{"id":2459,"date":"2026-04-04T03:36:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/?p=2459"},"modified":"2026-04-04T04:49:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:49:32","slug":"how-i-shoot-photos-of-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/?p=2459","title":{"rendered":"How I shoot photos of the Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" <\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I decide whether or not to shoot based on how I feel (enough sleep, etc), the weather….It must be clear for several hours, usually best to start shooting shortly after dawn, when Sun is lower in the sky.<\/p>\n

This is paradoxical if you’ve done night astro, when you want to shoot things as high in the sky as possible. You want to shoot Sun early before heat makes too much fluctuation in the air.<\/p>\n

I look at weather charts, also Seeing charts. If the sky is blue but seeing is bad (upper atmosphere levels), I usually do not shoot.<\/p>\n

Gear: Player One Uranus-M camera (mono) on Lunt LS40THa solar scope (double etalon) with B1200, on Sky-Watcher SolarQuest Mount.<\/p>\n

focused, etalons tuned, good gain \/ exposure (I think this was 4 ms and 300 gain, need more for double stacking). After focus and tune etalons (I start with one, tune, then put second etalon on, and tune), then I move Sun around in view using finder button on mount until it’s the best looking with no overly “bright” (out of band) parts<\/p>\n

I have a little heater strip for the blocking filter on cold mornings. Without that, everything is out of band and shooting is impossible.<\/p>\n

Then shoot 16-Bit .ser video using SharpCap pro. Shoot 2000 frames. Shoot maybe 10 videos like that. Then pack up, go inside, and stack each one in Autostakkert. I pick the percent that I use in my stack based on how the graph looks after Analysis.
\nI save Convoluted version as well as non. I look through the convoluted versions one after the other, pick the best looking 2 or 3, throw out all the non-convoluted ones except the ones with same file name start as best Conv ones.<\/p>\n

I throw out all the convoluted ones. Then one by one, I grab the non-convoluted ones into into imPPG, using presets I’ve made over time, and adjust until I like it. I make 2 or 3 variations on each one.<\/p>\n

Then I find the best ones I like and pull into PixInsight using SolarToolbox script, and add a little (probably too much, I’m working on trying to do less but haven’t got there yet, lol) sharpening and contrast. I make a mono version (as shot) and one with orange added, and export.<\/p>\n

I pull into Photoshop to stack and add a signature. I stack both versions before doing that so they line up with mouseover in AstroBin.<\/p>\n

OVERALL:
\nSometimes I shoot closeups on the Sun using a 3X Barlow, same techniques, but requires better focus, seeing, and such. I don’t watch around on my wooden porch when shooting, it shakes enough to hurt the shot. If seeing is really good I shoot a couple videos using the Seeing Monitor in SharpCap. I use the Focus Monitor in SharpCap to help me focus well manually.<\/p>\n

I use a headset monitor to see<\/a> since it’s hard to see a computer screen in the Sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I decide whether or not to shoot based on how I feel (enough sleep, etc), the weather….It must be clear for several hours, usually best to start shooting shortly after dawn, when Sun is lower in the sky. This is paradoxical if you’ve done night astro, when you want to shoot things as high in … Continue reading “How I shoot photos of the Sun”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mdad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2459"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2459\/revisions\/2468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwdean.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}