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 Orionid Meteor Shower
The Orionid meteor shower allows photographers to capture pieces of one of the most famous comets in history. Every Orionid meteor begins as debris left behind by Halley’s Comet. When Earth passes through that stream of material each October, tiny…
Best Camera Settings for Meteor Shower Photography
Meteor shower photography creates an unusual exposure problem. Your camera photographs two very different things at the same time: a meteor that may remain visible for only a fraction of the exposure and a night sky that keeps collecting light…
Meteor Shower Photography for Beginners
A brilliant meteor can cross the sky in seconds, yet photographing one successfully has surprisingly little to do with quick reflexes. Meteor shower photography works best when the camera is already taking pictures before the meteor appears. Instead of standing…
How to Photograph the 2026 Draconid Meteor Shower
The 2026 Draconid meteor shower gives photographers something most meteor showers don’t: a realistic opportunity to start shooting soon after darkness falls. Instead of planning an all-night session that becomes productive only before dawn, you can compose during twilight, establish…
How to Photograph the Northern Lights With an iPhone
Seeing the Northern Lights is exciting enough. Realizing that the iPhone in your pocket can photograph colors and patterns that may look much fainter to your eyes makes the experience even more remarkable. Photographing the aurora with an iPhone is…
Best Camera Settings for Northern Lights Photography
Northern Lights photography becomes much easier once you stop looking for one perfect combination of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The aurora can be faint and barely moving one minute, then suddenly become bright enough to illuminate the landscape while…
How to Photograph the Northern Lights
The Northern Lights can change from a faint green glow near the horizon to brilliant ribbons twisting across the sky within minutes. That unpredictability is exactly what makes photographing the aurora borealis so exciting. It also explains why no single…
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 Take Film Photos at Night
Taking film photos at night changes the entire rhythm of photography. During daylight, you can often react quickly. After dark, every decision becomes more deliberate. Streetlights replace sunlight. Shadows grow deeper. Shutter speeds become slower. Bright signs can sit only…
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…
