Shooting a Total Solar Eclipse in the USA | Spanish Long Exposures | Mastering Metering in Cuba

In this episode of Photography Online, we venture to Snowdonia and the Pembrokeshire Coast national parks as we try to see if we can shoot all 15 UK parks in only 7 days. Then we head to Spain where we do some long exposure coastal photography using filters. It's then off to Texas in the hope of seeing and photographing a total solar eclipse, before hopping over to Havana to look at how to use a handheld light meter. If that's not enough, we're giving away a couple of flagship watches from Accurist - worth over £700.
Photography Online caters for all levels of photographers, from beginners looking to learn the basics of photography to experienced camera users looking to advance their camera skills further. From digital to film, from landscape photography to wildlife and travel, we have top tips from our own professional photography team, as well as information on the best locations from which to take photos.
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[@stuartfeen9236]

The best thing about PO is that they are not “influencers” promoting “this is the greatest body ever, you must buy it, and that is the best lens ever, you must buy it.” The POers actually show us, teach us, and challenge us to think. Plus, they each have unique and distinct personalities, making each video even more interesting and impactful.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Cheers Stuart. Always good to hear.

[@leemetcalfephotography7849]

Fantastic episode! What a trooper you are Marcus to make sure your customers got to see the eclipse! 😃 What an experience!!

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks Lee. It's all part of the job. It's astonishing how many other photo workshop leaders don't get that!

[@maxmayer6009]

What a coverage of the eclipse! Markus is an amazing project Manager. So much foresight under pressure! What an inspiration!

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for watching Max

[@thomaswentworth6433]

The show is always informative and I enjoy the banter between the presenters. This style of show may not be everyone's cup of tea, but you won't please all the people all of the time. The loyal watchers will stay, the others will come and go, you can't control that and it'll certainly have no influence over how the show is delivered, nor should it.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for your supportive words Thomas. All the best.

[@keithpinn152]

Hi Team: Sorry it has taken so long to watch this video. My wife and I just returned from a 5-week vacation to the UK, Norway and Iceland. I really enjoyed the content of this video and I am so happy for Marcus and his client as they experienced a wonderful Total Solar Eclipse. We live close the Niagara Falls, but it was an overcast day here. Keep well. Cheers, Keith (Canada)

[@olo101olo]

I really like the grain in the McDonald's Arch Eclipse photo, gives it a really cool feeling

[@zadokwest]

Great watching the suspense unfold of Marcus’s amazing pro efforts to deliver an unprecedented eclipse experience. Loved Ruth’s shots in Spain also.🎉

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@GreenhornPhototaker]

I was in New York for the total eclipse and I must say in terms of the natural world, it was the single greatest moment of my entire life. Thank you for telling this story. It really brought a smile to my face

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for sharing. I hope you get to witness another eclipse sometime. All the best

[@hyttennis]

This show and channel really should have more viewers and subscribers!

[@markturriff994]

They’ve opted for quality over quantity- and a paywall too

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks. We don't care much about subscribers (that doesn't actually mean much anyway) but we'll always welcome more viewers.

[@LesRadwell]

@@markturriff994 What pay wall?

[@markturriff994]

@@LesRadwell In order to access full (POO) content there is a monthly charge of £3.99 - this often discourages engagement

[@LesRadwell]

@@markturriff994 There's no paywall for this show only the 'Live' show which is great and well worth £3.99 in my opinion. At the end of the day this is a top notch show which takes time and money to plan film and produce, and somebody has to pay for that but of course it doesn't have to be you! At the end of the day, the 'Live' show is a Reward/Thank you for those that feel they would like to subscribe. The show you have just watched is free and always has been!

[@Gazzab6]

Hats off to Marcus in helping to achieve his customers’ goals. Great planning including the contingencies, so glad you got what you went for.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it

[@timrosenburgh8597]

Wow what a fantastic episode. Marcus the trip to Texas for the eclipse which you explained to everyone was truly remarkable with the knowledge that you have and also explaining using a light meter, i was amazed. The image's that you took Ruth using nd filters were fantastic. Keep up the good work everyone. I look forward to the next one.

