By Master your camera’s manual mode before venturing into the desert darkness—automatic settings will fail you when temperatures plummet forty degrees after sunset and your sensor struggles to find focus on distant stars. Set your aperture between f/2.8 and f/4 for maximum light gathering, your shutter speed between 15-25 seconds to avoid star trails (use the 500 rule: divide 500 by your focal length), and push your ISO to 3200-6400 depending on your camera’s noise performance.
Scout locations during daylight hours to identify compelling foreground elements like weathered rock formations, ancient Joshua trees, or …
