How to take a picture of the moon on Xiaomi: settings and modes

Modern Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones feature impressive photo modules that allow mobile photographers to capture even distant celestial bodies. However, the standard automatic mode often turns the bright moon into a blurry white spot, depriving the image of the details and texture of the surface. To get a clear frame with visible craters, you need to understand the physics of the process and manually control the parameters of the exposure.

In this article, we will discuss a step-by-step algorithm that will help you take a professional picture of the Earth’s satellite using only the capabilities of the built-in MIUI or HyperOS camera. You do not need complex additional equipment, except perhaps a tripod to fix the device.

The key is to move from automatic scenarios to manual aperture and shutter speed, a step that allows you to tame the bright light of the moon and avoid overlights while preserving the details of the relief.

Preparation of equipment and choice of location

Before you point your lens at the sky, you need to keep your smartphone stable, and any, even minimal, hand shaking with maximum zoom will lubricate the image, and the ideal solution is to use a tripod or a stop, such as the edge of a window sill or a balcony railing.

It's also important to choose the right time and place, and shooting in light or cloudy conditions will make it much harder, and it's best to wait for clear weather when the moon is high enough above the horizon to avoid distortion from atmospheric haze.

⚠️ Warning: Wash your camera lens with a soft cloth before shooting. Even microscopic stains of fat or dust when you zoom in, they turn into huge blurry circles that will ruin the frame.

For maximum quality, it is recommended to use a high-resolution main camera or telephoto lens if present in your Xiaomi model. Digital zoom on cheap models can severely degrade detail, so it is better to rely on optical approximation.

Stabilization is the foundation of night photography, and if you don't have a tripod, try elbows against a hard surface or press your phone against a wall to minimize vibration.

Use of the Pro Mode (Pro Mode)

The camera's automatic mode often fails to cope with the contrast between the dark sky and the bright moon, and the camera tries to illuminate dark areas, making the Earth's satellite a white circle, and the solution lies in manual mode.

Open the Camera app and select Pro or More → Pro mode, where you can access ISO settings, shutter speeds, focusing and white balance, and these are the settings that allow you to control the amount of light that hits the matrix.

First, set the focal length to infinity, which is usually the extreme right position of the slider, marked by the symbol of the mountain, and then point the camera at the moon and start adjusting the exposure.

Lower the ISO to the lowest possible level (usually 50 or 100) and this will reduce the amount of digital noise in the dark sky. Then reduce the shutter speed (S or Time), and you need to reach a value in the range of 1/100 – 1/400 of a second until the details of the moon surface appear on the screen.

If the image is too bright, reduce the shutter speed. If it is too dark, increase the ISO slightly, but try not to exceed 200-400 units so as not to lose quality.

Customizing zoom and focusing

Once you have the basic exposure setting, you need to use zoom correctly. On Redmi and Poco smartphones with telephoto lenses, optical zoom is the best. If you don't have optical zoom, use digital zoom, but don't go over 10x zoom, or the quality will drop dramatically.

The manual focus must be fixed. The automatic focus can walk around trying to find contrast in the dark sky. Put the focus in manual mode (MF) and twist the slider to the right (mountain icon), then slightly back if the moon has become blurred.

Digital zoom is better to use after framing during processing, but if you shoot immediately in maximum resolution, you can use the built-in camera magnification for the composition of the frame.

00| Set up shutter speed 1/125-->

Use a timer or voice control to lower the shutter so you don’t shake the device with your finger.

Special modes: Night and Moon mode

Many modern Xiaomi models (especially the Mi and Xiaomi Number series) are equipped with artificial intelligence that automatically recognizes the moon. When you point the camera at the satellite in automatic mode, you can see the icon “Moon” or “L”.

This mode uses machine learning algorithms to improve crater detail, taking multiple images of different exposures and combining them to produce a high-detailed final image, but this method is sometimes criticized for over-drawing details.

Use of the AI-It's convenient for fast shooting, when you don't have time to fine-tune it, but for the creative process and learning photography, you better master manual mode.

Image processing and post-processing

Even a perfect source often requires easy correction. The built-in MIUI gallery editor allows you to quickly improve your picture. Open the photo, click Change, and go to the light settings.

First, reduce the Highlights and Whites parameter, which will help to return the texture to the craters if they are slightly over-lit, and then you can increase the Contrast and Sharpness slightly to emphasize the boundaries of the lunar seas.

Don't overload the saturation. The moon is monochrome, adding color can make the photo look unnatural. Better to work with the color temperature, making the picture a little cooler or warmer depending on the atmosphere of the frame.

For deeper processing, you can use third-party applications like Snapseed or Lightroom Mobile, which allow you to work with curves and selective correction, which gives you more control over the outcome.

⚠️ Warning: When processing, avoid adding compression artifacts. Excessive sharpness will create halos around craters, which will give the artificial origin of the parts.

Frequent mistakes when shooting the moon

One of the most common mistakes is shooting through a window glass, reflecting the light of room lamps and creating glare that will spoil the frame, and dirty or poor-quality glass will reduce the sharpness.

The second mistake is the use of a flash: a smartphone flash illuminates only objects in the immediate vicinity (up to 2-3 meters) and is absolutely useless for shooting celestial bodies, but can create a parasitic illumination on the lens.

The third problem is ignoring the wind, and if you're shooting from a balcony or a roof in windy weather, even a tripod can vibrate, and in those cases, you have to cover the structure with your body or use a heavier load for stability.

💡

Use RAW (if available in Pro mode) to save as much light and color data as possible, which will give you huge benefits when you process it on your computer.

And many people forget about white balance, and it can automatically float, making the moon yellow and blue. 4500-5500 Calvins for natural color.

FAQ: Questions and answers

💡

The key to a successful image is not maximum zoom, but the correct shutter speed. A short shutter speed freezes the light of the moon, allowing you to see craters that merge into a white spot in the machine.