A painted veil of morning blue,
Where desert suns begin anew.
The heavens rise, an ocean deep,
Where shifting clouds and starlight sleep.

At noon, a brilliant, blinding sea,
Of boundless space and majesty.
Then dusk ignites the upper air,
With amber fire and twilight's glare.

And when the quiet shadows fall,
The velvet night absorbs it all.
A galaxy of silver gleams,
A vault of wonder and of dreams.

[Google AI generated poem]

This group of photographers is willing to walk into the unknown in hopes of ending up with some fantastic images of the night sky.

You didn't just read this a couple of months ago. We have been having so much fun with nighttime photography, I felt it justified a second article on the subject. As evidenced by social media photographers and by my personal experiences at outdoor locations, more and more people, not just committed photographers, are making a connection with night skies. Astrotourism is one of the fastest growing travel trends. Astrophotography is a rapidly growing hobby. The tools available for this art have grown quickly over the last decade. This article covers the a bit on those tools plus some experiences in the dark. Experiences make memories. A few of those are detailed later in this post.

You may not connect with the night sky in a Van Gogh or Don McLean sort of way. But those glistening stars entice us with their spell. That can be with just our eyes and mind or it can be through art with a lens. Most of us who are well beyond a point in our life cycle where finding a heavenly attraction on a horizontal level is a primary goal. That could be in the form of a life partner, or perhaps a pet. For many of us, another vertical heavenly attraction has entered our lives. For me, that involves my God who I believe is responsible for this awesome and wondrous universe. Some of you have spiritual connections represented in other ways. For all of us, looking heavenward can strengthen that additional connection.

Why are the night skies so much more intensely popular now? Clearly, exposure to dozens of well conceived night sky photos with attractive foregrounds encourages more people to experience these the night sky for themselves. Our human nature is to want more of what we see. For those who are not physically able to participate at remote locations at night, there can be joy and wonder in vicarious participation. A photographer often shares work for the pleasure of others as well as a bit of positive feedback. We call these photos of the night sky that include a meaningful foreground “nightscapes” or “astroscapes”.

The Role of Technology

I took my first night photography workshop in 2013, when mirrorless cameras were just entering the market. The digital single lens reflex camera was completely adequate at that time. In fact, there are reasons why those cameras with fewer but larger pixels on their sensors are still preferred today. Both the DSLR and the mirrorless camera allow the user to take multiple images of a single composition with various settings that, once merged with special software, improve the quality of the final result. Mirrorless cameras have given us larger live view screens and increased sensor sensitivity. These capabilities also improve nightscapes.

For years, telescopes have had controls called trackers that move them with the stars. Recently, trackers have become quite popular with nightscape photographers. They are heavily advertised on my Facebook feed. The abundance of advertising and their addition to the training options of some night photography workshops has made them much more common. For “still” photography, trackers allow settings more favorable for sharper details and rounder or more pinpoint stars.

The Smartphone Camera Revolution

On the most recent workshop that I led at Joshua Tree National Park, one of my participants set up an i-Phone 17 to shoot some of our compositions. Apparently, I am still in the dark ages with my I-Phone 16! The 17 automatically detects dark environments and allows time exposures up to 30 seconds. You must use a tripod, such as a small Gorillapod,with a phone holder to keep the smartphone camera from moving. In addition to Apple’s popular image saturation adjustments, the night mode automatically brightens the image and reduces noise. This makes for some very presentable images on social media. The quality does not quite cut it for those of us looking for more detail in our prints. Android phones (Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and others) also offer a night mode. Although they all use a technique of combining exposures called computational photography, each has its own processing algorithm, resulting if unique looks. If you are making a choice on any of these phones based upon the nightscape results, you should read more about the strengths and looks of each camera's results before making a purchase.

If you are not just interested in still images, each of these phones does an admirable job of creating timelapse videos. Think of the results you may attain by setting up your smartphone to shoot overnight while you sleep!

Single Exposure vs Blend vs Composite vs AI

This is a blend of the foreground and the sky, both taken from the same camera position. It would not have been possible to take the sky and saguaro in focus at the same time due to the amount of light necessary to achieve sharpness for each feature.

