Dark thunderclouds, twilight, the city at night: low-light photography starts when others are putting their smartphone cameras away. Most of them have sensors designed to take good pictures in daylight. But recent smartphones like the Galaxy S8 really start to shine in low-light photography.
Always snapping cloudless skies quickly gets boring. You can take much more exciting and atmospheric pictures in low-light conditions. Familiar to everyone: sunsets and starry skies, nighttime nature, people and movements in the night, party motifs. Photographic themes often work much better in the blue hour – shortly after sunset. Intriguing contrasts emerge, pictures take on a dramatic tone. Fog, for example, is the perfect stylistic medium for mystical pictures.
For the photographer and the camera, taking pictures in poor light conditions is always a challenge: How can I capture enough light? How can I get the necessary exposure time, when do I need to add in additional light? Low-light conditions test the fully automatic system of a camera to its limits. And manual settings options also have their drawbacks in these conditions: For instance, if you work in twilight with a long exposure time, there is the risk of camera and motion blur. Increasing ISO sensitivity can bring more picture noise into play. If you are taking pictures in low light, you need to play with the technology if you want to get exciting results. Photography at its limits – can you do this with a smartphone camera?
Nighttime shooting with a smartphone camera
The more megapixels the better, right? Not necessarily. It is not just the megapixel count that determines the quality of photos taken with a smartphone camera. Other factors such as release time, autofocus and image stabilizers have at least as great an effect on picture quality. When taking pictures in challenging light conditions, a large aperture and thus high light intensity and a high performance autofocus are important. A good maximum aperture ensures the greatest possible exposure to light and thereby a shallow depth of field. The camera aperture is represented by the letter f. The lower this value, the higher the light intensity of the lens.
Don't be afraid of the dark - just have a go. The technology of the smartphone camera offers a fantastic opportunity to play, to capture the mood of a particular moment in low light. You can try this out with your private photos by candlelight, photographing silhouettes and shadows that change their character depending on the exposure to light.
With the new Samsung Galaxy S8, for example. You are well equipped, especially in poor light conditions, thanks to its F1.7 maximum aperture. The large aperture ensures that more light falls on the sensor. A super fast autofocus, short shutter release, good brightness adjustment, automatic HDR mode, and multi-frame image processing provide for outstanding noise performance and detailed images in low light. ISO, shutter speed, exposure, white balance and other settings can be individually adjusted. Whatever the circumstances, the smartphone camera is ideal for taking creative and authentic pictures, even in low light, in bad weather, and at nighttime.
