This week I tried to focus on bettering my night photography. I found that there were lots of great resources out there where you can learn new skills and aids. I love pictures that are done at night and we are so lucky with the resources that so many of us have. Especially with new cameras, you can create such great quality pictures from something in your back pocket.

I think that the number one thing that kept coming up in all of the different sources I looked at is to use a tripod. Another thing that I used, and was made possible through the use of a tripod is to extend the the exposure time.

I have an iPhone 12 Pro and one thing that I tried out for my camera specifically was to turn Apple ProRAW on, scene detection off, and smart HDR off. These can all be found in the camera’s settings.

These are the images that I captured:

Handheld with 10 second exposure picture of the night sky.
Tripod with 30 second exposure picture of the night sky.

There were so many other cool things that were recommended but require a little more effort and resources to complete. One of those things is painting with light. This is where an object in the picture is lit up by using a flashlight to “paint over it” while the picture is being taken.

Picture of the night sky with tree “painted” with light.

Multiple apps were also introduced in helping to create unique images. The app Night Sky allows you to find stars, constellations, plants, or even satellites and view their trajectories as well as gain information about the object you choose. This can help you find and capture an image of whatever you want in the sky. Snapseed allows for you to edit photos and even produce double exposure images. The Nightcap and Photopills apps were also recommended, however they are not free apps so unfortunately I did not play around with them but they looked really cool with all that you can do.

If any of those sound interesting to you, check them out in the app store!

In editing these images, I took note from Shayne Mostyn, I increased the noise reduction, tint, warmth, and saturation, decreased the black point, and then increased the contrast.

References:

  • https://expertphotography.com/iphone-night-photography/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApKmOTt98U4
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UwxedUQp3U