Editor's note: The Dallas Morning News published many memorable photos of the 2024 total solar eclipse in Dallas, but one photo taken by staff photographer Tom Fox immediately stood out. We felt it was so iconic that we devoted the entire front page of the April 9, 2024 print and digital editions to it. in addition. Here, we asked Fox to explain what it took to capture that photo. You can get a copy of this collectible cover edition and more eclipse images at The Dallas Morning News Store. For more stories about solar eclipses, visit: dallasnews.com/eclipse.
Photographing a solar eclipse requires preparation. A lot of preparation.
Setting the time and location of your event can make it both easier and more difficult. The easy part is knowing where and when the moon is in the sky. There are several apps that can help you with this. I use the photographer's ephemeris. But nothing compares to standing where you have to take a photo.
Within the four-minute window, I made several trips to the bottom of the Trinity River, including at 1:40pm the previous day.
This was not the only idea, there were several other photographers with the same idea, as evidenced by small markers in the weedy areas. I put my stake in the ground so I could find my place again. On Monday, as I was securing my tripod with bungee cords and dog leashes, I made friends with other photographers who were setting up their tripods. I set my camera horizontally to capture the cable leading to the top of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and the total solar eclipse above it. Since I knew the shape of the home page, I left enough space to cut it vertically.
Now for the hard part: What is the total exposure? Is there enough depth of field to see clearly? For that, I turned to my colleague Smiley Poole, who has photographed two solar eclipses. Ta. Given the moon exposure and the uncertainty of whether the bridge lights would come on, I settled on auto-exposing the image at high ISO, f-stop 11, and auto white balance (because the bridge is white). To reduce exposure, I shot the image in RAW so I could correct any mistakes later.
I say this because I wasn't planning on actually facing the camera and making adjustments during the eclipse. I was assigned to photograph the site of the adjacent Ron Kirk footbridge and had to remotely activate a fixed camera at the point of totality. With the kind help of a new friend, I adjusted some test shots. You can go.
As visitors began lining up on the bridge, I joined reporter María Ramos Pacheco and security guard Nick Patel to set up a 600 mm lens on a large-sensor mirrorless camera to capture every detail. Did. About every 10 to 12 minutes, depending on cloud conditions, I placed a solar filter on the edge of my lens and took photos of the changes in and out of totality.
Patel was a godsend. Not only did he keep an eye on all of my equipment and setup, but he also helped me stay sane while I was desperately searching for a solar filter that I had purposely kept in my wagon.
In between each phase of the eclipse, I stepped outside for a few minutes to try and capture some signature photos of mesmerized people watching the eclipse with views of downtown in the distance. Nothing could have prepared me for the sudden loss of light during the day, something most of us have never experienced. To the east, the sun appeared to be rising again behind downtown Dallas. In the west, it seemed to have sunk. In between, I was busy capturing the whole thing with a long lens, capturing people's reactions to it with a wider lens, and photographing the “Large Merge'' with a remote camera.
Somehow I managed to capture everything, including two wide-angle GoPro cameras mounted on the bridge for time-lapse.
As darkness fell over downtown Dallas, people took off their glasses to observe the moon eclipsing the sun over the Continental Bridge during the eclipse.
