The night sky, strewn with myriad stars, has always been awe-inspiring, but capturing this beauty on the matrix of a smartphone seemed impossible a couple of years ago. Modern flagships and even many models of the mid-segment from Xiaomi, such as the Redmi Note or the Xiaomi 13/14 series, are equipped with sensors capable of capturing the faint light of distant celestial bodies. The secret lies not only in the hardware, but also in the ability to properly adjust exposure parameters.
The standard automatic camera mode often can’t cope with the darkness, making the images blurry or excessively noisy. To get a clear picture of the Milky Way or individual constellations, you need to take control by switching to manual mode. In this article, we will discuss how to turn your gadget into a powerful tool for astrophotography using the built-in capabilities of the MIUI or HyperOS system.
The first step is to find the right place, because urban light is the astrophotographer's biggest enemy, and even the most advanced processing algorithm can't completely remove the orange haze from streetlights that block the dim lights of the stars, and going out of town, away from artificial light sources, will increase the chances of getting a quality shot by many times.
Selection of equipment and preparation of tripod
Star photography involves using long shutter speeds, where the camera shutter is open for seconds to half a minute, and in such conditions, it's physically impossible to hold the device still with your hands, because any micromotion will lubricate the frame, so having a stable tripod is an absolute necessity, without which the result will be predictably bad.
When choosing a tripod for a smartphone, consider the weight of the device, especially if you plan to use additional lenses or external lenses. Cheap flexible octopus tripods may not provide enough stiffness in gusts of wind, which is critical for long exposure. Better use a classic tripod with a reliable mount that will tightly lock the phone body.
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Use a 3-5 second auto-start timer or Bluetooth remote to lower the shutter to eliminate camera vibration when you press the screen.
In addition to the tripod, the battery is critical. Long exposure modes and screen operation at maximum brightness in the cold season quickly put the battery down. It is recommended to have an external power bank with you so as not to be left with a discharged device in the middle of the night away from civilization.
Configure Pro-mode in a standard application
The built-in Camera app in Xiaomi smartphones has powerful tools hidden in the “More” → “Profi” section. This is where the controls are to bypass the limitations of the automatic algorithm and adjust the parameters manually, and by switching to this mode, you have complete control over the sensitivity and exposure time.
The key is shutter speed (denoted S or Time), which you need to set to a value of 10 to 30 seconds. The longer the shutter speed, the more light will hit the matrix, but it is important not to overdo it so that the stars do not turn into tracks due to the rotation of the Earth, unless this is your artistic goal.
⚠️ Warning: When you set shutter speeds for more than 15 seconds without using a tracker (a device that rotates behind the starry sky), stars can begin to “smear” into short lines.
The second important parameter is ISO, which is responsible for sensor sensitivity. For the night sky, values are usually set in the range from 800 to 3200 units. Too high ISO will lead to digital noise that will turn a beautiful sky into a grainy porridge, so you need to find the balance experimentally.
- 🌑 Focus: Transfer the focus to manual mode (MF) and move the slider to the Infinity position (mountain icon), then back a little if the stars look blurry.
- ⏱️ Format: for subsequent processing, be sure to turn on shooting in format RAW, It retains maximum information about color and light.
- 🔇 Stabilization: optical or electronic stabilization (OIS/EIS) in camera settings it is better to turn off when using a tripod so that the system does not make micro-corrections.
☑️ Checklist of Pro-Reim settings
Use of the "Long Shutter" and "Night mode" mode
If manual tuning seems too complicated, Xiaomi offers a dedicated Night mode that uses computational photo algorithms, in which the camera takes a series of images with different exposures and programmatically combines them to remove noise and increase detail, a great option for shooting landscapes with stars in the foreground.
Some models, such as the Xiaomi 13 Pro or Xiaomi 14 Ultra, have Long Shutter Mode inside the “More” menu, which allows you to set shutter speeds of up to 30 seconds in automatic mode, where the algorithms themselves select the optimal ISO, which is good because it requires minimal user intervention.
But it's worth remembering that algorithmic processing can eat small stars, mistaking them for noise, or, conversely, create artifacts, and professionals still prefer manual mode with subsequent processing to get the most natural result.
The Secret of Xiaomi Regimes
When you use automatic night modes, the phone can get very hot, which is the normal physical reaction of the ISP to intense load, and if the device overheats, the shooting can be interrupted, so in hot weather, you should monitor the temperature of the case.
Third-party astrophotography applications
The regular tools are good, but the specialized software is even more powerful, and the leader in this area is the Manual Camera: RAW or ProCam X, which allows you to control your focus with greater precision and has a picking function, which is critical for accurate targeting of stars.
Another powerful tool is the Open Camera app, which is completely free and open source, which allows you to set shutter speeds to millisecond accuracy and has interval shooting, which is useful for creating timelapses of the movement of the starry sky.
| Annex | Price. | Key function | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard camera. | Free of charge. | Night mode. | Low. |
| Manual Camera: RAW | Paid. | Precise manual focus | Medium |
| Open Camera | Free of charge. | Interval | Tall. |
| ProCam X | Paid. | Histogram in real time | Medium |
Using third-party software takes time to master the interface, but the result is worth it. The ability to save images in 12-bit or 16-bit format gives a huge margin of safety in post-processing, allowing you to pull details from the shadows without losing quality.
Shooting technique and composition of the frame
Just pointing the camera up is not enough to create an art shot. You have to have a foreground: a silhouette of a tree, a mountain, a building or a person, and that adds scale and context to the photos, making the image voluminous and interesting for the viewer.
Use the rule of thirds: position the horizon line or the brightest part of the Milky Way not in the center, but at the intersection of the grid lines. Turn on the grid in the camera settings (Settings → Grid) to make it easier to build the composition.
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The main secret of the composition is the presence of an interesting object in the foreground, which creates a contrast between the earthly and cosmic.
Try experimenting with angles. Shooting from the bottom of the picture, putting the phone on the ground, can give the objects in the foreground a grandeur, and the reflections of stars in the water, if you're in the water, are also interesting.
⚠️ Note: When composing the frame, avoid getting bright light sources (lanterns, car headlights) directly into the lens, this will cause strong glare and illumination, which cannot be removed during processing.
Post-production of images
Raw files (RAW) from the smartphone camera often look pale and gray. To unlock its potential, post-processing is necessary. Mobile versions of Adobe Lightroom or Snapseed are ideal for this. Lightroom Mobile offers free use of Light and Color tools.
First, adjust exposure and contrast. Then work with Shadows, lifting them up to show details in the foreground, and Highlights, lowering them down to preserve the structure of bright stars. Remember Luminance Noise Reduction, but use it carefully.
So the important thing is to work with color, and to increase saturation or vibrance will help make the sky deeper, and you can also experiment with color temperature, making the frame cooler or warmer depending on your mood.
- 🎨 Curves: Use Curves to create an S-curve, which will add contrast and depth to the image.
- 🌫️ Clarity: A slight increase in Clarity or Texture will highlight cloud structure and terrain.
- 🖌️ Masks: Apply local adjustments, highlighting the sky and the ground separately for more accurate treatment of each zone.
Don't try to make a textbook picture, keep it natural. Overshare and oversaturation are the main signs of poor processing that are immediately noticeable.