October’s Hunter’s Moon arrives at one of the year’s most visually interesting times for photography. Autumn color may still be clinging to trees. Bare branches are beginning to appear. Darkness arrives earlier, temperatures are cooler, and the landscape can take…
How to Photograph the Harvest Moon at Moonrise
Watching the Harvest Moon emerge from the horizon is very different from photographing it later in a completely dark sky. At moonrise, the lunar disk may begin as a deep amber circle barely visible through haze. A few minutes later,…
Best Camera Settings for the Harvest Moon
Few sights announce the arrival of fall quite like a huge golden Moon climbing above the horizon. The Harvest Moon can appear deep orange when it first rises, shift toward yellow as it gains altitude, then become much brighter and…
How to Photograph the September 2026 Harvest Moon
The September 2026 Harvest Moon offers photographers more than a bright circle in a dark sky. This is an opportunity to photograph the Moon low on the horizon, surrounded by early-evening colors and visually connected to buildings, trees, fields, water,…
Why Does the Moon Look So Small in My Photos
You step outside, see an enormous Moon hanging over the horizon, raise your camera, take the photograph, and then wonder what happened. The Moon that looked spectacular to your eyes suddenly appears like a tiny white dot in the photograph….
Why Is the Moon Overexposed in My Photos
You look up and see an incredible Moon filled with craters, shadows, texture, and subtle variations in brightness. Then you photograph it and discover something completely different on the camera screen. Instead of lunar detail, you have a glowing white…
How to Edit Lunar Eclipse Photos Without Making the Moon Look Fake
A lunar eclipse can produce some of the most extraordinary colors you will ever photograph in the night sky. Copper, burnt orange, brick red, amber, deep brown, and subtle crimson may all appear as Earth’s shadow travels across the lunar…
How to Use Exposure Bracketing for Lunar Eclipse Photography
Lunar eclipse photography creates an exposure problem that ordinary Moon photography rarely presents. During part of the eclipse, one section of the Moon may remain intensely bright while another sits deep inside Earth’s shadow. Later, the illuminated area can shrink…
How to Photograph the Red Moon During a Lunar Eclipse
Few sights in night photography are as striking as watching a familiar bright Moon gradually turn copper, rust, orange, or deep red during a lunar eclipse. Photographing that transformation presents a different challenge from ordinary Moon photography. The red Moon…
How to Photograph a Lunar Eclipse With a Landscape
A close-up photograph of an eclipsed Moon can reveal craters, color, texture, and the dramatic edge of Earth’s shadow. Yet another way to photograph a lunar eclipse can be even more memorable. Show where the eclipse happened. Place the copper-colored…
What Lens Do You Need for Lunar Eclipse Photography
One of the first questions photographers ask before a lunar eclipse is deceptively simple: What lens do you need for lunar eclipse photography? The easy answer would be “use the longest lens you can find.” That is not always the…
Lunar Eclipse Photography Settings Cheat Sheet
Photographing a lunar eclipse would be considerably easier if the Moon stayed the same brightness all night. During the early stages, the lunar surface can be intensely bright against a black sky. As Earth’s shadow advances, that brightness falls. Near…
