Someone captured the solar eclipse passing the CN Tower

If you've been looking for the superlative solar eclipse shot from Toronto, you can stop now. Local cinematographer Jon Simo captured an amazing image of the moon-covered sun passing by the CN Tower when the eclipse was approaching its peak in our area.

While the moment happened in an instant, actually getting the shot took a whole lot of work. Learning the back story will probably make you feel a bit better about the crappy phone pics that you took.

Here's how he recounted the process on social media:

"I shot this with a bit of luck and a lot of planning. Using Google Earth, I was able to remotely walk around Toronto in advance to select a good location where the sun would intersect with the CN Tower."

After finding my location, I scouted it in advance and took some test photos in order to dial in my exposure so I'd be ready for the event during the actual eclipse.

I used a tripod for this shot and had to comp together the sun and the tower after the fact, as exposing both at the same time is impossible."

The other factor in this incredible shot is the extremely long lens that Simo used, which creates the enlarged effect of the eclipse. That's not how it looked for many of us who peered up yesterday, but I'm grateful to get this up close vantage point.