[@ianlewisphotography]

The eclipse feature might be one of the best yet. The lengths Marcus went through for his clients was admirable. I can’t imagine trying to make sure everyone was okay AND record a feature for PO at the same time! As a Canon shooter, seeing Harry take a hammer to a camera is going to give me nightmares for awhile though…

[@michelebullock9867]

Great episode again! I appreciate the comedy you throw in. The challenge is real world. The eclipse brought back the same nervousness for you I felt for myself. We were not too far from you. You covered all the detail of the eclipse I could think including the “eclipse light”. I’d take a trip with any of you anytime. The long exposure segment was well done seeing the variety of exposures and locations. Just all good stuff!

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for your kind words Michele. New episode out in a few days!

[@robinmitchell8288]

A lovely Sunday evening viewing, watching the team doing something they obviously enjoy. Thank you.

[@PhotographyOnline]

And thank you for watching Robin.

[@patford9943]

48:28 Marcus shows unrestrained excitement! Congrats on the McD shot! Excellent show all around!

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for watching.

[@dominiclester3232]

What a great episode, thanks! (Made even better by watching the new upload of the previous episode again...most of the way through I kept thinking, “I’m sure I’ve seen this clip before”😂) This makes us appreciate the new material more.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@maggyfish]

Fantastic episode it was pure theatre the eclipse section will you get it? Won’t you get it? How totally professional you are fantastic so happy for all of you achieving your goals after investing so much. 👏 ☀️ 🌙

[@PhotographyOnline]

Wow, thanks!

[@t.c.wilson647]

I was worried when you were in San Antonio for the eclipse. I live in College Station halfway between Austin and Houston, and we went to Austin for it, as friend lives on a hilltop west of town. I knew you wouldn't see anything in SA. We had intermittent clouds, so that the telescope I brought was useless because I never had time to align it with the sun before a cloud. So we just watched unaided (but with glasses). We were lucky. Cloud breaks let us see the diamond ring, and of the 4 minutes of totality we saw about 2+ (though not all at once). Still enough to experience an incredible event I'd lived 60 years for. BTW, you final spot in Whitney was just outside Lake Whitney where my sister-in-law's family lives. Glad you got some great shots!

[@ArifSyedKanata]

Great show, capturing the Eclipse was an excellent segment brings back the chills I had making my own photos of the awesome event here in Canada. Thank You Marcus.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@simonkitchin1538]

Good to see you guys discovered the wonderful Rhiwbach quarry in Eryri…. Not Penmachno quarry Harry, tell Nick to check that book next time 🙂 another great episode, keep up the great work 👍

[@rogerlush3344]

Guys! what a great show, so good I watched it twice, especially enjoyed Marcus' tutorial on metering, and the Trio on the National Parks Challenge, keep going lads!! looking forward to the next programme already 👍

[@ColinMatheson-j6o]

Look at OM Systems (formerly Olympus) if you want hand-held long exposures as well as built in ND filter. Superb image stabilisation.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for sharing

[@diba4645]

We had that cloudless 1999 in Europe. Had influence.

[@ChrisHunt4497]

Fantastic show. Loved the Wales antics. Could not stop laughing. 😂😂😂😂 loved it all, especially the eclipse part❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤. Thanks so much everyone.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@LesRadwell]

Best Show so far! 😃

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you think so Les. Onwards and upwards!

[@bv52gyf]

Great show, enjoyed the challenges and just goes to show that even with a good plan for a location, Mother Nature intervenes and some on your feet thinking required I also enjoyed Ruth’s segment on long exposure and picked up a tip or two. Can you share the beach location of the sea stack please Thanks

[@kalopeu]

Thank you for sharing your work and your passion for it with us. I believe that the photo at 18:06 was taken by Matt Bigwood. Chris Gampat is a journalist who wrote about it.

[@outtathyme5679]

Terrific episode

[@joncothranphotography9375]

Wonderful episode! I had to photograph the partial eclipse with a pin hole in a sheet of paper. Thanks so much for everything!

[@PhotographyOnline]

Sounds great!

[@lotus30com]

So great you got to see the eclipse!

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks

[@OliverMay1]

Yay! My clip made it into the show! Look ma, I'm famous! 🤣 Thanks for another great show, taking the year out was definitely worth it as the production quality this year has been a real step up. For the next season, could you possibly up the video quality to 4K please? Modern computers are more than capable of crunching that amount of data so it wouldn't be a strain to produce? And watching 1080p with KZbin's compression really degrades the quality of the images and landscapes you show.

