Night photography is a genre that instantly transforms a smartphone into a powerful creative tool to capture the majesty of the Milky Way or just beautiful city lights. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco devices often underestimate the potential of their cameras, relying solely on automatic mode, which in low light conditions often “noises” and lubricates details. However, knowing the right settings, you can achieve results comparable to expensive mirrorless cameras.
Modern sensors like the Sony IMX or Samsung ISOCELL, which are installed in the Chinese brand’s flagship and mid-budget models, are capable of capturing minimal amounts of light.The key to success lies not only in hardware, but also in MIUI or HyperOS software, which provides advanced tools for manual exposure management. You don’t need to be a professional photographer to get started, just follow the logic of the process.
In this article, we will explore all aspects of creating masterpieces in the dark, from the choice of location and tripod to the intricacies of shutter speed and focusing. You will learn why automation often fails and how to take control of the situation in your own hands. Ready to turn your smartphone into a night predator?
Preparation of equipment and choice of location
Before you press the trigger button, you need to ensure the stability of the device. Anybody, even a microscopic hand shake, with a long exposure, will turn the stars into blurry spots or completely smear the frame. So having a tripod is absolutely necessary, there is almost no alternative here. If there is no professional tripod, you can point the phone at a fixed object: a stone, a parapet or a sandbag, but the risk of lubrication is still high.
The second critical factor is light pollution, and if you're shooting in the middle of a metropolis, you're only going to see the brightest stars and a lot of digital noise in the sky, and you're going to be out of town, into a zone with minimal streetlights and advertising, and you're going to use a light pollution map or a star atlas app to find the right place in advance.
⚠️ Warning: Never use digital zoom when shooting at night. Approximating the image by software on the smartphone matrix catastrophically reduces the amount of light hit and increases noise, making the picture unfit for printing or detailed viewing.
It's also important to prepare the smartphone itself. Make sure the camera lens is perfectly clean - the fat deposits from your fingers create unpleasant glare from bright light sources that can't be removed during post-processing. Wipe the lens with a soft cloth before shooting. Also, cold weather can quickly drain your lithium-ion battery, so keep the phone warm until you shoot or bring a power bank with you.
Shooting modes: from automation to PRO
The standard MIUI and HyperOS Camera app offers several scenarios. First, try Night Mode, which takes a series of different exposures and glues them together to remove noise, a good option for static landscapes with cities in the background, but it is often not suitable for stars, as algorithms may not recognize stars as objects and cover them up when noise is suppressed.
For serious work, you have to switch to PRO, where you have full control of exposure parameters. Unlike the automatic mode, where the phone decides how much light to put on the matrix, in PRO mode you dictate your conditions, which allows you to pull out the details from the darkness that the automation would simply ignore.
Some models, especially the Xiaomi 13 Ultra or 14 Pro series, also have Long Exposure mode, which mimics the operation of light filters, useful for creating “light painting” effects or shooting moving car lights, but the classic manual PRO mode is still preferred for astrophotography.
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If the standard camera app is in mode PRO It seems too complicated or limited, try installing a third-party app like Manual Camera: DSLR, accessory RAW-format and more subtle focus settings.
Configure exposure parameters in PRO mode
So, to the most important thing, you can set up the exposure triangle. PRO And pay attention to the three main parameters: ISO, SS (exposure/Shutter Speed and WB (It's their interaction that determines the quality of the final shot.
Let's start with the exposure (SS). To shoot the starry sky without tracks (so that the stars remain dots, not draughts due to the rotation of the Earth) is the “rule” 500». Divide. 500 the focal length of your lens (for the main module of the smartphone it is usually about 24-27 In the equivalent of a full frame, approximately 4-5 However, it is easier to remember: shutter speed should not exceed 15-25 If you put more, the stars will start to float».
The ISO is responsible for sensor sensitivity. Ideally, you should keep it as low as possible (ISO 100-400) to avoid digital noise. But at night, there is little light, so you often have to raise the ISO to 800, 1600 or even 3200. Here the balance is important: too high ISO will add grain, too low will make the frame black. Experiment by taking test frames.
The third parameter is focus. Switch the lens to Manual Mode (MF). Point the camera at the brightest star or far-away flashlight and spin the focus slider until the object is as sharp and small as possible. Often, turning on Peak Focus Mode (if available) or just taking a closer look at the screen helps.
☑️ Setting up the exposure
Table of recommended settings for different scenes
To make it easier for you to navigate the numbers, we have compiled a table with basic parameters for different shooting conditions. Remember, these are starting values, and depending on the specific model of your Xiaomi and lighting conditions, adjust them.
| Screenplay of the shooting | Excerpt (SS) | ISO | White balance (WB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The clear starry sky (Milky Way) | 15-20 seconds | 1600-3200 | 3500-4000 K |
| Cityscape at Night | 2-4 seconds | 100-200 | Car or 4500 K |
| Moon (close-up) | 1/100 - 1/200 sec | 50-100 | Daylight |
| Light tracks (cars) | 10-30 seconds. | 50-100 | 3000-4000 K |
| Portrait in low light | 1/30 - 1/60 sec | 800-1600 | Automobile |
Pay attention to the white balance (WB). Automotive mode is often mistaken, making the night sky unnaturally orange or purple. 3500-4000 Kelvins ("Incandescent Lamp" or "Moonlight") will help keep the cold, deep blue hue of the sky, which looks more artistically pleasing.
Photographing the Milky Way: Secrets of Success
Shooting our galaxy is the ultimate aerobatics of mobile photography, requiring not only a clear sky without clouds and the moon (best for a new moon), but also the right save format. Be sure to include RAW (or RAW+JPEG) in your camera settings. RAW files contain raw data from the matrix, which gives you a huge margin of safety when you process it.
Find a place where the Milky Way is clearly visible. Point your camera, lock your phone on a tripod, and use a descent delay timer (2 or 5 seconds) to eliminate vibration from pressing your finger on the screen. Shutter speed of 20-25 seconds and ISO 1600-3200 is a great starting point. If the sky is too dark, you can try to increase the ISO, but watch for color noise.
⚠️ Warning: When shooting the Milky Way, turn off all notifications and put your phone in aeronautical mode. A pop-up or incoming call can activate the screen, illuminate the frame, or interrupt the long shutter speed process by ruining the shot.
After shooting, don't expect instant results on your phone screen. RAW-The file may look faded and faint, and all the magic will come later, in the post-processing phase, when you can pull out shadows and emphasize the structure of the galactic hand.
Why is RAW better than JPEG?
Post-processing: turning the picture into a masterpiece
Shooting is only half the story. Digital photography, especially night photography, is impossible without processing. Xiaomi's built-in editor is not bad, but for serious results, it's better to use third-party applications like Lightroom Mobile, Snapseed or Adobe Camera Raw. RAW-file.
First, you need to work with exposure and contrast. Raise Shadows to show details in the dark areas of the sky, and lower Highlights to return the texture to the bright stars or lights of the city. The Clarity or Structure tool will help to highlight clouds and landscape details.
The most important step is noise reduction. Noise Reduction will smooth out the graininess, but don't overdo it, otherwise it will become plastic. You can also experiment with Curves by adding a light S-shaped curve to increase the depth of black. Remember to adjust the temperature so that the sky looks natural.
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The main secret of high-quality night photography on a smartphone is shooting in RAW format and subsequent competent processing, which allows you to reveal the dynamic range that is not available when shooting directly in JPEG.