Are you trying to photograph the stars? You can take good pictures of the stars in the night sky with your mobile phone. You can use the camera’s night mode or install an exposure control app. The best professional photography applications are Camera FV-5, Candy Camera and ProCamera.
What will you need to photograph stars in the night sky?
The night sky is best photographed with a long exposure time. This means you have to hold your camera still for a longer time than usual. Tripod or a temporary stand that will allow you to take amazing pictures of the night sky with the rear camera of your mobile phone.
One of the most important conditions is that the photographer has to be in a dark place, the balcony of your city apartment won’t work. Go somewhere where the sky is clear and where your pictures won’t be ruined by nearby light sources.
The third and most important thing you need to do is download some camera apps to your iPhone or Android phone. While some phones come with a professional manual control mode, professional third-party camera applications give you the same or even better control over your phone. The best professional photography applications are Camera FV-5, Candy Camera and ProCamera.
How to photograph stars and the night sky?
I assume you’ve downloaded the recommended application; open it and go into professional mode. Now aim your smartphone camera at the stars. Avoid photographing the night sky with the moon in the frame; the moon’s light will disturb your light balance and you won’t be able to see the stars in your photographs.
Now to the technical part: Select manual focus and tap on the area you want to focus on. Set the exposure time to eight seconds, ten seconds, or more if your phone allows it. The longer the exposure time, the more light your camera will capture, but make sure your photographs aren’t washed out. Change ISO to 400-800, depending on the amount of light you want to capture. Now press the shutter button. Wait for the image to be processed. Make sure you don’t shake the phone or the stand it is on while the image is being processed. When shooting the night sky, it is best to use a shutter timer or remote shutter from your watch, for example.
What to expect of night sky photographs taken on your phone
What you can be sure of is that the quality of night sky photos taken on a smartphone or mobile phone camera won’t be as good as those taken with high-end DSLR. However, you can take night sky photos that are good enough to share on Instagram, Facebook and other social networking platforms. Night sky photograph with high ISO. Digital noise and colour defects can be seen in the picture as a result.
