How to use your smartphone to photograph the Northern Lights

LONDON — People in parts of the U.S. may be able to see Northern lights Monday night — or at least use a smartphone’s camera to reveal hints of the aurora not visible to the naked eye.

Space weather forecasters issued a rare, severe solar storm alert on Sunday after the sun let out a huge burst of energy called a coronal mass ejection last week. Another one headed toward Earth on Monday could produce more aurora sightings and with it, more social media posts of the majestic spectacle.

If you plan to head outside after sunset to look for the lights, and photograph them, there are things you can do to make sure you get the best shot. First, though, try to find a quiet, dark area away from light pollution and check the weather forecast — clouds can cover up the aurora borealis.

As for equipment, ideally, you should use a DSLR camera because its manual controls give you lots of control, and a tripod to hold it steady. But many people won’t have this sort of equipment. But if you’ve only got a smartphone, you can still take great photos of the night skies.

Here are some tips on how to shoot the Northern Lights:

A good setup

Before fiddling with your phone, take a few other steps to improve your chances of getting a good shot. First, dim your screen. A bright screen can hurt your night vision and both others nearby.

Even if you don’t have a tripod, it’s best not to hold your phone with your hands while shooting at night because there’s a good chance the picture will turn out blurry. Find something to rest your device against, like a hat, a book or even just the ground.

Of course, check the forecast because auroras are best seen in clear skies. Find a dark spot, away from city lights and look north. Also, consider going horizontal instead of vertical to capture a wider image.

Tips for the iPhone

First, turn off your phone’s flash. It’s usually marked by the lightning bolt symbol in the corner of the screen.

Next, use Night Mode, which is found on iPhone 11 and newer models. It usually turns on automatically in low light. You can tell it’s on because a circular icon with a crescent moon will appear in the top left corner of the screen.

For night shots, a longer exposure is better because there’s more time for light to hit the lens. Apple says Night Mode’s exposure length is normally determined automatically, but you can still experiment with manual controls.

To get to the controls, tap the arrow at the top of the camera screen, which will bring up a row of controls at the bottom. Tap find the exposure icon, which is the same crescent moon symbol as the Night Mode icon.

A slider will come up, which you can drag left or right to choose between Auto and Max timer settings. Max will give you the longest exposure time. Whichever setting you choose, it will be remembered for the next time.

Then, tap the shutter button to take your shot. Better yet, turn on the countdown timer. The delay gives you time to move away and reduces the chance any movement from your finger will affect the shot.

If you are going handheld, and the iPhone detects movement in the frame, it will display crosshairs. Try to keep them lined up to minimize any motion that can ruin the shot.

Tips for Android devices

There are similar night and astrophotography modes available on most Android devices.

On Pixel phones, tap the Night Sight setting at the bottom of the screen. If you’re using a tripod, the astrophotography setting will come up automatically once the phone has detected that it is still and ready, according to Google’s online guide.

Now you can press the shutter, which will trigger a five-second countdown timer before the phone starts taking a long exposure of up to four minutes.

If you don’t have a tripod, you’ll have to activate the astro mode by tapping the crescent moon icon and swiping the slider.

You’ll still get a five-second timer when you hit the shutter, which Google says “allows you to place your phone down on a steady surface facing the sky.” Then the phone will play a sound to let you know it’s done.

Newer Samsung phones can access an astrophoto mode, but users will have to download the company’s free Expert Raw camera app to get it.

Use a third-party app

If you feel like you need some outside assistance for your snapshots, tourist boards and other outfits from some Nordic countries have suggestions for you. Iceland Air, for instance, has a blog entry on the best apps for taking pictures of the Northern lights, including the Northern Lights Photo Taker, which costs 99 cents to download and “does exactly what it says,” according to the post.