On August 21, hundreds of thousands of people in North America and millions watching live at home will be experiencing a once, maybe twice, in a lifetime celestial opportunity. A total eclipse of the sun. Thousands of photographers will be traveling to locations along the path of totality to get the best possible photographs during the event. Photographing an event like this requires some special equipment so I will go over what you’ll need and some extra tools like the Sky-Watcher Star Tracker Mini (SAM) that can help you take your images to the next level.
Important disclaimer: Do not look directly into the sun without proper protection. Viewing the sun with your naked eye will cause damage to your vision. Viewing the sun through your camera viewfinder will not only cause damage to your equipment but can still cause damage to your vision. Photographing the sun requires some sort of filtering device whether a Mylar DIY sheet or threaded sun filter. Even when viewing the sun through a filtered DSLR it is recommended that you only view the sun through the camera's Live View mode.