Lunar eclipse, totality.
Lunar eclipse, March 14, 2025. Click the image to see a larger version.
Exposure Data: Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm lens at 400mm, f/8, 1 sec, ISO 3200.
Lunar Eclipse
Category Archives: Night Photography
How To See and Photograph the Blood Moon Eclipse, March 13-14, 2025
Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse from Lamoni Iowa, May 15, 2022.
Don’t miss it. This total eclipse happens this Thursday-Friday, May 13-14 (depending on your time zone). This article will show you how to photograph it. To see it, just grab a lawn chair, a warm blanket, a cup of hot chocolate, and go outside and enjoy the show. A pair of binoculars adds to the show. Continue reading
Metering Nighttime Winter Scenes
Twilight, Rocky Mountain National Park. Sirius, Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, the Hyades star cluster, and the Pleiades star cluster are all visible in the fading light. Click for a larger version.
You can photograph the night sky year around, but winter brings an added bonus: SNOW! When you don’t have the benefit of moonlight, most of the year land forms a dark to black silhouetted skyline against the night sky. In winter you have the possibility of including the highly reflective snow. You can see both in this photo. Any place not covered with snow is very dark to black. Having reflective snow is why winter is the favorite time of year for a lot of photographers to go out and photograph the night sky.
Jewel Box Lighting, The Basics
The Temple, Independence Missouri
Jewel Box Lighting is a name given to photos taken in the evening when lighted buildings, monuments, bridges, and Christmas lights look so nice against the deepening sky colors. This article will show you how to do it with a digital camera. If you are using a film camera, read this article.
Jewel Box Lighting at Christmas
Jewel-Box Lighting.
Jewel Box Lighting can be very effective at Christmas. I was one my way home and spotted this house. The sky was just about perfect for Jewel-box lighting so I stopped in the street (after making sure no cars were coming), rolled down my car window, and grabbed quick photo with my iPhone.
How To: “Jewel Box Lighting” at the Franklin Park Conservatory
Bruce Munro: Light. Franklin Park Conservatory
Jewel Box Lighting is the art of combining lights, lighted buildings, or lighted objects with a deep blue evening sky. It is a great way to do photography and the exhibit this week at the Franklin Park Observatory is a wonderful opportunity to practice this technique and come away with some unique and memorable images.
Jewel Box Lighting for Lighted Buildings
Helene Center for the Visual Arts, Graceland University.
“Jewel Box Lighting” is a technique for photographing lighted buildings, city lights, or Christmas lights in late evening light so it looks like night but there is some color left in the sky. For lighted buildings it works best if the exterior of the building is at least partially lit by flood lights. The technical challenge is to balance the lighting on the building with the deep blue of the sky.
Buyer’s Guide: Recommendations For The Best Photography Equipment, Software, Books, DVDs, Online Photo Labs, and More
Welcome to my online buying guide for photographers. With over 80 articles it is one of the most comprehensive photography buyer’s guides on the web.
I get lots of photo questions, especially at this time of year, and many of them begin with “What is the best . . . .” They usually come from photographers or someone who is shopping for a photographer. If you are shopping for yourself, or for a photographer in your life, this series is for you.
My “best of the best” series recommends the best photo gear, accessories, software, books, DVDs, online photo labs, and a whole lot more. Thanks to the information in these articles I get emails from photographers thanking me for saving them time, frustration, and a lot of money.
This article is reposted annually in November with some updates in between. Reposted: November 30, 2024. Most recent update: December 19, 2024.
How to Photograph Christmas Lights with Your DSLR, Mirrorless Camera, or Smartphone
Christmas Lights, Easton Shopping Center, Columbus, OH
‘Tis the season and there are a lot of Christmas lights out there to photograph. It is fun and easy, and with a few tricks up your sleeve there are creative things you can do. Many of these techniques can be used on other lights throughout the year, so this is a good time to practice your skills for photographing lights.
Tonight: Supermoon, Jupiter and Jupiter’s 4 Moons
Stellarium: Jupiter and it’s four moons tonight around 9:15 pm local time.
