When I first started my education in photography, I always fantasized about what it would be like to be a photographer in space and on other planets. I loved the idea of being the first person to capture never-before-seen landscapes or seeing the world from a completely different perspective.

With the recent Artemis II launch on April 1st, 2026, I started looking up different photos from space again. This eventually led me to the high-resolution photos from the Mars Perseverance Rover.

Looking at those images got me thinking about what the light is actually like on the red planet. What is the real daylight exposure difference when you factor in the distance to the sun and that famous dusty atmosphere?

I decided to do a little digging on the distance from Earth to the sun compared to the distance from Mars to the sun. Using the inverse square law, we can see that Mars receives about 0.43 times the light of Earth.

When you convert that into stops, it looks like this:

• Opening your aperture: Changing f/8 to about f/5.6.

• Increasing your ISO: Moving from ISO 100 to about ISO 230.

• Slowing your shutter: Letting in more light over a longer period

To understand why Mars is so much darker, we have to look at the Inverse Square Law. This law states that the intensity of light (I) is inversely proportional to the square of the distance (d) from the source.

Here is the step-by-step breakdown of how that math translates to your camera settings.

We have all seen photos of Mars having red dusty skies where you can barely see anything. Even though the atmosphere is actually really thin (about 1% of Earth’s), it is full of iron rich dust particles. These particles absorb and scatter light, which reduces the intensity reaching the ground even further.

• • Typical clear conditions: about -0.3 to -0.7 stops

  • Dusty conditions: can be -1 stop or more

  • Dust storms: several stops darker

Total light difference in best conditions for both: ≈ -1.7 stops vs Earth

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1. Distance from the Sun Less intensity, but color temperature doesn’t shift much from distance alone.

2. Atmosphere (this is the big one) Mars is full of iron rich dust. Dust scatters blue light away. What is left hitting the ground is more red and orange wavelengths and less blue, leading to an overall warmer color cast.

Shadows on Mars can appear cooler (slightly bluish). Direct sunlight feels warm, almost sunset-like. The overall scene will have:

• • Lower contrast

  • Muted saturation

  • Warm tone baked into the light