A finished nightscape can be any of the above. Here is how each one would be defined.

Single Exposure

This means the result is from a single exposure that includes both the foreground and the sky. The sky image and the foreground images may be separately and selectively edited before they are combined. Single exposures will have more noise in the sky and less sharpness in the foreground. Single exposures are most successful with wide angle lenses.

Blend

A blend combines multiple exposures from the same camera position. Usually, the camera is mounted on a tripod. Those smartphone night images are technically blends, because the camera uses multiple frames with its internal processing software. You may modify the results further once the phone’s camera has completed its work. Most nightscapes you see from DSLRs or mirrorless cameras are blends, where the sky and foreground images are taken in fairly rapid succession. The photographer has taken one exposure or set of exposures for the sky to reduce noise and another exposure with different settings for the foreground to achieve better focus and sharpness.

Blends may involve light painting with a flashlight or headlamp. Multiple images while lighting parts various parts of the are combined by "masking out" what you don't want or "masking in" what you do want in various parts of the image. The most desirable lighting can be selected in post processing and blended together into one final image. This can lead to very appealing results. In some popular areas such as national parks light painting is frowned upon or prohibited to preserve the natural experience and not harm wildlife. For example, it is not permitted on the boulders at Joshua Tree National Park.

A flashlight may be shined into the sky for an added effect. The light obviously won't reach the stars or even the moon, but it will pick be picked up by dust or moisture in the air.

It has become popular to take one image during blue hour and combine that with the sky when it is very dark. This takes an extra time commitment on the part of the photographer. The resulting images are still considered blends even though they have been taken hours apart. Blends aren’t always true to nature because the Milky Way may never be in the position shown when the light on the foreground is as it is shown.

Composite

A composite image contains components that were taken from different locations and usually at different times. The photographer may have a very attractive foreground taken on a cloudy night. So a sky from another time is placed in the image (sky replacement). For technical reasons, when the foreground involves an object, particularly a tree, that reaches into the sky, it is often desirable to take an image of the sky from a slightly different position, where a larger view of the sky is possible. Photographers who do this usually refer to these as blends rather than composites.

Artificial intelligence combines images taken at different times and places and often by different photographers. The results often look incredibly interesting and incredibly unreal or surreal. Serious photographers don't look very favorably on these fakes. There is no adventure in the dark or challenge of a a particular setting when images are created entirely at the computer.

Memory Making

The Creation of Geminid. Alone in the dark, I was hearing things. But then these branches appeared, reminding me of Michaelangelo's Creation of Adam. I felt protected.

In the dark, our senses are amplified. Or should I say our sense of sound is amplified. Our sight is limited. On the second night photography workshop, where I was the student, the instructors carried a gallon of water. They poured this into a small depression of sandstone where we could catch a reflection of the Milky Way on an overlook at Canyonlands National Park. With no moon in the sky it was pitch black. I briefly turned my headlamp to see myself standing with my back no more than 3 feet from the edge of death. It's easy to get disoriented in the dark.

Back home I encouraged Barbara to go out to Joshua Tree with me. She was all for a trip on a warm August evening. Especially if we could take our new pet half breed Maltese with us along with some lawn chairs, snacks and a bottle of wine. We hiked out a few hundred yards to an ideal setting where we could comfortably face north and have a nice chat while watching the sky move. My camera did all the work. The plan was interrupted by the howling of nearby coyotes and the shaking response of the our frightened pup. In our minds, the coyotes were on three sides of us, rapidly closing in for their dinner. We quickly picked up our stuff and headed in the safest direction. There were no star trails for us that night.

When we moved to Prescott in 2018 I soon joined the camera club there. An outing was scheduled for a cold December night. We drove out to a dark sky location with a windmill in our foreground. The Geminid meteor shower was to be on display that night. There were half a dozen of us. As the temperature dropped near freezing the numbers a few participants chose to return home. Then everyone disappeared without my knowing it. I was alone. The sounds of the dark intensified. My heartbeat did, too. Mountain lions are common in Arizona. I knew I was being watched. But looking skyward, I saw what appeared to be the hand of God protecting me. I was the only one to capture any meteors that night.

