Solar eclipse 12 August 2026 in The Netherlands captured with digital camera equipped with Neutral-density filters

SONY RX10-iv 600mm ISO200 f/4 1/15 sec. time 20:02
Dimensions of the sun on this image: 780x725 pixels
Original image: 5472x3648 pixels.

The solar eclipse 2026 was a total eclipse in Iceland and Spain, and partial in The Netherlands. The weather was perfect, completely cloudless, but a littlle bit too hot at first. The maximum was around 20:10 in the evening, with 90% coverage. Because the sun was low on the horizon, a location was required with a good view to the West without trees or buildings, in this case a nature reserve (Westbroekse Zodden). The last contact was around 21:03 and sunset at 21:10.

At a previous solar eclipse I used an improvised method to photograph the eclipse. This time I used photographic HOYA PROND EX - ND500 filters. These are Neutral-density filters (ND filters) which reduce the intensity of all wavelengths of light equally, giving no changes in hue of color rendition. The filters can be combined. To ensure that the camera sensor would not be damaged, I used two of them on top of each other (1) and on top of the standard UV filter. Still, I didn't dare photograph the beginning of the eclipse and waited until the maximum. 

Manual focus required (∞). I used diaphragm f/4,0 because higher settings didn't work well. I used the SONY RX10-iv with maximum zoom 600mm, see pictures. I succeeded in making a few sharply focused photos but I stopped at the moment the sensor seem to produce distorted images. Luckily, it turned out afterwards that the sensor was not damaged! 

©A.B.

Subjectively speaking, the eclipse at the moment of the maximum coverage of 90% was somewhat disappointing; it didn't get really dark. However, the colors in the landscape did fade noticeably, and it became less warm. The human side: people came together from all over to admire the eclipse at the hospot I had chosen. It was a social happening. There was a cheerful and friendly atmosphere.

©A.B

Next solar eclipse: 2 Aug 2027 (49%).

 

Notes 

1. Warning: don't tighten the filters too much! I couldn't get mine apart anymore! I eventually managed to get mine loose again after all. One ND500 filter equals 9 stops down. Two of them equals 18 stops down! So I have used more than recommended ND100.000 (16.6 stops) and coud have easily made pictures of the start of the eclipse. See for table ND filters and stops: Fotograferen met filters and Zonsverduistering fotograferen: de complete gids voor 12 augustus 2026. 

 

Previous blogs

• Zonsverduistering fotograferen met een gewone digitale camera? Het kan! (29 maart 2025) Solar eclipse with standard digital camera. 31 Maart 2025
• Maansverduistering Maandag 21 januari 2019. Lunar eclipse.  21 Jan 2019
• Totale maansverduistering maandag 28 september 2015 groot succes ondanks slechte weersvoorspellingen. 28 Sep 2015

Spiderweb colors violate the rainbow rule

Spiderweb (overview). Backlight [1]

According to the laws of physics, rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the sun [2]. Here I show that spiderwebs violate this rule by pictures of spiderwebs with backlight resulting in rainbow-like colors as well.

Kruisspin / Garden Cross Spider / Araneus diadematus 

Detail. length ~ 1 cm / 0,4 inches

Straight white lines demarcate a sector of the spiderweb circle
that lights up selectively. The rest is faintly visible and colorless.
The lines meet at the center of the web,
and seem to point towards the sun.

detail of previous picture. Click to enlarge.

So the part of the spider web circle that lights up seems to be a segment which points to the sun [3]. Furthermore, as shown in the previous blog, the threads of the web consist of many small segments with different colors. Contrary to the previous blog, these pictures are taken towards the sun. The fact that colors are seen at all contradict the physical rules for the formation of a rainbow by the sun. A possible explanation could be that the spider web threads are not made up of water droplets but of proteins...   

Garden Cross Spider
This little spider had nothing to eat for a week.
Finally she caught a fly! Enjoy your meal!
Note the difference in size!

An adult Garden Cross Spider
built its web on the window of the barn door.
Fortunately we could still use the door!
By the way: this location is perfect to investigate the effect
of different directions of the sunlight
because you can move the door without damaging the web!
Addtionally you can photograph the web from both directions!

 

Notes

1. The main light source, the sun, is behind the spider, facing the camera and photographer. Note: in Dutch this is called 'een tegenlicht opname'.
2. Thanks Rolie Barth and Matt Young for pointing this out. See for example wikipedia article Rainbow.  
3. However, I did not investigate this effect systematically!

