror-type lenses can focus beyond infinity because of temperature changes. Be sure to focus ahead of time and secure it. You can also tape down the lensą f/stop at wide open, then just change the shutter speed for each exposure.

    Mistakes can happen at the photo finishing lab,especially with the automatic machine that cuts the slides or negatives. If you are shooting slides especially, it may have trouble determining where one frame stops and the next frame starts since the sky around the sun is dark when using the filter. It is a good idea to make one exposure, without the filter, of any subject just to show the technicians where the cutting machine should be set for the rest of the roll. Be sure to use fresh batteries and a 36-exposure roll of film, rather than risk having to change either during the eclipse. Be sure to use fresh batteries and a 36-exposure roll of film, rather than risk having to change either during the eclipse.

    Practice makes perfect. Excitement can cause you to forget important things. Practice your photography plan and don't forget to enjoy the experience. It truly is breathtaking!