Humberto,
for direct viewing, you'll need a solar filter, since
it is a partial eclipse.
Be careful NOT to look DIRECTLY at the sun - partly
eclipsed or not - unless you have a solar filter to
protect your eyes! And this is without and even more
so with camera! You could also damage your camera,
lens and or film - e.g. burn a hole into your shutter
and film.
(Even if it the sun was 99% percent covered, the
remaining light still has the potential to permanently
your eyes permanently viewed without protection.)
Hopefully you can buy a solar filter locally at a good
camera store for a few bucks. Make sure it is a real
solar approved filter (with UV and IR blockers).
A couple years ago, I created a makeshift solar filter
by stacking three layers of flat clean undamaged mylar.
This approx. equiva to an OD 5.0 (optical density) solar
filter. OD 5.0 means that it cuts the light intensity
by 10^5, or 100000x times.
Also, make sure to cover ("spot") any pinholes in the
mylar generously with something opaque, e.g. white-out
aka "liquid paper", or black pigment paint.
Mylar as a filter will reduce contrast, and causes an
unsightly bluish cast. But it is is better than nothing.
This said an done, for a fairly good portrait of the
sun you should have a rather long telephoto lens - the
longer the better. (for 35mm, the sun will have
diameter on film 0.9x times the focal length used,
e.g. 7.2mm for 800mm focal length.) I found 2000mm to
be an ideal focal length for a "full portrait". With
an density 5.0 filter I photographed at 100 ASA, f/16
or f/20 at 1/30s to 1/45s. In your case you might need
a bit more exposure since the sun will be near the
horizon when it approaches max. occulation. But you'll
have plenty of time during the eclipse, so bracket,
bracket, bracket. Film is cheap.
Make sure You'll use a steady tripod at those long
focal lengths.
Here's a shot without filtration at 1600mm effective
focal length of the eclipsed sun during the December 2001
eclipse:
http://www.larsmichael.com/cgi-bin/gallery?s=eclipse_2001&p=1&i=2001121401003s
http://www.larsmichael.com/cgi-bin/gallery?series=eclipse_2001
If all of this sounds too scary or to complicated for
you, as a fun alternative you can project the image
of the sun through a telescope onto a white screen
(paper, wall, etc.) and watch/photograph the projection.
Also fun to photograph are the shadows under e.g. a
tree. The foilage will allow a few rays of sunshine
to hit the ground, and instead of the usual disk
shaped bright spots you'll see crescents. Cool!
When the sun gets very low and turns orange, you can
photography without filtration, and try to get some
objects at the horizon into the frame as well. I'd
try to catch that cool sunset of the crescent sun.
Oh, and don't forget to enjoy the moment! Sit down
and watch the show without your camera. You'll have
more than an hour.
Good luck, and I hope you'll have good weather!
Lars
--
.~. Lars Michael
/V\ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
/(_)\ http://www.larsmichael.com/
^^ ^^
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