There's nothing like being prepared. Unfortunately, I left it to the last minute!
The (partial) solar eclipse on 12 August 2026 was all over the news for days and weeks in advance. And as the event drew nearer, it looked likely that the weather gods were looking down kindly - likelihood of clear skies. While the prospect of a few rain clouds after this record breaking summer would have been welcome, if they could just wait another few hours...?
I've since seen posts on Instagram of photographers planning for the eclipse months, if not years in advance, to make sure they were in position to catch the sun/moon combo over a particular lighthouse, steeple, etc or with a kitesurfer silhouetted in mid-jump. Some were talking about 500+ hours of planning...! So, with a day to go, I started thinking about when, where and how. The "when" was easy - it was literally determined by the stars. The moon would start its two hour journey across the sun at 18:17, with maximum obscurity at 19:12 (93.2%).
The "where" took a bit of thinking - do we go high or to the coast? We did think about travelling down to Pembrokeshire to join an evening bird-watching boat tour around Skomer, which was spending an extra hour at sea so the crew could enjoy the eclipse! We decided 2 weeks out that the risk of failure (cloudy skies) was too high! I was hopeful that there would be clear views across the Severn Estuary and with the Second Severn Crossing providing good "foreground interest", we decided to travel over to Severn Beach.
The "how" was the tricky part - but thought I could learn what I needed from a couple of YouTube videos. Don't get me wrong, YouTube is a great resource for photography, but in this case I should have delved deeper and maybe practiced a bit. I thought a couple of strong ND filters and some exposure bracketing would see me good!
My lack of preparation is a little strange, given this would be my first ever solar eclipse. I was there for the 1999 event and recall we had clear skies. But, I was tied up in a works meeting and, while other colleagues were milling around outside with pinholes and glasses, we had to make do with the view from the window!
We arrived in plenty of time and sheltered from the sun under the M4 bridge! Several families and other photographers were milling around and others soon arrived and took up positions. I played around with a couple of shots, trying to get use to the amount of light, but 16 stops of ND filter was able to cut out enough to smooth out the incoming tide. But, at this point, I was not photographing straight into the sun...
As 18:15 approached, I decided first to use my wide-angle lens to frame the bridge and eclipse. As the moon took a small bite out of he sun, my first attempts were rubbish - I bracketed for the bridge in one frame and the eclipse in the next, hoping to bring them together in Lightroom later. It didn't work - either the bridge was exposed well and the sun was blown out or the eclipse showed nicely, but there was absolutely no detail of the bridge. When sacked in Lightroom it was a mess.
As the eclipse gained momentum, I switched to my telephoto to try as least to capture the detail of the moon as it took an increasing chunk out of its celestial cousin. These are fairly straightforward and with a bit of artistic licence in post-processing gave some pleasing results. But, with no foreground interest, they were (in my mind) boring!
I returned to the wide-angle lens and tried to find an in-between exposure, that would leave the sun sliver acceptably sharp, whilst retaining some detail in the foreground that I could manipulate in post.
And typically, as we approached maximum obscurity, the clouds appeared, threatening to hide the eclipse at the critical time. Fortunately, the weather gods again came through and not only were the clouds thin and short-lived, but I think, added to the situation.
I'm reasonably happy with the results.
It's easy when you are taking pictures to ignore what you are witnessing. Many a time, I have come away with a set of pictures, but not actually seen what I was photographing. Not so this time. The eclipse was slow enough that you are able to spend a good amount of time simply watching and experiencing this once in a lifetime spectacle. Seeing something that is a constant throughout your life and provides the energy that powers our planet, change within a matter of minutes from pure light to a narrow silver sliver (gold if using the glasses), was awe-inspiring. And then, at the moment of maximum obscurity, it felt like a silver filter had been placed over the sun, as an etherial light softened everything around. The wildlife too reacted - swallows that had been absent for most of the evening suddenly started looping around and skimming low over the water, and a small flock of 100 or so waders (probably dunlin) took flight and spent a good few minutes murmurating across the estuary, before eventually settling down to roost.
The clouds didn't linger and I continued with different exposures until it was time to head home. It was only later, when I was playing around with pairs of images in Lightroom and Photoshop that I found a couple that stacked well together, giving a sharp(ish) eclipse and a nice smooth, ethereal light over the foreground. Probably my favourite shot of the evening.
There is always time for one last photo or three! As we started the short walk back to the car, I realised the spring tide was reaching its high point and the water surface was almost lapping over the footings, giving the opportunity for some water level shots. The water was oily smooth and the sun was beginning to cast a golden glow...
So, while I was reasonably happy with some of my photos, it was a bit of a missed opportunity. The take-home lesson? Be (better) prepared for the next one... in 55 years time!
Addendum
Having spotted that it was a spring tide and that the following day the high tide would coincide with sunset, I returned to pick up where I had left off. On arrival, the water was already overtopping the concrete and the strong breeze, combined with tidal currents and eddies around the bridge footings, were whipping the water into a chaotic mess. Not the oily smooth conditions I had returned for, but in many ways much better!