After you look at the supermoon tonight, the last supermoon until Oct 7, 2025, look at Jupiter, the brightest object below and to the left of the moon. With 10X binoculars and something steady to rest them on, you can see Jupiter’s four Galilean moons. It is a pretty sight. Galileo spotted these moons in December 1609 or January 1610 and by March 1610 he figured out from their motion they were Jupiter’s moons and not stars. This diagram (above) shows you which moon is which tonight. Ganymede and Callisto are quite close together.
How to Find and Photograph Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, also called C/2023 A3. Cropped. Click the image to see a larger version.
Comet C/2023 A3 over Lake La Shane, Iowa. Venus is at the lower left. A jet left a vapor trail that is slowly dissolving. This is cropped from the original image. The whole image is next. Continue reading
How to See and Photograph the Perseid Meteor Shower Tonight
Perseid Meteor photographed from Rose Hill Cemetery west of Lamoni, Iowa. 4:55 am CDT, August 13, 2018. Cropped from the original image.
Tonight, August 11-12, is the predicted peak night of the Perseid Meteor Shower this year. But you can also look for the next few nights. This article will tell you what you need to know to see and photograph the most popular meteor shower of the year.
“Where exactly was I when I took those photos?”
Ludington Dunes in the moonlight. Click the image for a larger version.
My primary camera, a DSLR, does not record the GPS location of my photos. Why does it matter? Some photo editors will not publish a photo unless you provide accurate GPS coordinates of the image location. Of course I knew I was approximately a couple of hundred yards up the beach from the parking lot, but not precisely where I was. Plus I am curious. Some of my photos are taken in less obvious locations and I like to know where I was when I clicked the shutter.
Metering Nighttime Winter Scenes
Twilight, Rocky Mountain National Park. Sirius, Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, the Hyades star cluster, and the Pleiades star cluster are all visible in the fading light. Click for a larger version.
You can photograph the night sky year around, but winter brings an added bonus: SNOW! When you don’t have the benefit of moonlight, most of the year land forms a dark to black silhouetted skyline against the night sky. In winter you have the possibility of including the highly reflective snow. You can see both in this photo. Any place not covered with snow is very dark to black. Having reflective snow is why winter is the favorite time of year for a lot of photographers to go out and photograph the night sky.
Buyer’s Guide: Recommendations For The Best Photography Equipment, Software, Books, Magazines, DVDs, Online Photo Labs, and More
Welcome to my online buying guide for photographers. With over 75 articles it is one of the most comprehensive photography buyer’s guides on the web.
I get lots of photo questions, especially at this time of year, and many of them begin with “What is the best . . . .” They usually come from photographers or someone who is shopping for a photographer. If you are shopping for yourself, or for a photographer in your life, this series is for you.
My “best of the best” series recommends the best photo gear, accessories, software, books, DVDs, online photo labs, and a whole lot more. Thanks to the information in these articles I get emails from photographers thanking me for saving them time, frustration, and a lot of money.
This article is updated annually in November with some updates in between. Most recent update: March 23, 2025.
Total Immersion Nature Photography Weekend in Beautiful Northern Michigan
Are you ready to take your nature and wildlife photography to the next level? Are you ready to learn the professional secrets that make the difference between good images and great images? Are you ready for a high intensity, action packed, total immersion photography weekend? Come to Park of the Pines on beautiful Lake Charlevoix October 13-15, 2023.
By the Light of a Blue Supermoon
This article will give you some tips on taking portraits by moonlight. We have been planning this shoot ever since our moonlit photo shoot in a cemetery last November. We just needed a nice bright moon and a clear sky with stars. Last night with a blue supermoon was the night.
How to Photograph Tonight’s Blue Supermoon
Super Moon, November 13, 2016
Tonight, August 30-31, 2023, is a Supermoon. Go out and take pictures! This article will take you through the steps to getting a great image.
Tonight’s Blue Supermoon – What Is It?
Tonight, August 30-31, 2023, the full moon will be bigger and brighter than most full moons. So go out and look. I love the night sky, so in my book, any time spent looking up at the night sky is time well spent, supermoon or not.
How to Photograph Jupiter, Saturn, and Their Moons
With a tripod mounted camera and a 300-400mm telephoto lens, it is possible to photograph Jupiter and its four Galilean moons (they are named for Galileo), and Saturn and its biggest moon, Titan. I captured them during their Great Conjunction a little over two years ago. Jupiter is on the left with three of its Galilean moons. Saturn is on the right and Titan is just to the right of Saturn.
