How Do You Get Your Camera To Look So Good In Night

Night photography with your smartphone can be daunting: you'll confront low light, extreme dissimilarity, and pesky camera dissonance. Just luckily, you tin can creatively piece of work around those limitations to capture cute, sometimes beautifully surreal photos of the dark.

Afterward the sun has set and the city lights come up to life, you accept a choice: put your photographic camera aside until the daylight returns or take on the challenge of shooting in the night. Night photography with your smartphone can exist daunting: y'all'll face low calorie-free, farthermost dissimilarity, and pesky camera noise. Merely luckily, you lot tin can creatively work around those limitations to capture beautiful, sometimes beautifully surreal photos of the night. Here are 10 tips for night photography with your phone!

ane. Use Apps for Long Exposures

When shooting in low lite with a movie camera or DSLR, your answer to getting the correct exposure is a long shutter speed. The smartphone's answer to controlling shutter speed (or simulating it)? Apps! Try Manual (iOS) or Manual Camera (Google Play) – both allow yous control how long the shutter on the camera stays open.

ii. Keep It Stable

The best manner of preventing movement blur and getting a tack-sharp photo during a long exposure is to keep your camera stable. In this example, yous'll want to use a mobile tripod or a portable alternative similar the Glif stand.

Low angle view of illuminated brandenburg gate against clear sky at night

3. Capture Motility

One matter that comes out to play at dark: car lights. Gear up your phone to a long exposure and frame a road busy with cars. It'south an thought that can be infinitely varied: boats on a bay, cars crossing a bridge, or even planes flying overhead. Hither'southward a corking project by Kevin Cooley that captures the calorie-free trails of airplanes overhead and Tsuneaki Hiramatsu's photos of the firefly flight paths. Check out this tutorial on photographing firefly light trails.

iv. Dare to Be Astract

Darkness may forestall you from getting the perfectly-lit shot. Merely the long exposures and big contrasts actually brand for a great opportunity to accept abstract or surreal photos: Consider the darkness a backdrop in front of which you tin isolate shapes and colors – information technology'll make your photos more mysterious, weirder, and also more wonderful.

LOW ANGLE VIEW OF ILLUMINATED LIGHT BULBS AGAINST SKY AT NIGHT

5. Get the Best From Your Phone's Flash

When information technology's night, you can ever use extra calorie-free on what you're shooting. Your phone'south flash is convenient, and then why not put it to use? Since the flash will exist somewhat harsh and flat, there are a couple of ways to suit it. Try placing tissue or newspaper over the flash to soften the calorie-free, or utilize a color filter to give information technology a different experience. Y'all can likewise utilise your flash to dramatically lighten upward an object close to you – which will brand it stand out, but has a great effect.

6. Use an Outside Light Source

These days, in that location are all kinds of astonishing mobile accessories, in detail those that will permit you control the lighting in your dark photos better than your phone's built-in flash. See The Pocket Spotlight and the Smartphone Ring Low-cal. Don't limit yourself at that place: flashlights, lamps, bicycle lights are all handy ways to get extra lighting into your photo. Find some DIY photography lighting ideas in our guide.

LOW ANGLE VIEW OF LIT LIGHT BULBS HANGING ON CEILING

vii. Edit With a Photograph-Editing App

When shooting in depression-low-cal, exposure and contrast are your friends in the photo editing toolbox. Try the editing tools in the EyeEm app – you'll find everything you lot need in there.

8. Stylize Your Photo With Grain and Black & White

Low lite and loftier ISOs tin can atomic number 82 to dissonance in your photo. Only a little grain doesn't ruin it: Edit your photo to plow those flaws around. For example, grain is oft valued by photographers for its dramatic outcome. Got a photograph that's too grainy and doesn't accept great colors? Just make it black and white, maybe burnish it upwardly a little and y'all'll be emulating a very classic photographic style.

9. Take Advantage of Backlighting

Night can be a time to find extreme lighting situations, and backlighting is simply i way to go a creative visual effect. Catch silhouettes in front of store windows, street lights, or wherever lights conveniently shine backside your subject.

People at music concert against sky at night

x. Encompass Night Lights

City lights and storefronts, neon signs and strobe lights – you only can't go this during the day, so take the time to see how you can creatively utilise them.