Some of the best photography locations don't have a trailhead. Samuelson's Rocks—seven massive boulders bearing eight philosophical inscriptions deep in Joshua Tree National Park—is one of them. No trail, no signs, just open desert, a Milky Way overhead, and one of the most unusual night photography subjects in the American Southwest.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir photographed an aurora glowing green and purple over Kyrgyzstan on September 7, shooting from the International Space Station at an altitude of 255 miles with a Nikon Z9 at a 15mm focal length. The frame catches the green band riding the curve of the atmosphere, purple rays climbing above it, and the lights of Central Asian cities scattered across the dark below.
Want to photograph portraits that don't look like deer caught in headlights or someone telling campfire ghost stories? While we might obsess over the Milky Way, the stars, or even light painting, most photographers don't figure out how to take fantastic portraits of people in their night or astro-landscape photos—something that looks polished, dramatic, and intentional.
Night photography along the coast: it's evocative, eternal, calming—and surprisingly easy. While many of us enjoy hiking miles into the wilderness, you can create alluring night photos just steps from the car, right at the water's edge. Lighthouses, moonlit water washing over tide pools, and historic piers: the coast offers more night photography subjects than you might expect.
A $700 smart telescope and a $4,000 traditional rig pointed at the same patch of sky on the same night in northern New Mexico, and the gap between them was smaller than the price tags suggest. If you've been weighing whether a point-and-shoot device can stand in for a full Milky Way setup, this is the comparison that answers it.
If you missed the big solar eclipse earlier this month, you have a shot tonight and early tomorrow morning at seeing a deep partial lunar eclipse, where about 96% of the Moon will be covered by the Earth's shadow. The result should be a very reddish, blood-moon-like appearance.
Capturing a galaxy 12 million light years away takes clear skies, a tracking mount, hours of long exposures, and a stacking process most beginners never attempt. Getting all of that to line up in Iceland during a yellow weather warning is where the real story begins.
A single lens that sees 190 degrees, wide enough to catch what sits slightly behind you, now exists for Canon's full frame mirrorless bodies. At $1,900, the RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM sits firmly in specialist territory, and whether you can justify it comes down to how often you'd actually reach for a fisheye.
Scientists just released the highest-resolution images of the Sun's visible surface ever captured, taken in violet light at 416 nanometers. The pictures resolve features as small as 19 kilometers across and reveal tiny, swirling, whirlpool-like patterns nobody had directly seen on the Sun before.
For up to two minutes and eighteen seconds on August 12, the sky along a narrow path running from the Arctic to northern Spain will go dark in the middle of the day. Birds may fall silent, the temperature will drop, and the sun's white corona will appear around the moon.
NASA just put a photo of the Statue of Liberty Nebula in front of a global audience, and the image came from astrophotographer Logan Carpenter. The picture ran as the Astronomy Picture of the Day on July 20, 2026, spotlighting a glowing star nursery roughly 9,000 light-years away.
The Perseid meteor shower is often the most spectacular meteor shower in the Northern Hemisphere due to frequency as well as its appearance in summer. 2026 is special because the peak occurs during the darkest possible skies. Here's how to photograph it!
If you shoot long exposures at night, you know the frustration — your intervalometer dangling from your camera, swinging in the breeze, pulling on the cable. Not good. The Ruggard RTC-10 Timer-Remote Case (Standard) fixes that with a padded holder that straps directly to your tripod leg. It works great, with one Velcro gripe we'll get to shortly.
A 12-20mm zoom at f/2.8 sits right in the sweet spot for astrophotography, wide enough to swallow the Milky Way and fast enough to pull in faint starlight. Most shooters reach for a prime when the sky gets dark, which makes a zoom that can keep pace worth a real look.
Astronomers have directly imaged the faintest exoplanet ever seen from Earth, a gas giant called Beta Pictoris d — and it turns out the planet had been sitting in telescope archives for more than 11 years before anyone managed to pull it out of the noise.
