Phone cameras used to be essentially useless if you weren’t in bright sunlight, but the best camera phones you can buy today are able to take truly superb photos, even after the sun goes down. Top flagship phones like the iPhone 15 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra have night modes that allow them to take bright, sharp images even in the middle of the night. Even more affordable phones like the Pixel 8 are equipped with astonishingly capable nighttime photography skills.
This kind of night photography used to require a DSLR on a tripod to take long exposures over the course of several seconds. But today’s phones can take excellent-looking images at night without needing any extra equipment. And that’s great, because it means you don’t need to carry a heavy camera and tripod into town every time you want to get a good-looking shot after sundown.
But getting an image you like enough to print and put on your wall isn’t just a case of waiting for darkness and whipping out your phone. You’ll still need to put in some work to take shots that you’ll want to look back on in years to come.
I’ve been a professional photographer for years and frequently shoot images at night on my pro camera and my phone. Here then are my top tips on how to get great images at night on any phone.
Read more: Best Camera Phone
1. Know how to activate night mode
If your phone has a night mode, it’s important to make sure it’s actually activated before you start shooting. On phones like the iPhone 15 series, or other recent iPhones, night mode will automatically kick in when the phone detects you’re in a low-light situation. Some Android phones have automatic night modes too, while others will require you to use specific night shooting modes (on the Galaxy S24 range it’s called simply Night; on the Pixel 8 it’s Night Sight).
Different phones may have different options or naming…
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