It can be difficult to get the best out of your camera phone when you’re shooting in the dark. But here’s how to fix that with Night Mode on the iPhone 11.
What is Night Mode?
Night Mode works to improve the results of your photography when there is little or no light, and the iPhone 11 is especially good at this ability. In our review, we wrote:
The results are impressive – especially when there is a just a little bit of light to work with. It’s a clean and crisp effect which although is possibly a tad oversharpened, is rendered very well on the iPhone 11’s screen.
Just take a look at a sample of the iPhone 11’s Night Mode in action:
iPhone 11 Night Mode
But how can you employ this effect yourself? Here’s how it works.
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Automatic Detection
If your iPhone 11 is still running according to the default settings, then it should automatically detect whether you’re shooting in the dark, and employ Night Mode accordingly. This is really useful, because it saves you the time of having to change the settings manually, and it will result in better photos that enhance the detail that’s sometimes lost when there’s a lack of light. Remember to stay as still as possible when you’re shooting with Night Mode, as it relies on long exposure, so any movements may cause blur in the final image.
You can notice when Night Mode is on because the icon at the top of the screen, depicting the Moon, will turn yellow. Note that it’s only available with the main camera; unfortunately, the wide-angle camera does not offer the option of Night Mode.
Adjusting the Settings
While this automatic detection is useful in the vast majority of instances, you might also find it holds you back a bit, since we found that it takes around 4 seconds of long exposure to achieve the effect under most conditions.
In this case, simply tap that yellow icon at the top of the screen, and you can click and drag across a sliding scale to adjust the time taken to take a picture using Night Mode. The maximum and minimum length of exposure may change depending on the darkness of your surroundings at the time.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.