What time is the Eclipse on Friday and how to photograph it.

Caution !

Never look directly at the Sun, eclipsed or otherwise, without proper protective eye wear. The Sun’s UV radiation can burn the retinas in the eyes leading to permanent damage or even blindness.

When is it ?

Next Total Solar Eclipse: Solar Eclipse.

From Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 8:25 AM to 10:41 AM

Be safe: Make a pinhole projector or

Using a camera or Phone Camera go to the bottom of the page.
One of the easiest safe ways to watch a Solar Eclipse is with a DIY pinhole projector, using either two sheets of card, a box or binoculars.

Don't ever look directly at the Sun!

Project with 2 pieces of card

When using any kind of pinhole projector, you should stand with your back towards the sun. Do not look at the Sun through the pinhole or through the paper.

You need:

• 2 pieces of stiff white cardboard, like two paper plates.
• Or, 2 sheets of plain white paper - the kind you use for printing is perfect.
• A thumbtack or a sharp pin.

What to do:

1. To make a quick version of the pinhole projector, take a sheet of paper and make a very small hole in the middle of it using a pin or a thumbtack. Make sure that the hole is round and smooth.
2. With your back towards the Sun, hold one piece of paper above your shoulder allowing the Sun to shine on the paper.
3. The second sheet of paper will act as a screen. Hold it at a distance so that an inverted image of the Sun is projected on it through the pinhole.
4. To make the image of the Sun larger, move the screen further away from the pinholed sheet.

Pinhole projector using a box

This type of pinhole projector works on the same principle as the basic one, except it is much sturdier, easier to set on a surface (no more aching arms holding out 2 sheets of paper) and requires a few extra items to construct.

You need:

• A long cardboard box or tube. You can tape two together to make one long box. The longer the box, the larger the projected image.
• Scissors.
• Duct tape.
• Aluminium foil.
• A pin or a thumbtack.
• A sharp knife or cutter.
• Sheet of white paper.

What to do:

1. Cut a rectangular hole on one end of the box using the sharp knife.
2. Using the scissors, cut an equally-sized rectangular piece of the aluminium foil. Make sure it is not crinkled.
3. Tape the foil over the rectangular hole you just made in the box.
4. Use the pin to poke a hole in the center of the foil.
5. Place or tape the sheet of paper at the other end of the box.
6. Stand with your back towards the Sun. Place the box on your head with the hole towards the Sun. Adjust your position until you see the Sun's image reflected on the paper inside the box.
7. Using a tube? If you are using a tube or taping two tubes together, cut the end of the tubes and tape the foil with a pinhole on one end. On the other end, tape a piece of white paper that has been cut to the shape and size of the end of the tube. This will act as the screen. Close to this end, cut a rectangular hole using the sharp knife. This will be your viewing window. With your back towards the Sun, point the end with the foil towards the Sun, angling the box along the Sun's rays. Look into the box through the viewing window and you'll see a small projection of the eclipsed Sun on the "screen".

Using a camera or Phone Camera

As the solar eclipse engulfs the UK in darkness on Friday, many will rush to their phones and cameras to photograph the sun and moon. But just as precautions should be taken while watching the sun with the naked eye, photographing the sun can cause damage to cameras if the right steps aren’t taken.

The lens in your camera, just like the one in your eye, can amplify the brightness of the sun and damage it. And since solar eclipses are all light, ensuring that the camera is set up right can be key to getting good photos, as well as keeping yourself and your camera safe.

When taking pictures of any solar eclipse, it is recommended that photographers use a solar filter. Those small filters, which slot on the top of a camera lens or can be laid across it, can be bought easily online. They work by limiting the amount of lights that goes through the lens, protecting the camera from the bright light.

It also works to keep the light from shining in your eyes. As you look through the camera to line up the shot, you run the risk of looking at the sun and endangering your eyes. Though a filter on the lens of an SLR will also block out the dangerous sunlight while looking through a viewfinder, in compact cameras the viewfinder can be separate to the lens — so is best either covered up or avoided when taking photos.

Otherwise, you can use almost any camera. Though an SLR will give more options for how to handle the light and the picture — including more ways to darken the image so that more of the eclipse can be seen — a properly set up compact camera should do the job.

The same is true of phones. But beware even more when using them — you still need a filter to keep your camera safe as well as avoiding annoying lens flare. If you must take a picture with your camera, or use it as a way of looking at the sun, ensure that you don't do it for any more time than absolutely necessary.

If you do have the ability to change the settings, it’s worth reducing the amount of light that the camera is taking in and making sure that the flash is turned off. But it’s also key not to go dark when setting the camera up — for obvious reasons, the sky will go much darker during the eclipse so a camera set too dark could miss the image entirely.

A long zoom will work best, because it will give a larger image of the sun. But it’s also important not to zoom in too much since some of the exciting bits of the eclipse happen around the sun and moon, creating the “coronal streamers” of light that come out the side of pictures of solar eclipses.

It’s also worth taking a number of pictures — as many as you can — as the solar eclipse happens. That way, you can try out a number of settings, and also ensure that the quirks and glitches that are likely to happen when taking photos of such a spectacular event don’t ruin your day.