Photo Of The Week

Our photo of the week was taken by Jenny Reynolds which she has titled "Dark Sky."

You can see more of Jenny's work on Twitter @jennyreynolds3. 

We Want To Feature Your Work!

Do you have some really amazing photos you have taken recently or some of your past work that you simply love? We want to see! Each Tuesday, we will be featuring a "photo of the week" right here on the Camera Giveaways blog. We are looking for anything from amazing landscape photos, a gorgeous wedding or engagement shot, sports or animal photography, an awesome fashion photo...whatever you want to share, we would love to see!

Email your photos to contact@cameragiveaways.com with the subject "CG Blog Photo Submission" for consideration. In your email be sure to include a description of your photo, your name and company name as well as website and social media links. Please... no watermarks! If this information is not included, your photo will not be included.

How To Photograph A Solar Eclipse

Most of you have already heard that on August 21, 2017, the Great American Eclipse will be visible across much of the country when the moon completely obscures the sun. If you’re one of the lucky ones in the total eclipse’s path, here is some great tips from Consumer Reports that explains what you need to know in order to photograph the event.

Photo credit: National Geographic

Plan Ahead

If you live outside the 70-mile-wide path where you will be able to see the total eclipse that angles across the country from Salem, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina, you'll need to plan a roadtrip to catch the total eclipse or simply settle for simply seeing a partial one. If you are not sure, check out this NASA map to help show where the eclipse can be seen. 

Be sure you think ahead of time about the ideal backdrop for your photo, because you won't have much time for location scouting on the day of the event. At best, the total eclipse will last 2 minutes and 40 seconds, depending on your location. Try finding a spot flanked by a mountain range, a lake, a stand of trees, or even a great old barn—anything that will add context and character to the snapshot.

Be Prepared To Not Look Directly At The Sun

It is dangerous to look directly at the sun, so in order to view the solar eclipse safely, you'll need special tinted glasses. If you still do not have your safety glasses, you can get your own on Amazon here. According to NASA, they should be certified to meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard and include the manufacturer's name and address somewhere on the product.

You also need a special solar filter designed to block infrared and UV radiation to safeguard your camera. According to the article on Consumer Reports, "The intense magnification through a lens creates a concentration of heat and energy similar to burning a leaf with a magnifying glass," says pro photographer Ken Sklute, who co-authors Canon's eclipse blog. "So choosing to photograph without a solar filter can harm your image stabilization and aperture mechanism, damage the sensor and shutter, and cause permanent eye damage.”

Even with a filter on the lens, be sure that you do not view the solar eclipse through a camera's viewfinder... use the device's LCD screen to compose the shot instead.

The Consumer Reports article also states that the one time when it's okay to remove the solar glasses and the solar filter is during totality, when the moon completely blocks the sunlight. Before attempting to do that, though, make sure you know and understand the stages that lead up to that phase, said Artur Pietruch, who handles the digital camera testing in the Consumer Reports labs.

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Use The Right Equipment

It is best to use a an interchangeable lens camera, something like the Canon EOS Rebel T5i or the more advanced Nikon D7200 just to name a few. You also want to make sure you have a tripod with you so you can be sure to not have any camera movement while snapping your shots. Remember that you are not going to have a second change so you want the shots you take to be the best you possibly can. 

Find The Right Exposure Settings

Since the eclipse happens so fast, be sure to take some time beforehand to experiment with exposure settings so you can capture the perfect shot. 

Photojournalist Babak Tafreshi says, "Since there is not a bright light source for a digital camera to focus on, you can't use auto focus so you should turn on the manual focus instead, and set it to infinity. Now turn off the camera's flash. It won't help you."

As the sky darkens, be sure to test various exposure combinations to find the right balance between aperture and shutter speed so you save yourself from a frantic guessing your settings during the actual eclipse. For a solar eclipse, a setting between f/8 and f/16 is ideal, depending on the shutter speed you've selected.

If you take photos of the eclipse, be sure to show us your great work! If you have one that stands out from the rest, submit it to us so it can be considered as one of our photos of the week. You can read more about the submissions guidelines in this post here.  

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Check Out These Photos Of The Night Sky With Incredible Detail

The night sky is amazing and seeing a photo of it that has so much detail is hard to find! Now these amazing sights can be captured on film by amateurs in their Sydney, Australia backyards.

Australia’s astro-photographers are using rapid advances in technology to take advantage of some of the best stargazing skies in the world and we wanted to share some of their awesome photos with you that we found on the Herald Sun. 

“You’d swear that some of these pictures were taken from spacecraft, but they’re not,” said John Sarkissian, from the Parkes radio telescope. 

Photo credit: Stephen Humpleby

Mr. Sarkissian said cameras from 20 years ago used to capture only 2 per cent of the light and detail that they do now. With that said, now photographers can stitch together dozens of images, which have been captured over 60 hours of lens exposure.

These images are just some of the 24 being entered into the 2016 CWAS David Malin Awards which is named after the famed photographer, who brought galactic photography to mainstream Australia.

Photo credit: Andrew Campbell

Photographer James Stone said that Australia is able to see the Milky Way better than most other countries on Earth. We hope you enjoy all these photos as much as we do! 

Photo credit: Mark Slater

Photo credit: Jason Jennings

Photo credit: Stephen Humpleby

Photo credit: Glenn Martin

Photo credit: Paul Haese

Here are a few other articles we think you will enjoy:

• 8 Ways To Make Money With Your Photography
• 8 Of The Top Underwater Marine Wildlife Photos of 2015
• 12 Great Finalists In The Sony World Photography Awards

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