On more than one occasion I have wandered away from my camera bag to set up my tripod in an improved position. Why they make so many black camera bags is beyond me. It is easy to use up 20 minutes just looking where you thought you left it. I keep reflective tape on my tripod which helps me find my way back after I eventually do find my bag. And I've added a Tile to my camera bag. If you have hiked any distance away from your car, you might also discover how difficult it is to return to the car directly without laying a track. So lay a track with Gaia or AllTrails. Or keep a Tile in your car if you are within cell range. None of this will work if you have forgotten to charge your cell phone.

We teach our clients to walk single file for safety and to avoid hazards such as cactus and uneven footing and to minimize damage to the soil. Apparently we forgot to give clear instructions recently in Death Valley. The shallow lake that had formed in Badwater Basin has a very firm bottom. But one of our clients discovered the quickest path to the lake is not always a straight line. We found him trying using his tripod like a tightrope walker as he tried to keep from falling sideways into the salty muck. He was thigh deep in quicksand. It took three of us to pull him out...quite the comical scene in retrospect, but a bit troublesome at that moment.

You will make your own memories in the dark that you will cherish for years to come. Just do it in a safe way.

The Creative Challenge

Low level lighting was used to light the foreground rock formations.

Great photographic results are the goal. This begins with planning. The photographer must know the direction of the composition, the time of night the Milky Way core will be in the right place, whether moonlight will help of ruin the result and whether cloudy skies are in the forecast. Many well thought out compositions are ruined because the photographer is not prepared for the cold at night. There can be a good deal of time standing around. Gloves, a beanie and heavy jacket can save the night!

Lighting must be just right. Natural light from just the starry sky or a sliver of moon is easy to work with, but does not always provide the most exceptional results. Adjustable low level lighting (LLL) by can be controlled. Lights must be dimmable to almost nothing. Frequently they must be place a hundred feet or more from foreground subjects. Balancing the light and using appropriate color temperatures takes experimentation and practice as does painting light with a flashlight. These techniques are not permitted in some national parks. Multiple exposures may be made that can then be combined in post processing programs such as Photoshop. All of this is time consuming while in the field and while the night sky is on the move.

Because the night sky appears to move relative to the earth, the necessary long exposures can result in blurring of either the stars, so the length of exposure becomes critical. If a tracker is used to move the camera along with the stars, then the foreground will be blurred. There are programs for Mac and PC that adjust for this movement, blending the sky and foreground. Noise that is inherent with long exposures in the dark can be reduced by these programs and other programs by combining information from multiple separate exposures.

There are a number of ways for a photographer to customize the finished results. The brightness of the scene (does it look like daytime or nighttime) is a creative choice. Dimmer stars can be selectively reduced. A glow can be added to brighter stars. And the color and contrast of the nebulous portions of the Milky Way may be modified to taste. I don’t always enjoy the way another photographer processes images, and I am sure others don’t have much positive to say about my choices. As you look at night sky images, decide what you like. Do you prefer highly a saturated Milky Way or more subtle tones our eye might see? A gazillion stars or emphasis on a just the brightest stars and planets?

Responsible Behavior

I mentioned that some areas do not permit light painting or some types of low level lighting. This may be true even if car headlights and hikers headlamps are present and much brighter. It is important to abide by the rules, since violating them usually means more restrictions.

It is easy to harm to harm yourself while out in the dark, but it is also easy to damage the environment. It is easy to trample fragile bushes and soil in the dark. Fragile rock formations are easily broken with an accidental misstep. Use caution!

Where and When?

The article April 2026 "Have a Good Night" gives information about planning an outing. Check it out if you are new to nightscapes. In addition to the PhotoPills app that was mentioned in that article, PlanIt Pro for Mac and Windows is an exceptional tool that will help you ahead of your trip out. It is just $4.99.

Rob Strain conducts several landscape and nightscape photography workshops per year throughout the Southwest, and offers private instruction at Joshua Tree National Park.

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Starry, Starry Night

The Role of Technology

The Smartphone Camera Revolution

Single Exposure vs Blend vs Composite vs AI

Memory Making

The Creative Challenge

Responsible Behavior

Where and When?

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