[@happymystic9800]

My favourite photo crew delivered another highly entertaining and informative video 😮 … I am loving it (to use the motto of the yellow iconic M) ❤ … cheers, looking forward to the next episode. 😊

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@davidligon6088]

I was just south of you at Mason TX. I had planned on Fredericksburg, but it was overcast. I deduced going west towards the edge of the front would be the best bet. Fortunately, we did not have any clouds from first contact to 20 minutes after the eclipse. I am so happy with the results. The McDonalds sign was brilliant!

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for watching David. All the best

[@TheDsmail1]

Great show as always. I really enjoyed the excitement of the eclipse feature and will definitely come on one of your trips one day yeah exposure🙂...

[@PhotographyOnline]

Please do!

[@michaelhall2709]

“The [McDonald’s] ass-crack.” Oh, dear. (Though that was a nice shot.) While visiting the UK in 2003 I got to see Stonehenge and Hadrian’s Wall. In return, we gave you the Golden Arches. A quintessentially American exchange, as you say. We didn’t get anywhere near totality in Southern California, but as I sat in my back yard in San Diego, not even bothering with photography, watching through my eclipse glasses and with the soundtrack to 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY playing over my iPhone, I was pretty content. Maybe I shouldn’t have been.

[@zuckshot]

Awesome show as always! Always so much to take away from each episode!

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@cguerrieri4866]

alway terrific. But this show taught so much. And I have so much to learn! Thank you

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you enjoyed it Chris.

[@MickDouglas]

Another totality enjoyable show (see what I did there!)🤣Keep up the great work guys, I'm now off to listen to the Podcast. 😃

[@PhotographyOnline]

Thanks for all the support Mick. Much appreciated

[@paulcomptonpdphotography]

Hi, At the start of this video you was in a quarry, i did not here you say what one this was. it looks amazing please could i ask the location?

[@jph364]

wow!

[@RecluseHolster]

Friends that were in Austin said the clouds cleared out for the short time span of the eclipse and provided the perfect conditions. Of course, you were in Texas so driving 250 miles for McDonalds is just a lunch stop. Spain in two years?????

[@PhotographyOnline]

We weren’t in Austin, we were in San Antonio. We drive through Austin to get where we ended up

[@georgiewanders]

Great great episode! One question though. How come the medium format cameras used 110-200mm lenses while the full frame ones went 400-800 ? A bit strange no?

[@PhotographyOnline]

Because that’s all she had. There isn’t a 400-600mm equivalent lens for the GFX。

[@steveworthington930]

Great show, Marcus seem,s dedicated to film, fair enough but how many shoot film now? As for exposure in digital just bracket the shot as Ruth did in longish exposure, simples.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Film photography is more popular now than it has been for a generation, so to answer your question “how many shoot film now?”, the answer is more than a year ago, three years ago, 10 years ago or 18 years ago. You’re right that with digital, it’s “simples”, which is exactly why many prefer to shout film, because they regard digital as offering little challenge.

[@leemetcalfephotography7849]

I shoot film! Medium format, 5x4 and 8x10 !!

[@kevinharding9361]

Still love the fun National Park challenge. Always some very good instruction (even if you don't shoot film). However nearly half the episode on the over-hyped, over-shot (billions of photos) and ridiculously boring (to many) eclipse was needlessly wasteful TBH - luckily on YT you can skip ahead.

[@kevinarmstrong3415]

Enjoying the video particularly the segment on the eclipse. A technical question. Why do I have to focus on something in the sky instead of just turning the distance ring to infinity?

[@PhotographyOnline]

Hi Kevin. All modern lenses (anything post 2005) will focus past infinity, so it’s not simply a case of turning the lens until it stops. For precise focus, you need to do it manually.

[@kevinarmstrong3415]

@@PhotographyOnline Thank you for this, it explains why my photos aren’t sharp when I turn the distance to infinity. I’ve wondered why for ages. Beyond infinity sounds like Buzz Lightyear!

[@kevinarmstrong3415]

This is bugging me. As infinity is a mathematical construct that has no physical reality (correct me if I’m wrong) can you do a segment on what the lens is actually doing please?

