Capturing the beauty of a sunset or the night and showing it to the world is great; taking the photos, not so much. Most smartphones have poorly optimized cameras, so taking a low-light picture with them can become a real pain, especially if you want professional quality.
However, this doesn’t mean you must immediately buy a professional camera. If you only want to make an album of night photos with a photo book maker like mysocialbook.com, you can use some of these tips.
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How Do You Make A Low-Light Photo?
In photography, low-light photos are described as images where the scenario has little ambient light, but it is still possible to distinguish the figures present in the picture. These pictures force you to use illumination to make a proper shot as effectively as possible.
Adjust Your Camera Settings
To take low-light pictures, you need a phone camera with fast lenses, like the ones in the Xiaomi 13 or the iPhone 14 Pro. Faster lenses capture more light, giving you the maximum natural brightness possible.
Of course, not everyone can afford the latest iPhone, but you can reduce your phone’s shutter speed to improve the photo’s quality as much as possible.
Check the ISO
Now that you have adjusted the shutter speed, it is time to tingle with ISO settings, which control the camera’s brightness.
Higher ISO values can result in unnecessary brightness and noise. Still, if you reduce it too much, the elements of the photo could become unrecognizable, so be sure to test it enough times until you get the ideal exposure.
Use Your Phone’s Night Mode
Night Mode is a unique feature that uses artificial intelligence to analyze the surroundings and capture as much light as possible when you take a picture.
This feature is available in many mid-range phones, albeit with different names like Super Bright Mode or Bright Night, so we recommend using as much as possible.
Use External Photography Tools
If your phone doesn’t offer enough tools, you must work with the surrounding elements. Use torchlights or the LED of your smartphone to manipulate the amount of light. Then, install an external lens to improve the zoom and quality of your phone’s camera.
Finally, deactivate the automatic focus in your phone and use a tripod to reduce the blurriness in your photos while using a lower shutter speed.
Edit Your Pictures
Image editing programs like Adobe Lightroom or Gimp are perfect to give your photo the final touches it needs. With these programs, you can alter the photo contrast or add black and white filters to give the picture a more classic look.
Of course, you must also be careful to not abuse these programs, as you could end up making the picture worse. Always save backups of the photos you will edit, and never use them in photograph competitions.
Better Than a Camera?
A regular smartphone camera won’t ever surpass the quality of a professional, dedicated one, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to take bad pictures. Take all this article’s tips and improve your phone’s camera using external lenses and other apps to make the most of it, and surprise everyone with your low-light photos.