Speeding down Highway 371, I received a call. The two photographers who knew the way around Bisti Badlands weren't going to show tonight. This was a problem. I had never been there, and it was basically Mother Nature's escape room.
The humble "Nifty Fifty." Many of us own a fast 50mm. However, for some reason, we almost always reach for the ultra-wide angle lens for night photography. And for good reason. They capture much of the night sky. But there are strong reasons why you should consider the "Nifty Fifty" instead, and it could improve your photography!
You'd love to purchase a quality camera, lens, and even a tripod. But photography is expensive! Is it possible to purchase these for as low as $500? Let's have a look!
I set out to photograph and light paint a mysterious, dilapidated homestead cabin in the Mojave Desert under moonlight. With nothing more than a flashlight and a single long exposure, I turned it into a glowing, cinematic scene. Here's exactly how I did it, and how you can too.
Comet PanSTARRS had a narrow visibility window, and Brent Hall had roughly 12 hours to pull together a shot. What followed was a scramble of location scouting, dead batteries, cactus needles in the leg, and a hard lesson about light pollution direction.
Picking the right small refractor for astrophotography isn't just about specs on a chart. The telescope you choose will determine which objects you can shoot well, how fast you can gather light, and whether you'll be fighting chromatic aberration every time you push your processing.
It seems smart telescopes are taking off, bringing more and more people into the astrophotography hobby. I've reviewed a few of these new categories of products, most recently the Dwarf Mini. 3, a low-priced entry in the computer-driven portable telescope offerings.
Take a peek behind the scenes at how I created several enormous, detailed night panoramas in Joshua Tree National Park. The surreal landscapes are perfect for this sort of work. Below, I'll walk through the process, gear, and a few discoveries that make panoramas better.
If I told you that there was a free app that allows you to navigate flawlessly without needing a cell signal, you'd be interested, wouldn't you? Given that I am a night photographer who frequently navigates in the dark, this is particularly useful. I wanted to share this in case it helps you as much as it has helped me.
Embarking on a journey to capture the night sky can be both exhilarating and challenging. In this article, I will share essential tips and insights from my own astrophotography adventures, guiding you through the intricacies of planning, gear selection, and settings to capture images of the cosmos.
Most night photographers use ultra-wide angle lenses when night falls. And for good reason. If they are photographing the Milky Way, it arcs over a wide expanse of sky. But night photographers shouldn’t sleep on these three lens categories, which can crank up your creativity.
These days, it’s becoming easier and more affordable to photograph our night sky. The introduction of smart telescopes has opened the door for keen amateurs and hobbyists to get started in astrophotography at a fraction of the cost of a high-end professional setup. The ZWO Seestar S30 Pro is making the growing smart telescope space even better.
When I first heard about the Dwarf Mini Smart Telescope, I have to admit I was skeptical. A smart telescope you can carry in a pocket (albeit a large pocket like a photographer's vest), plop down, and produce decent astrophotos seemed like a stretch. Smart telescopes have certainly evolved over the last few years, and I've reviewed a few of them.
I wanted to photograph and light paint a super-long exposure of a vintage tow truck with long star trails, but I also needed to do this quickly so I could continue teaching workshop participants. How did I do this? I’ll take you behind the scenes of my desert ghost town long-exposure photo.
Ten years into shooting deep space, the biggest shifts are not in your gear bag, they are in how you practice, judge progress, and stay motivated when results are messy. If you want better night-sky images without getting trapped in comparison spirals or tech paralysis, this video lays out a sharper path.
Astrophotography has been having somewhat of a renaissance over the last few years. Part of that may be the addition of high-quality digital cameras and also computers that can take away the drudgery of aligning the telescope and finding and capturing faint objects.
Astrophotography is one of the most rewarding yet undeniably expensive genres of photography. From specialized cameras to heavy mounts, the costs can quickly spiral out of control. And let’s be honest: print sales rarely make a dent in those expenses unless, maybe, you have a once-in-a-lifetime shot of Icarus flying into the sun.