[@PhotographyOnline]

@@kevinarmstrong3415 hi Kevin. It’s not that complicated (certainly not enough to film a feature on), once you understand it. Basically, all infinity means in focus terms is that the lens has reached the point where everything beyond the start of the plane of focus is also on the plane of focus. Think of it like this…. The plane of focus is a wall which moves forwards and backwards from the lens. Unless you are using a tilt/shift lens, then this wall will always be parallel to the sensor. If this wall is close to the lens, then it will be quite thin, which will provide a shallow depth of field. Anything closer or beyond this wall will be out of focus. As the wall moves further from the lens (when you focus further away) it also becomes thicker. This is why you get more depth of field when you focus on more distant subjects. The wall continues to get thicker until you reach infinity, at which point, it becomes so thick that it never ends. This means that even if you are photographing a scene with the moon in it (240,000 miles away), the walk will extend well beyond it. Does this help?

[@kevinarmstrong3415]

@@PhotographyOnline Well, to a point. But if the depth of field is so great why aren’t the stars in focus if the lens is set to infinity?

[@philiph6488]

Excellent as always. Shame advertising is creeping in.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Cheers Philip. Why is it a shame about the advertising? We keep it to a minimum.

[@ChrisHaliburton]

hi could you do a feature on storage on the go or if on holiday how to clear the memory cards if you don't take a laptop please.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Hi Chris. That sounds more like a topic for the podcast. We’ll be doing a travel themed one soon so maybe we can include your idea. Thanks

[@craigmckernan4056]

Welcome to McDonalds may I take your order? -- Yeah I'll take a McNugget, Coke, and a "McEclipse" to go please :-)

[@PartisanZoya1941]

Unconventional approach to changing the camera sensor 😮. Must try the hammer and chisel method 😅

[@williamarthur2686]

How do you deal with dust on, filters,lens and sensors. Does static affect dust.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Yes static attracts dust. For filters and lenses, you just need a decent anti static microfibre cloth (such as the official Photography Online ones!). Any dust on the sensor should be removed automatically by the camera, but if you find something more stubborn on there (such as pollen or salt residue) then you’ll need to clean it with a proper sensor cleaning fluid and swab, such as those from Visible Dust. Hope this helps

[@chadroberts44]

When are you guys going to boil water and open gates??? I’m so dissatisfied that you guys don’t do this. Haha just joking. Great information as always!

[@PhotographyOnline]

We're not qualified to walk through gates. We leave that to the real pros!

[@johnchambers6272]

This episode was brilliant, a most enjoyable watch. The segment on the eclipse was very interesting and well presented by Marcus. The clients were very fortunate to have someone of this calibre running the trip. Also totally agree with the comment made by @stuartfeen9236.

[@PhotographyOnline]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@richardlay5974]

Aha....not seen this one before😂

[@andywash]

I do wish they would give up the silly pretence that they are only 2 of them hiking up in the rain. Yet somehow someone else is filming them. We aren't stupid.

[@PhotographyOnline]

@@andywash - when did we “pretend” there were only 2 people present?

[@andywash]

@@PhotographyOnline Who is moving the camera at 4 mins 42 seconds then ? And a few seconds later it is stated that "the 2 people who know the location are not here".

[@PhotographyOnline]

@@andywash - there is a camera operator and a sound recorder present at all times, but neither of them knew the location,

[@thepiratecats801]

WTF is with the Welsh bashing? If you don't like our country, don't come here......

[@PhotographyOnline]

How did we "Welsh bash"?

[@joireson1480]

It's not their fault the welsh weather was typically welsh during their visit - be honest, it hasn't stopped raining here for 8 months, seems to be getting worse and worse. And it does take longer to drive shorter distances - that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's part of the welsh experience, to slow down and enjoy the journey - most people aren't trying to cram 15 NPs into a week!

[@appaketa]

Used to be an interesting channel. no longer 😞

[@PhotographyOnline]

I'm sure you can find something else more interesting to watch.

[@joireson1480]

I disagree - I love that it has something to inspire everyone and is injected with humour. I always find it interesting and always learn something.

[@michaelpeberday9167]

You must be watching something different to me then. Found it fun and informative. Excellent.

[@leemetcalfephotography7849]

I bet you’re fun at parties 😂 don’t tell me you watch Danson! 😂

[@MickDouglas]

Hmmm, don't know what you were watching! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole show.

[@moravcik53]

.... 10/10 excellent