Taking pictures in low light with your phone: 6 tips for shooting like a pro

1. Use Apps for Long Exposures

When shooting in low light with a film camera or DSLR, your answer to getting the right exposure is a long shutter speed. The smartphone’s answer to controlling shutter speed (or simulating it)? Apps! Try Manual (iOS) or Manual Camera (Google Play) – both let you control how long the shutter on the camera stays open.

2. Use an Outside Light Source

These days, there are all kinds of amazing mobile accessories, in particular those that will allow you control the lighting in your night photos better than your phone’s built-in flash. See The Pocket Spotlight and the Smartphone Ring Light. Don’t limit yourself there: flashlights, lamps, bike lights are all handy ways to get extra lighting into your photo. Find some DIY photography lighting ideas in our guide.

3.Shoot in burst mode

To shoot in rapid-fire burst mode, just keep your finger pressed down on your smartphone camera’s shutter button.
If you’re looking to capture fleeting moments in low light, like fireworks or lightning storms, timing is key. Your smartphone’s burst mode is perfect for photos like this because it reduces the chance you’re stuck with only blurry results, according to Persico. That’s because with burst mode, your phone captures multiple photos in quick succession, so chances are at least one will be in focus.
Don’t forget to watch how the fireworks or lightning illuminates your surroundings. There’s always opportunity there, Persico says.

4.Steady yourself

If you don’t have a tripod to help you keep the phone steady, a strong stance can help you steady yourself and the phone camera better.
A lot of phones offer optical-image stabilization to keep your photos from being blurry and out of focus. But when you’re working in low-light conditions, you should also keep the phone as steady as you can to avoid “motion blur,” a combination of a slow shutter speed and too much movement that can make your pictures look out-of-focus.
“Hold the phone with two hands,” says Farren. “Put your elbows in really tight to your body, separate your feet, and if you can, lean against a wall—that will keep you even steadier.”
You can also use what’s around you as a makeshift tripod, like a ledge or a wall, or the side of the building.

5.Crop, Don't Zoom

Many smartphone cameras offer a digital zoom function, but you're almost always best served by pretending it doesn't exist. Even in the live-view preview, you'll be able to see how noticeably your images degrade the second you start to zoom. The camera is simply extrapolating what's already there and basically guessing what the image looks like. It gets ugly fast.
 

 

 

6. Yes back camera, No front Camera

Sure, the front camera makes it easier to take your selfies. It however doesn’t eliminate the fact that the front camera in general has lower resolution specs than the back. This is mainly because the back camera is better equipped with more megapixels whereas the front camera’s function is supposed to be for video conferencing.
Then again, why not use both? Frontback is an app that lets you take photos with both the front camera and the back camera. This allows the photo-taker to be in the activity alongsie everyone else.