5 Frames from the Partial Eclipse 2026 (with a Panasonic LX100)

I remember a time when something like an eclipse would almost give me a feeling of panic when it came to my photography. Like it was somehow my job to take the best photo of the thing possible, forgetting that there would be literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people taking – or attempting to take – the same photo, many of whom would probably be significantly better equipped and or skilled. I would find myself frustrated at the idea that my photo probably wasn’t going to be very good, which was compounded by a sort of feeling that what I was doing was completely pointless. Why even try and take a bad photo of something that so many people are going to do a better job at…? And even if I did somehow get a perfect photos, it would probably only ever be as perfect as someone else’s photo anyway…

I have, thankfully, moved on from that frustrating period of my photography. These days, I treat something like an eclipse as any other experience where I might like to take a photo, and just pick up whatever camera feels like it might give me some sort of opportunity to take some sort of photo that I might be pleased with. For yesterday’s photo, that particular bit of kit ended up being my Panasonic LX100, and really that was just because I had an ND filter attached to the front of it when I looked in the cabinet to grab a camera as we were leaving the house for our vantage point yesterday evening.

I figured I might try and get a photo of the partial eclipse and in doing so, I might use the ND filter. I wasn’t really photographically prepared, I just figured I would want the camera to be able to expose dark enough to see the shape of the sun. Certainly for the photo I took of the sun, I had the filter attached – though I am not sure if it was needed really.

I had also been messing with the settings just after taking the above shot – I think I had set the camera back to programme – but had left the ND on. As a result, I got this accidental abstract, which I ended up quite liking.

My favourite shot though is definitely the one at the top of this post. Norah and Hannah had made some viewers, and with Connie were all set with their backs to the sky. Norah had decorated them too, so the “Eclipse 2026” on the one viewer is nicely visible in the photo, which I like. I also tried to capture the lower-light and atmosphere, as really that was the defining part of the experience for me.

The funny thing was though, in the end, it was the sunset and the clouds that stole the show for me from a photographic perspective. It’s been essentially sunny every day this summer, with barely a cloud in the sky… until eclipse day when the clouds decided to get involved. They definitely interrupted our view of the main performance, but also absolutely created a show of their own!

I’m sure there’s a million better photos of the eclipse out there, but this was my experience of the event.

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