According to the Czech Hydrometeorological Office, one of the wonders of nature in the form of the aurora borealis may be visible over the Czech Republic this evening. Although there is relatively high cloud cover over most of the Czech Republic, theancEven with reduced cloud cover and therefore a fairly well-visible aurora borealis, you who live in the southern regions of the Czech Republic – southern Bohemia, Vysočina and southern Moravia – will have it. And if this phenomenon appears above your head, it is certainly not a bad idea to take the best possible photo of it on your smartphone.one.
What are the Northern Lights?
The aurora borealis is a collective name for the light phenomena occurring in the high atmosphere of the Earth, most often at heights of around 100 km (in the ionosphere – an area of high concentration of ions and free electrons). Sometimes, however, reaching heights of several hundred kilometers. It is one of the main phenomena of space weather. They are commonly found in polar regions, while in mid-latitudes and especially in the tropics only rarely.
Free up storage space
A few hours before dark, before you go aurora hunting, you should prepare and clear your iPhone's storage space. You definitely don't want to deal with a message telling you that you don't have enough storage space after taking five photos. To check the availability status, go to Settings -> General -> Storage: iPhone, where you'll find a storage chart to find free space. In addition, you can use several recommendations to free up storage space. Below you will find the applications that take up the most space - you can delete them. However, photos, such as screenshots, often take up the most space. You can delete photos in the application Fotky help media category, where you can separately view, for example, screenshots and others.
Turn off notifications
If you are ready and have enough space in the storage, it is necessary to further ensure that no one disturbs you while taking photos, i.e. that you do not receive notifications. In this case, you just need to activate the Do Not Disturb mode on your iPhone, or any other Focus mode. In this mode, it is of course necessary that you ideally have no applications and contacts enabled, i.e. so that no one can disturb you. Focus mode can be activated by opening the control center, then clicking Focus and selecting the desired mode.
Activating Focus mode
Find a place without light traffic
If you have storage space and notifications turned off, then comes the seemingly difficult step. You have to find a place that is completely free of light traffic and from which you have a completely unobstructed view to the north. Light traffic, for example from the city, can lighten up slightly, which deteriorates the quality of the night image. So either move as far away from the city as possible, ideally to a meadow, or turn around so that the city has its back to you. In this way, you will achieve that the sky will not be illuminated by light traffic and you will be able to focus better. Of course, also take the weather into account - if it's cloudy, it's not worth going somewhere. But the good news is that according to the weather, it should be completely clear tonight, which is of course absolutely ideal conditions for viewing the aurora borealis.
This is how light traffic can look like:
A tripod and headphones are a must
It doesn't matter what phenomenon or object you will photograph in the night sky - in any case, it is necessary that your device is as still as possible and that it does not shake. Virtually all newer iPhones have optical image stabilization that can absorb some small shakes, but you definitely can't rely on this feature. In addition, shaking of the device often occurs when you press the camera shutter. It is more or less obligatory for you to own a tripod or a so-called tripod. Using a tripod, you can ensure that your device does not even move and stays in place, even when taking pictures. If you were to shoot handheld, the resulting photo could be affected by hand shaking, possibly weather conditions, and other aspects that make it difficult to hold the phone still during the year. So if you combine a tripod and headphones with a controller, you practically win.
You will need a tripod when photographing the aurora borealis
If you want to avoid shaking when you press the shutter button, there is a trick that allows you to take pictures without touching the device itself - all you need is headphones with a controller, ideally EarPods. If you connect them to your device and open the Camera app, you can take a photo by pressing the volume buttons on the headphones. If you own Apple Watch, so you can use the Camera application, with which you can also press the shutter button remotely.
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Camera settings
As for the camera settings, it is necessary that you turned off AE/AF, i.e. automatic exposure and automatic focus. You do this in the same way as if you wanted to focus on an object - in this case, however, a finger on the display is required hold for a few seconds until it appears at the top AE/AF OFF. After that it is necessary that you reduced the exposure of the Camera. You can achieve this by swipe up and down which will darken the screen. Lower the exposure just enough to get rid of any light noise, but of course it's important not to darken the image too much to see anything in the photo.
Deactivating automatic exposure and reducing it
Photo applications
Using the tips and tricks mentioned above, you can easily take pictures of the night sky through the native Camera application. It should be mentioned, however, that there are all kinds of applications with which you can set the camera completely manually and theoretically get a better result. Some of the most popular applications for professional photographers include, for example Halide Mark II or perhaps ProCamera. I've included a link below to an article that lists the top 5 best photography apps out there right now.
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záver
If you own iPhone 11 and later, you can use the special Night mode in the Camera app. In most cases, you will be better off turning this mode off and taking pictures of the aurora borealis without it. However, if you are unable to ensure a good result, you can certainly try activating Night mode - it will cost you nothing to try. In any case, it is necessary to mention that even if you follow all these tips, the resulting photo may not be completely ideal. iPhone It is still primarily a smartphone, not a mirrorless camera for several tens or hundreds of thousands of crowns. Apple is constantly trying to improve the camera system of its iPhones, so it is possible that in a few years we will be able to take really beautiful and sharp photos even at night and in complete darkness. But we will have to wait for that. If you manage to take a photo of the aurora borealis on iPhone capture, be sure to share it with us in the comments.
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