The best camera phones you can buy right now, including the iPhone 14 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and Google Pixel 7 Pro, have night modes that allow them to take stunning, bright images even in the middle of the night. I put these phones side by side to see which one is best — and they all delivered gorgeous images in the dark.
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, even some pretty affordable phones are able to take excellent-looking images at night without needing any extra equipment at all. And that’s great, as 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.
This nighttime photo has been made all the more vibrant and dazzling by these incredible Christmas lights festooning the columns.
2. Look for the light
While new iPhones and recent Galaxy phones can take amazing low-light images, you still need to have some light in the shot in order to make a compelling image. So heading into the darkest part of a forest isn’t likely to result in good results. Instead, try heading into populated areas like city centers as you’ll find light sources in the form of street lamps, shop window displays and maybe even some festive lighting during the holidays.
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3. Wait for your moment
Great city and street photography often includes a person as a subject in your shot and nighttime can be an awesome time to take those shots. When the light is limited, however, you need to make sure that person is exactly where you want them to be and that can involve some patience.
A long-exposure nighttime image taken with the Pixel 7 Pro.
5. Use Motion modes, if you have them
The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro can take excellent regular photos at night, but they also have a long-exposure mode that allows you to get some creative shots that would normally only be achievable using a tripod. While the mode works well in the daytime to blur things like waterfalls, it also works extremely well at night, especially for subjects like cars driving down city streets.
The long exposure blurs the headlights and taillights, turning them from static balls of light into ethereal lines, snaking their way through the scene. You’ll need to use the phone’s Motion mode to get this effect, and make sure that Long Exposure is toggled on. Long-exposure photos like this work best when you keep the camera still and take a photo that includes both static subjects (like buildings and street lamps) and moving subjects (like cars, buses or cyclists). It can take some practice — and results can be hit and miss — but when it works, it works really well and adds an extra creative element to your night shots.
Not every phone has this as standard though and while there are some third-party apps that aim to replicate it, I haven’t found many that really work or that come close to the quality I’ve achieved with the Pixel 7 Pro.
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Article source: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/take-your-best-photos-at-night-mode-tips-for-iphone-samsung-galaxy-and-more/#ftag=CAD4aa2096