Using iPhone 11 Pro’s ‘Night mode’ to shoot 40 days of darkness

A man walks through a blizzard in central Murmansk. (photo: Amos Chapple )
A man walks through a blizzard in central Murmansk. (photo: Amos Chapple )

PetaPixel’s Amos Chapple took an Apple iPhone 11 Pro into forty days of darkness, in Murmansk, Russia, and made great use of Apple’s Camera app’s “Night mode.”

Amos Chapple for PetaPixel:

For my latest photo essay “Forty Days Of Darkness,” I bought the new iPhone 11 Pro and went to Russia’s Murmansk, the biggest city in the Arctic circle. From December until January the sun never rises over Murmansk. With the iPhone camera (most of the time) set to “night mode,” I shot life in the darkness there.

Most young people we spoke to said they didn’t mind the winter, when northern lights sparkle in the sky and snow covers the ground. One hotel receptionist said, “Anyway, summer only really lasts a week or two and the winter is beautiful here. I prefer it.”

Night mode icon
Night mode icon
MacDailyNews Note: iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max turn on Night mode automatically when the camera detects low-light situations. The Night mode icon at the top of the display turns yellow when the feature is active.

Depending on how dark the scene is, your iPhone might take a Night mode photo quickly, or it might extend the shutter time for several seconds. A number appears next to the Night mode icon to indicate how long the shot will take.

To experiment with longer Night mode photos, tap the Night mode icon. Then use the slider above the shutter button to choose between Auto and Max. Auto lets the camera decide how long to shoot, and Max takes the longest Night mode shot. When you take the photo, the slider becomes a timer that counts down to the end of the exposure. Be sure to hold still until the capture completes.

Check out all of the gorgeous photos in the full article!

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