The Super Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus
The super conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, March 1, 2023 at 7:24 pm. Venus and Jupiter pass each other on a regular basis so conjunctions aren’t rare. But this time they passed unusually close to each other, making it a Super Conjunction. They were 1/2 degree apart. They won’t be this close to each other again until February 2032. I had a telescope set up for my grandsons and they were thrilled to see three of Jupiter’s four “Galilean Moons” (named for Galileo who spotted them through his telescope). The Galilean Moons from top to bottom in this photo are Callisto, Ganymede, and Io. (Europa was not visible.)
Find and Photograph Comet ZTF Tonight (February 10)
Tonight is a good night to find Comet ZTF because it will be near an obvious bright object in the sky. I created this image of the sky February 6 around 11:30 pm looking generally west. This photo is your guide to find Comet ZTF. Tomorrow night (Feb 11) works too).
More Help Finding and Photographing Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3)
I have had such good lunch photographing prior comets I was eagerly looking forward to seeing and photographing Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3). This comet is such a big draw because it has not passed earth in 50,000 years and will not likely return again. When I finally had a relatively clear night February 1, I was outside and ready to go. I had a much harder time than I expected. I glassed the right area of the sky with binoculars and I could not find anything that looked like a comet. So I took pictures of the northern sky which you can see above. On the back of my camera I could not the comet. So I downloaded the memory can looked on my computer monitor.
Metering Nighttime Winter Scenes
Twilight, Rocky Mountain National Park. Sirius, Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, the Hyades star cluster, and the Pleiades star cluster are all visible in the fading light. Click for a larger version.
You can photograph the night sky year around, but winter brings an added bonus: SNOW! When you don’t have the benefit of moonlight, most of the year land forms a dark to black silhouetted skyline against the night sky. In winter you have the possibility of including the highly reflective snow. You can see both in this photo. Any place not covered with snow is very dark to black. Having reflective snow is why winter is the favorite time of year for a lot of photographers to go out and photograph the night sky.
Andromeda Galaxy and its Satellite Galaxies
For me, December is not only the month for Christmas Season photos and portraits, on reasonably pleasant December nights with no wind it is the time of year to photograph the night sky. Winter has better night sky “seeing” than the other three seasons. Cold air holds less moisture to there is more visual clarity of the night sky. Unfortunately, where many of us live winter is also very cold so I do most of my winter night sky photography in December since it is usually more tolerable.
Photos: The Super Flower Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse, May 15, 2022
It was a beautiful night for photographing the lunar eclipse. This was early in the totality phase at 10:37 pm CDT. I picked this image as my favorite because I like the star background and especially the three stars in a row right below the moon. Not long after I created this image the moon slid in front of the middle star in this trio and, at least to my eye, it was not as pleasing a composition.
How To Photograph the Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse, May 15-16, 2022
Total Lunar Eclipse, Super Blood Moon, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, September 27, 2015
Don’t miss it. This is the first of only two total lunar eclipses this year. This total eclipse happens this Sunday-Monday, May 15-16 (depending on our time zone). This article will show you how to photograph it. To see it, just walk outside and look. Continue reading
Metering Nighttime Winter Scenes
Twilight, Rocky Mountain National Park. Sirius, Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, the Hyades star cluster, and the Pleiades star cluster are all visible in the fading light. Click for a larger version.
You can photograph the night sky year around, but winter brings an added bonus: SNOW! When you don’t have the benefit of moonlight, most of the year land forms a dark to black silhouetted skyline against the night sky. In winter you have the possibility of including the highly reflective snow. You can see both in this photo. Any place not covered with snow is very dark to black. Having reflective snow is why winter is the favorite time of year for a lot of photographers to go out and photograph the night sky.
How To Choose A High Quality Telescope
Meade and Celestron Telescopes
Astronomy is one of my hobbies so I get questions about telescopes. Here is some basic advice with suggestions as to places to go to get the best information.
Buying a Red Headlamp for Night Photography: The Essential Feature
Photographers with red headlamps. Field Trip, Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
A red headlamp is an essential tool for night photography. Before you rush out and buy one, make sure it has the most essential feature (other than the red LED). Some inexpensive headlamps have this feature and some very expensive ones don’t, so cost is not the issue.