I know this photo is rubbish, but I would appreciate feedback on photographing the sun ahead of Wednesday's eclipse.
This is through an 8-stop ND filter and then tinted and on high contrast to show detail.
Amanda, I believe you need a LOT more than an 8-stop ND to capture the sun in any detail. The best I can suggest if that's the only filter available to you is to go with as low an ISO as you can get, and stop it down as much as you possibly can - f/32 or better if your lens goes that low.
If you can get your hands on a piece of welder's glass before the eclipse, that would make an adequate - though off-color - filter. The best option for you is if you can get some Baader Solar Film before Wednesday. I'm not sure if anyone in your area sells it and can overnight it to you.
If you have a circular polarizer you could stack that on the nd and add another 2 stops of filtering. Your camera doesn't have live view so it's much harder to pull focus, not a good idea to stare through the viewfinder even with the filters. You could take some shots of the moon and use tape to mark the position of the focus ring for a subject at infinity. Then carefully cut the tape between the focus ring and the lens body, you should be able to get it lined up easily in daylight. Don't go much higher f/stop, narrower aperture, than f/11 or diffraction effects will soften the image substantially. If you could get a welding filter and use painters tape to attach it to the front of your lens shoot in BW and colorized it in PP.
If you can get your hands on a piece of welder's glass before the eclipse, that would make an adequate - though off-color - filter. The best option for you is if you can get some Baader Solar Film before Wednesday. I'm not sure if anyone in your area sells it and can overnight it to you.
I started this thread about a month ago on that very topic. There may be some comments in there that help as well:
http://365project.org/discuss/tips-n-tricks/14740/solar-photography