5 Tips for Great Low Light Pics With Your Phone

Unsplash/David Marcu

Somehow, it’s already autumn. Which means it’s getting dark earlier and earlier. But that doesn’t mean the quality of your photo memories has to suffer.

Even if you can’t afford the latest iPhone with it’s improved low-light capabilities, follow these few simple tips and you’ll enjoy great photography all winter long.

  1. Hold still! Do whatever you can to stabilize your shot, like using a tripod or simply blocking your arms against a stable surface. It helps if your subject holds still too. Nighttime isn’t the best time to catch that artistic shot of the moving A-train.
  2. Tap the screen to set the exposure. Always remember to tap the screen on your subject. This will set the exposure correctly in relation to the light levels and what you want to capture.
  3. Avoid using flash. Flash will make you photos look strangely lit and flatten out the details of your image. Use whatever light is available in the environment, positioning your subject to make the best use of it. If you do use flash, consider getting a separate, hand held flash and set it off to the side of the camera, instead of directly at your subject.
  4. Don’t zoom. Zooming will lower the resolution of your image. Just get closer to your subject, if you can, or crop later.
  5. Use manual mode. If you use an iPhone, you can install an app that will let you use manual settings for your camera. For low light shots, you can to increase the sensitivity to light by increasing the ISO setting. Note that the higher the ISO, the “noisier” the image. You can also adjust the shutter to be open longer, letting in more light. The downside to this is it can make things blurry. Stabilization is even more important if you’re adjusting shutter speed.

Yes, you can mess around with editing software after the fact, but for best results, use these tips and you’ll be starting your editing process from a much better place and see great results -- photo memories totally worthy of a place in your MemoryWeb. Get out there and enjoy the twilight.

Download MemoryWeb today for an easy way to catalog and back-up your treasured memories.