James Ciarlo' Nature Photography

James Ciarlo' Nature Photography I’m a climate scientist, science communicator, and nature photographer. All images © James Ciarlo'

On this page, I’ll be sharing photos of landscapes, wildlife, and cloudscapes, along with insights about the subjects that inspire them.

23/08/2026

Solar Rotation

This is a 37 day sequence showing the rotation of our Sun's photosphere. Thanks to the sun spots you can observe the equatorial rotation, which takes around 25 days, but the slower ~34 day rotation is more difficult to observe.

This video shows the same sequence repeated 3 times.

Checkout the interactive version of this sequence, developed by Ian Fenech Conti here: https://crimson-boat-e668.ciarlo-james.workers.dev/

22/08/2026

Capturing the rotation of the sun

I can finally share the last goal of my solar photography project. The sun rotates once every ~25 days in its own equatorial regions, and every ~34 days in its poles. I took photos for 37 consecutive days to have a little extra (those few cloudy days at the end of July almost ruined my sequence).

It needed quite a bit of research and training on new tools, but I am really pleased with the result.

A special thank you goes out to Ian Fenech Conti who developed a interactive tool for this sequence. You can check it out here: https://crimson-boat-e668.ciarlo-james.workers.dev/

🎵Triple5 Here - Yellow Star

19/08/2026

Telephoto Eclipse

This is a timelapse built from photos I took with my 600mm telephoto lens (together with my camera's 1.5x crop factor). It proved tougher to achieve than I anticipated, so I'll cover the challenges first and then move on to the observations.

Since I don't have a motion tracker, the frames ended up all over the place, and I had to realign the camera constantly. I used a Python script to detect the shape of the sun, which worked remarkably well, though it struggled towards the end of the eclipse, hence the jitter you'll notice.

I also had to adjust the settings a few times, and this, combined with the constant realignment, left big gaps in the timelapse that are easy to spot in the video.

Despite all my gripes with the result, I still love it. The timelapse shows some wiggling along the edge of the sun and the moon's occlusion: distortions caused by the differing atmospheric densities as the sun sinks towards the horizon. At times the haze plays a part in darkening the image too, which made the post-processed alignment all the more challenging.

Finally, the music. It captures a personal sense of peace I feel now that this video is complete, and I think it works beautifully as an audible companion to this natural phenomenon.

🎵 JMHBM - Infinite

The Sun, the Moon, and the AtmosphereAlthough visible for only 14 minutes, the eclipse of the 12th of August was a true ...
16/08/2026

The Sun, the Moon, and the Atmosphere

Although visible for only 14 minutes, the eclipse of the 12th of August was a true spectacle! Possibly since it was the first time I observed it through my photography. I have built these images to highlight how the sun, the moon, and the atmosphere interact; a result worthy of the magical world of C.S. Lewis.

Circular Eclipse: this first image shows the eclipse up until the sun touched the horizon. It captures the shifting colour and brightness of a sunset alongside the progression of the eclipse. You can also note the gradual flattening of the sun, together with other irregular distortions of its circular shape. As the sunlight nears the horizon, it passes through far more of the atmosphere than when it sits higher in the sky, crossing layers of differing temperature and density that distort the image through refraction.

Sunset Eclipse: this image is built from photos taken without a solar filter, since the sun grows very dim at the horizon. Here the flattening and atmospheric distortions are more dramatic, and we can also see an inferior mirage, a partial reflection touching the horizon. It is not a true reflection but refraction, produced by the sharper temperature differences in the air close to the sea surface. My favourite detail is the green flash (4th frame). It is hard to see, but just above the top of the sun, the same distortions drag out the green component of the sunlight.

Changing Solar Perspective: the final image shows two photos of the sun on the day of the eclipse: morning and evening. Both reveal sunspots: short-lived (days/weeks) concentrated zones of magnetism that reduce convection and hence appear as darker patches on the surface. The sun's axis of rotation does not truly change, but as the day progresses (with the Earth's rotation), that axis "appears" to change, shifting the sunspots' position across the disc.

These images were minor objectives of my solar photography project: experiments, and massive geek-outs, that will become more prominent in the coming days as I conclude this personal project.

Sunset EclipseOnce the sun was low on the horizon, I took off the solar filter and it was pure bliss. The atmospheric di...
12/08/2026

Sunset Eclipse

Once the sun was low on the horizon, I took off the solar filter and it was pure bliss. The atmospheric distortions, the inferior mirage on the horizon, the sunspots, the eclipsing moon, even a hint of a green flash! Absolutely stunning!

12/08/2026

This evening's eclipse. Had to move the phone - so the timelapse is a bit messed up, but it was still great.

🎵 Vlad Annenkov - Dawn Awakening

Photos coming soon...

All set for the eclipse!
12/08/2026

All set for the eclipse!

10/08/2026

This post is a brief departure from my usual photography activity, but instead focuses on my expertise as a climate scientist. 🌍

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of being invited on NET Television's Perspettivi for an interview with Michaela Bayliss, to talk about climate change, and what it means both for the world and for us here in Malta.

The interview ranged from the basics of what climate change actually is, to the heatwaves and stronger storms that come with it. We also discussed why our recent summers have felt so relentless (the role of El Niño included), and what we might realistically expect in the years ahead.

My sincere thanks to Michaela and the team at NET TV for the invitation. 🙏

---

Dan il-post huwa ftit differenti mill-attività fotografika tas-soltu tiegħi, iżda minflok jiffoka fuq l-għarfien espert tiegħi bħala xjenzat tal-klima. 🌍

Il-Ħamis li għadda, kelli l-pjaċir li nkun mistieden fuq il-programm Perspettivi ta' NET TV għal intervista ma' Michaela Bayliss, biex nitkellem dwar it-tibdil fil-klima, u xi jfisser kemm għad-dinja kif ukoll għalina hawn Malta.

L-intervista kopriet firxa ta' suġġetti, mill-bażi ta' x'inhu fil-fatt it-tibdil fil-klima, sal-mewġ ta' sħana u l-maltempati aktar qawwija li jiġu miegħu. Iddiskutejna wkoll għaliex is-sjuf reċenti tagħna kienu daqshekk intensi (inkluż ir-rwol ta' El Niño), u x'nistgħu realistikament nistennew fis-snin li ġejjin.

Nirringrazzja mill-qalb lil Michaela u lit-tim ta' NET TV għall-istedina. 🙏

Eyes on the future.....And the future is another leaf!Grand as it looks, perched here scanning some distant horizon, the...
09/08/2026

Eyes on the future...
..And the future is another leaf!

Grand as it looks, perched here scanning some distant horizon, the ambitions of this leaf beetle (Labidostomis sp.) probably don't reach past its next meal or mate.

This little leaf beetle caught my eye at Għajn Riħanna in June 2024, as it appeared to be preparing for flight. The second photo comes from five weeks earlier, in Mellieħa, where a small crowd of the same species took to the air, likely searching for a mate.

Both images are, in a sense, happy accidents. I had set out to catch these beetles sharp and frozen in flight. The first is a failure at exactly that, yet it gave me a product I love. The second caught the flight I was after, though the focus slipped and the composition wandered.

Neither is quite the shot I imagined. But somewhere between the two sits the image I'm still chasing, and I'll keep my eyes on the horizon for it.

08/08/2026

Before next week's partial eclipse, I went out to try my setup for a sunset.

The end of the video shows some interesting results and cool atmospheric distortions, so make sure to watch to the end.

And don't forget, Wednesday 12th August, the patial eclipse starts at 19:41!

🎵 Sundown - Mr Smith

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