How to photograph the 2026 total solar eclipse

A total solar eclipse is rare enough; one that crosses easily-reached parts of Europe is rarer still. On 12 August 2026 the path of totality runs from the Arctic down through eastern Greenland, the west coast of Iceland, and across northern Spain to the Mediterranean. For once, the challenge isn’t just exposure and filters — it’s being in the right narrow band of land, facing the right patch of sky, with a clear view of a low Sun. This guide is about planning that; for the filter-safety rule and the per-phase settings that apply to any solar eclipse, read how to photograph a solar eclipse alongside it.

Where the path of totality goes

Totality is a narrow ribbon — only inside it does the Moon fully cover the Sun and reveal the corona. Miss it by a few kilometres and you get a deep partial eclipse, which is a completely different (and filtered-throughout) photograph. For 2026 the ribbon crosses:

• Eastern Greenland and the North Atlantic, where totality is longest — up to about 2 minutes 18 seconds near the centre line.
• The west of Iceland, including greater Reykjavík, as a mid-afternoon event roughly four hours before sunset — the Sun still reasonably high.
• Northern Spain, from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean, passing over or near A Coruña, Bilbao, Vitoria, Logroño, Burgos, Valladolid, Zaragoza, Valencia and Palma on Mallorca. Totality here lasts roughly one to two minutes depending on how close you are to the centre line. Madrid and Barcelona sit just outside the path — close, but they’ll see only a partial eclipse.

The single most important planning decision is simply standing inside the path, and ideally near its centre line where totality lasts longest. A town a short drive away can be the difference between the full corona and a bright crescent that never goes dark.

The low Sun changes everything

Here’s what makes the Spanish leg special for photographers. In Spain the eclipse happens only about an hour before sunset, so the Sun — and the eclipsed Sun — sits low in the western sky. Most eclipse photos are tight telephoto shots of a disc on black, because the Sun is high and there’s nothing else to include. A low Sun lets you do the opposite: frame totality over a landscape — a ridge line, a coastal headland, a lone tree, a city skyline — for an image that says where as well as what.

That opportunity comes with a hard requirement: you need a clear, unobstructed horizon in the Sun’s direction. A hill, a building, or a bank of low cloud on the western horizon will simply hide the event. So the scouting question becomes very specific — at the exact minute of totality, how high and in which direction will the Sun be from my chosen spot, and is anything in the way?

Plan your spot with Viewpoint

This is exactly the kind of low-Sun, clear-horizon problem the app is built for.

• Get the Sun’s position and the contact times. Viewpoint’s almanac gives the Sun’s azimuth and altitude minute by minute for any location, so you can read off precisely where the eclipsed Sun will be above your horizon at the moment of totality — and how low. Pair that with published local contact times for the town you’ll be in.
• Compose the low Sun over a subject. Because the Sun is low, the same technique used to line up the Sun or Moon behind a subject applies: step back with a longer lens and a foreground landmark drops neatly beneath the disc. Find Your Viewpoint and the alignment tools help you find the stand that puts the eclipsed Sun exactly where you want it in the frame.
• Scout a clear western horizon. Use the Sun’s-position planning approach to check nothing blocks the low Sun — then capture the spot in the app so you can return, in the right light, on a clear-weather forecast.
• Watch the weather. August in northern Spain is often clear, but a single low cloud bank on the horizon ruins a horizon shot. Have a backup location a short drive along the centre line, and decide by the forecast.

Safety and settings, in brief

The rules are the same as any solar eclipse, so this is the short version — the full detail is in how to photograph a solar eclipse:

• A certified ISO 12312-2 solar filter goes on the lens at all times during the partial phases, and over your eyes too. Ordinary ND filters and sunglasses are not safe.
• The filter comes off only during totality itself — those one-to-two minutes when the disc is fully covered — to capture the corona, then goes straight back on the instant the Sun’s edge returns.
• Re-meter when the filter comes off. Totality is far darker than the filtered Sun; drop to a much slower shutter and/or higher ISO and bracket widely, because the corona spans a huge brightness range no single frame holds.
• With totality lasting barely a minute or two, rehearse the sequence — filter off, adjust, shoot the brackets, filter on — before the day. You won’t get a second attempt.

Quick-start checklist

• Be inside the path of totality, ideally near the centre line for the longest totality.
• Check the Sun’s altitude and azimuth at totality for your exact spot in the almanac; confirm a clear horizon that way.
• For a landscape frame, pick a foreground subject and step back with a longer lens to sit it under the low Sun.
• Fit a certified solar filter; know the split-second it’s safe to remove it and when it must go back on.
• Bracket the corona during totality; rehearse the filter-off, filter-on sequence beforehand.
• Have a weather backup spot along the centre line and decide by the forecast.