Previous blogs

• Accidental discovery of the ultra finestructure of the web of the Garden Cross Spider [+additional pictures].  29 June 2026
• Araneus diadematus. Panda's Thumb Photography Contest. July 27, 2026

Links

• Spider web colorations on Youtube (high quality photographs, much better than mine!)
• Glistening spider silk with beautiful pictures of Dietrich Zawischa

Read more...

Accidental discovery of the ultra finestructure of the web of the Garden Cross Spider [+additional pictures]

Kruisspin / Garden Cross Spider / Araneus diadematus ©GK
One radial line is visible.

Yesterday my attention was drawn by an orange coloured spider illuminated by the sun. I was forced to underexpose the photo by 2 stops to get the right exposure of the spider. It appeared to be the common Garden Cross Spider (Kruisspin). But what me surprised the most was one thread (fiber) of the web:

Here is a detail of the thread (cut into two parts). A remarkable pattern of very fine stripes with all the colours of the rainbow emerged. I've never seen such a pattern. I expected a continuous thread. Furthermore, lengthwise along the thread, I see 3 dark lines. That would imply that the thread is not one thread, but a combination several (four?) threads.  

detail, 2x zoom, high contrast, b&w.

Why in heaven's name this very detailed structure? What is going on? How does the spider manage to create this pattern? And what is its function (if it has a function at all)?

Afterwards I realized that I have been extremely lucky. First, the sun must illuminate the web at the right angle to make the thread and the pattern visible. Spider webs are supposed to be invisible to be effective! In the shadow, you see absolutely nothing. I was also lucky that a thread was nearly parallel to the camera sensor, which keeps it in focus over a sufficient length of the thread. Secondly, I underexposed the photo to get the spider right. As a side effect the pattern appeared. I almost never underexpose a photo. Normal or overexposure make the fine details disappear. Thirdly, I was lucky there was no annoying wind that could move the web. Because web threads are so thin, the slightest breeze brings them out of focus. Wind is the enemy of macrophotography. Finally, it was a clean and fresh web in the garden, so no house dust attached. 

 

The science behind it

I know that scientists have analysed the chemical composition of the threads. The threads are made of Spidroins proteins that form the majority of spider silk fibers. 

Major Ampullate Spidroin Structure. The repetitive domains of major ampullate (dragline) silk consists of alternating regions of polyalanine and glycine-rich sequences. These repetitive domains are important for the strong and elastic features of the dragline silk fibers ( Xu and Lewis,1990). (Synthetic Spider Silk Production)

It seems very unlikely that what we are seeing here are alternating regions of  Alanine and Glycine (Amino Acids) rich regions in the proteins. More likely we see crystalline and non-crystalline regions in the threads? Maybe different spidroins? I have really no idea. There is a lot to explore...

Surprisingly, I did not find similar pictures of the fine structure of spider web threads in the relevant Wikipedia pages, Spidroins, Spider silk and Spider web.

 

June 30 / July 1: some edits in the text, +1 picture.

 

Additional pictures

8 July 2026

[4684-detail] original positions. GK.

[4669-detail] main thread. GK.

[4658-detail] original positions. GK

[4657-detail] original positions. GK

 

[4654-detail] original positions. GK.

All pictures with a factor -2 to -3 stops under-exposure. Kruisspin / Garden Cross Spider. They are not enlarged. Macrolens Sony 90mm. Threads have direct sunlight from behind the photographer. No artificial light source. All threads except one [4669] are connecting threads. See here for the anatomy of a spider web.

What stands out is that no threads are the same.  Can all this be explained by pure optics??? That is: no internal structure of the threads???

 

9 July: Meanwhile, I have made pictures with the sun in front of the camera ('tegenlicht'). They also show the usual patterns depending on the angle of the sun's rays. Direct sunlight is necessary. The sun must not be wholly or partially covered by clouds. Also, the cross bands are never visible across the entire web at the same time. This can be interpreted either as differences in the structure of the threads themselves or as a difference in the angle at which the sunbeams strike the web. The fact that the visibility of structures highly depend on sunlight is in no way an argument against the existence of structures. In biology structures are always made visible by chemical or optical techniques. For example, chromosome bands are only visible when stained, but are absolutely real.

 

Further Reading

• Optical effects on spider webs by Dietrich Zawischa (beautiful pictures with explanations)
• Accidental Observations by Dietrich Zawischa is a collection of remarkable optical effects in everyday life. (With thanks to Matt Young) (22 July 2026)
• Wikipedia: Orb web spiders, Orb web construction