One of the joys of discovering Joshua Tree National Park is learning how to photograph the night sky through night photography workshops and classes. "Half the Park is After Dark" is a National Park Service campaign slogan, after all. But this may be coming to an end.
Most night photographers never seem to have this one accessory with them. But they should. We're talking small gear, huge impact. I'll go over nine great uses for this accessory too. And one reason may have saved someone's life!
Astrophotography gets frustrating fast when your target is in the wrong place, your gear is mismatched, or your files become chaos by the end of the season. Dialing in a few core habits around planning, hardware choices, filters, and focus lets you spend more time gathering good data instead of fighting problems at 2:00 a.m.
Choosing a tripod can be agonizing. The good news? You don’t need to empty your wallet to get one. As a night photographer, I'll reveal four great tripods for photography that nail the sweet spot for stability, functionality, weight—and yes, price. After all, if a tripod can survive a night photographer’s abuse, it’ll be more than good enough for you.
“Why does that dog look green?” From that startling comment, my parents discovered that I was red-green colorblind. But is it possible to be a colorblind photographer? We examine this interesting dilemma.
Pentax released Star AF in the United States recently. Of course, I had to kick the tires on it. And yeah, it's good. Really good. I describe my “real-world” experience with it during two night photography trips to Joshua Tree National Park in California to photograph the Milky Way.
What Is Star AF?
Think about the most important photo you want to create. Is it a great wedding photo of celebrities? Maybe documenting a historic event? I've had photos published in National Geographic, had museum exhibitions, and won awards. But it turns out the most important (and romantic) photo I've made was a simple night photo created with a flashlight!
"That's not real, that's AI!" If you post night photos on social media, you've most likely received comments like this before. It's the new way of saying, "You Photoshopped that!" Why do so many people think night photos are fake?
Ten or twelve years ago, I didn't get very many people commenting that my night photos were fake. So what changed?
How do you go about photographing and "light painting" a 350-foot-long dragon serpent? There were also some problems to solve. I'll reveal all the behind-the-scenes secrets and more of how I captured this giant dragon under the stars.
I set out to photograph and light paint a collapsing market in Desert Center, California. Here’s how I pulled it off. I'll take you behind the scenes of my desert ghost town night photography safari.
Astrophotography is growing rapidly in popularity. Better and more reasonably priced equipment, computer control, and a heightened interest in what is in the night sky have all combined to expand the number of photographers who do night sky imaging. Some create landscapes, better termed “nightscapes,” while others focus on capturing planets, nebulae, and galaxies.
We have all been there. It is pre-dawn at a landscape you’ve been waiting for weeks to shoot, or you’re packing up after a wedding reception has ended. You need to find that memory card you just dropped, but your phone flashlight just isn’t cutting it. While a phone flashlight is certainly convenient, it is rarely the right tool for the job.
Want to walk through your own night photo while remaining invisible? It'd be a great superpower for light painting. It turns out night photographers do it all the time. And it’s not Photoshop magic. It’s a simple trick for light painting that works with long exposure night photography that will take your night photography to the next level.
The Superpower of Invisibility
Do you wish your camera could autofocus on stars—without reframing? Good news. The venerable Pentax K-1 DSLR now has Star AF available in the U.S. Autofocusing on pinpoint stars just got a whole lot easier—and you can forget endless pixel-peeping.
If you want to find out about six essential apps for night (and day) photography, you've come to the right place. Whether you have iOS or Android, these apps will greatly enhance your photography. The sixth one is surely one that doesn't make it on many photography app lists!
Clear OutsideFree: Android or iOS
Auto White Balance (AWB) works for some scenarios. Night photography is not one of them. Here are five solid reasons to ditch AWB—and how doing so can instantly improve your night photography game.
Yes, there's really a rock in the shape of a heart in Joshua Tree National Park! This is the story behind this night photo, including how I went about lighting it.
What Is Light Painting?
We take you behind the scenes to reveal how you can use handheld light to create photos such as this mysterious abandoned modern house in the Mojave Desert.