Getting Superb Sunsets without Damaging your Eyes

[Buckster]

I have to say I do like landscapes, and I do like photos of the setting sun ... but something I read made me think a bit.

so the question is:

"when and how is it safe to take photos of a setting sun ?"

I always though if it didn't make you squint, and that the sun did not seem bright to you then it was OK - but I've also heard that at even when this is the case - it can still damage your eyes

any ideas please ?

cheers, Mark.

[Canis Vulpes]

ND filter?

[yelvertoft]

I think the comment of "if it didn't make you squint" is probably a good guideline to use. I'd also say that it's probably not a good idea to do this for too long.

Thinking about it, if you have a camera with "live view" i.e. all compacts and some of the newer dSLRs, it's probably not a good idea to have it set up on a tripod with the sun shining directly onto the sensor for any great length of time.

Duncan

[miketoll]

I reckon a setting sun low down on the horizon has lost most of it's power and would be fine. After all millions of people have taken shots like that. I would never point the camera and look through the viewfinder at the full bright sun especially with a telephoto on but who would as it would never be photogenic anyway unless it was something like an eclipse of the sun. In that case put the camera on a tripod and allow the image coming through the view finder to fall on a piece of white card and look at the card for composition etc. You need special glass/goggles to look directly at the full sun with the naked eye let alone through an optical instrument.

[sassan]

The trick is not to see directly to sun as it is on the viewer of DSLR.
If focused hot beam of light fall on your macula (The central cup in your retina where all of the important sensors (Nerve cells) for your central vision and cells that determine the HD part of human eye are located), then there is a chance for a permanent damage. Remember after every major solar eclipse, a few people go permanently blind and a lot more will have some transitional damage.
As long as you use a P&S, you can look at any part of viewer as you like. This holds good for your newer DSLR if they have LiveView feature.
Bottom line, we wont be photographers without our eyes...
Take care.

[sassan]

Originally Posted by Canis Vulpes

ND filter?

Concept is right but not 2 4 8 ND.
You need a 400 yes number 400 to get a direct image of sun and then see sun's anatomy clearly.

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