Some experiences only happen once. For me, August 12, 2026 was one of them: Spain’s first total solar eclipse in over a century. It wasn’t just about pointing a camera at the sky — it was months of planning, three full evenings of testing, last-minute nerves… and a minute and a half of totality I’ll never forget. Here’s how I organized it, what I learned along the way, and which techniques I used, so that if you’re passionate about photography, you can properly prepare for the next total eclipse Spain will experience: on August 2, 2027.
A trip booked months in advance
We already knew, from previous night photography experience with a fellow photographer whose brother knew the area well, that Fangar Bay had spectacular sunsets. So months ahead of the eclipse we booked the boat trip from the port of L’Ampolla to the Mirador Badia platform, right in the middle of the bay, to spend the whole afternoon and evening there watching the Sun set with the eclipse already underway, with the small Cardó-Boix mountain range (between L’Ampolla and Tortosa) as a backdrop.
Before booking anything, we planned with PhotoPills to check exactly which spot would let us capture as much of the eclipse as possible before the Sun dropped below the horizon. With the framing and timings verified in the app, we booked a hotel nearby and waited for the day to arrive.
💡 Key reference: we closely followed the advice of Antoni Cladera, PhotoPills’ lead photographer, who had previous experience shooting other eclipses — especially when it came to managing the dramatic light changes between phases.
The gear: simple but specific
Photographing a solar eclipse doesn’t require a huge kit, but it does need a few very specific pieces that don’t have shortcuts:
Three evenings of testing before the big day
Since this was our first time dealing with such a brutal swing in light between shots, we didn’t want to improvise. We ran our field tests from the terrace of the Ullastrell water tower, facing Montserrat, over three consecutive evenings to dial in the mode, aperture and shutter speed.
Here are the final settings we landed on:
- Mode: Manual
- Aperture: f/8 (and f/11 for a few very bright shots)
- Shutter speed: between 1/500 and 1/800, for the two darkening phases with the filter on
- Diamond rings (left and right) and totality: HDR / 7-shot bracketing with one stop of separation between exposures, which let us capture the dynamic range of both phases properly
💡 Testing story: the first filter we bought didn’t behave the same way across cameras — it worked fine on some full-frame bodies but not on others. After three evenings of testing we ditched the trial-and-error approach and bought glass filters from K&F Concept, which turned out to be far more consistent.
Even with prior HDR experience, it was still a real challenge to change camera settings in a matter of seconds, reframe, meter the light, refocus, and fire off several 7-shot series, only to have to change everything again in under 1.4 minutes.
The full sequence, phase by phase
From first contact to last, here’s how the eclipse unfolded that evening over Fangar Bay:
Before the eclipse: full sun, with sunspots visible.
First contact: the Moon begins to bite into the solar disk.
The partial phase progresses.
The Sun reduced to a thin crescent.
Seconds before totality: barely a thread of light left.
The diamond ring entering totality, with a solar prominence visible.
Totality: the solar corona in full splendor.
The second diamond ring, exiting totality.
Back to the partial phase, with warmer tones from the atmosphere.
The Sun grows back, now close to sunset.
The final visible phases, with the Sun almost on the horizon.
The setting: the mussel farms of Fangar Bay.
And when night fell, the Milky Way
After dinner in L’Ampolla, we still had energy for more. We headed to the Sant Joan Tower in the Ebro Delta, next to Poble Nou del Delta, and looking south toward the Trabucador sandbar, we captured this shot of the Milky Way. The perfect closing note to a day that had started with an eclipse and ended under a completely clear, star-filled sky.
The Ebro Delta is just one example of what’s out there beyond Barcelona. If you’re looking for a guided photography experience outside the city, join one of my day trips with a local photographer who knows every corner.
