Taking great Northern Lights photos with an iPhone is very doable. Here’s a practical, step-by-step approach you can follow with most recent iPhone models. Quick answer
- Use Night Mode, stabilize your iPhone, and experiment with exposure times to capture the aurora’s movement and color. Start with a long exposure and a tripod, and keep the shutter open longer to reveal the lights.
How to set up
- Find dark skies away from city lights. A clear night with active aurora forecasts increases your chances.
- Stabilize your iPhone. Use a sturdy tripod or place the phone on a solid surface. A stable setup is essential for long exposures.
- Enable Night Mode. On iPhone models since the iPhone 12, Night Mode helps gather more light. Make sure it’s on for low-light aurora shooting. If Night Mode automatically engages, you can fine-tune exposure.
Camera settings and technique
- Position and framing: Aim to include some foreground interest (trees, mountains, a horizon) to add depth to your composition.
- Exposure and shutter speed: Start with a longer shutter to capture brightness and color, then adjust as needed.
- If the aurora is faint, use longer exposure (several seconds). If it’s bright and moving quickly, a moderate exposure time can help avoid overexposure and motion blur.
- You can access advanced exposure controls by tapping the arrow or using the slider in Night Mode to adjust the shutter duration. Increase exposure time gradually and review results after each shot.
- ISO: Keep ISO as low as possible to reduce noise while still letting enough light in. Higher ISO can work if the aurora is bright, but it increases noise.
- Focus: Tap to focus on a distant point (like a dark, featureless sky) and then lock focus if your phone supports it. Disable auto-focus hunting by using manual focus if available.
- White balance: If your phone allows, lock white balance to a cooler temperature to emphasize the green-blue tones of the aurora. Otherwise, you can adjust in post-processing.
- Flash: Turn off the flash completely; it isn’t useful for aurora photography.
Composition tips
- Include a foreground element for scale and interest; silhouettes of trees or a shoreline work well.
- Photograph in bursts: take a sequence of shots every few seconds to capture the dynamic movement of the aurora.
- Avoid over-processing: the aurora can be vivid out of camera; slight adjustments in post (contrast, color balance) can enhance the result without looking artificial.
Post-processing
- Shoot in RAW if your model supports it; RAW captures more detail and latitude for adjustments.
- Adjust levels, contrast, and color balance to bring out greens and purples without clipping highlights.
- Sharpen lightly and reduce noise in darker areas if needed.
Practical tips
- If you’re new to this, practice in a location with predictable aurora activity and bring extra battery power, since long exposure and cold weather drain batteries quickly.
- If you have a dedicated night photography app, you can explore longer exposure times and more precise control, but the built-in Night Mode is already quite capable.
Common pitfalls
- Too short exposure: you’ll miss faint aurora signals.
- Too long exposure with bright aurora: risk of overexposure or motion blur; adjust based on actual brightness.
- Handheld shots: will be blurry due to long exposure; use a tripod or stable surface.
If you want, share your iPhone model and the environment you’ll be shooting in (location, light pollution level, aurora forecast), and I can tailor the settings to maximize your chances.
