Articles from Ken Lee

Here are several easy tips so you can use your tripod like a pro. You'll get the most from your tripod this way, with lessons drawn from professional night photographers who use tripods in genuinely challenging conditions.

Pros use quality tripods. They know better.

You've noticed that tripods come with two basic kinds of locks: twist locks and lever locks. They're quite different. Which should you purchase? I'll tell you my experiences and observations.

The Robus RC-5570 has high-quality twist locks.

How do you photograph something like this? Two enormous radio telescopes, the Milky Way rising between them, and a foreground that actually has detail instead of disappearing into blackness. The answer involves a little planning, some tricks to reduce noise, a way to light the radio telescopes, and access to one of the most extraordinary locations in California.

Have you felt burned out? Stuck? Lacked motivation? Had a fear of failure or felt silly? I will discuss several approaches for creating opportunities for creativity to flourish. You never know, but for some, this might be one of the most influential photography articles they ever read.

You write a prompt. Adobe edits your photo accordingly. The AI Assisted Editor, released August 31, 2026, as part of Photoshop 27.10, lets you edit images simply by describing what you want in plain English. Just type what you want, and the AI figures it out. You'll find out what happened when I let it loose on my Milky Way photos.

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.

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.

The JOYROOM PODIX 140W 5-Port Desktop GaN Charger is designed to eliminate your desktop's cable spaghetti. This compact cube offers five charging ports, including two built-in retractable USB-C cables, a 140 W total output, and a live LCD display showing real-time power draw per port.

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.

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. 

Chargers are the gear no one thinks about — at least until there is a need. Anker sent their Anker Prime Charging Station (8-in-1, 240W), a smart charger with app control. Who might benefit from this? And why might they need app control? 

Want to reclaim your desk space and maybe even reduce the pain in your neck by optimizing your viewing angle? Consider a monitor arm. Here, we take a look at the HUANUO FlowLift™ Single Monitor Mount (formerly SS6, but still model HNSS6). I also discuss the HUANUO Universal VESA Mount Adapter Kit (Model HNMUA4), which was needed for my particular monitor. How well did they work?

The WANDRD PRVKE 21 L has been a popular camera bag, typically nailing its Kickstarter campaign goals just minutes after launching. V4 of this bag has just been released. This is a review of the 21 L Zip, with this model dispensing with the roll-top. I'll go over what I like and what I didn't like.