How to Take Photos of the Aurora With Your Phone or Camera

4 weeks ago 16

The northern lights -- or the Aurora Borealis, to give it its full name -- is a stunning phenomenon that fills the night sky with colors. Typically seen in northern areas like Iceland, Alaska or Norway during winter, in recent years the aurora has been visible in southern areas in different times of year. It was in May and October last year that the northern lights were clearly visible across a large part of the US and Europe, with CNET's team getting some gorgeous viewings in Missouri, Kansas and New York. I myself had an amazing time photographing in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The aurora can be an amazing thing to photograph, and it's possible to get amazing photos using just your phone with no extra equipment. I've been a professional photographer for over a decade and have shot the aurora all over the world, so I've put together my best advice for taking your best-ever photos of the northern lights.

How to take aurora photos with your phone

Most modern camera phones have extremely capable night modes that let them capture bright images even when it's dark out. On most iPhones, that mode will kick in automatically when it detects that there's not enough light (you'll see a little moon symbol light up in yellow), while some Android phones may require you to shoot using a specific night-time photography mode that needs to be manually activated. Not sure how your phone's night mode works? Google the model and "night mode" in advance to check how to do it.

an Android phone and an iPhone both flash

With night mode activated, you should be able to tap on the screen to set the exposure, take the picture and watch as your phone captures a long exposure that brings out the beauty of the aurora with little effort on your part. But there's a lot you can do to make those images even better.

First, while you don't need a tripod when using a phone, keeping a steady hand will definitely help. Try leaning on a wall or at least bracing yourself by tucking in your elbows and trying to maintain a strong core while the image is taken. Holding your breath can help too.

Stick to using the main image sensor, as this will almost certainly be how your phone captures its best-looking images. The ultrawide lens may allow you to capture more of the night sky, but these cameras will typically use smaller image sensors and narrower apertures, which won't help your photos. Most "standard" lenses on smartphones are around 24mm, which should be enough to capture a nice image.

If you're shooting with a recent iPhone, take your image using Apple's ProRaw format. This saves more image data, while giving more control to adjust white balance and colors using either Apple's built-in editing tools or in apps like Snapseed or Adobe Lightroom. Most Android phones offer some kind of DNG raw photography, and I strongly recommend you use this.

Image of the aurora borealis above snowmobiles

Changing the white balance in an aurora photo can often be critical, especially if you're shooting near urban areas where the orange glow of street lights can throw off your phone's camera. By shooting in raw, you can adjust the colors, along with exposure and contrast to really let the aurora's colors pop.

How to take a photo of the aurora with a camera

Using a regular DSLR or mirrorless camera is the best way to take photos of the northern lights. These cameras have much larger image sensors and bigger lens openings to capture much more light than your phone can. However, you'll need some extra gear.

Read more: Best Camera to Buy in 2025

First, you'll absolutely need a tripod. Photos of the aurora are typically done over multiple seconds, so keeping your camera steady during that time is critical. If your camera has interchangeable lenses, opt for something around 20mm to capture a wider scene. A wider aperture is better here -- at least f/2.8, although a fast prime lens offering f/1.8 is even better. The wider the aperture, the more light it can let in.

Best camera settings for taking photos of the aurora

I find it best to take manual control of the camera when shooting the aurora as the varying light levels can throw off any auto or aperture priority modes. These are the exposure settings you need to consider:

Image of the northern lights over mountains.

Wide aperture: As wide as your lens can go in order to let in more light. Ideally f/2.8, but f/2 or f/1.8 is better.

High ISO speed: The higher the ISO, the more sensitive your sensor will be to light. ISO 800 is a good starting point, but you may find you want to push it to ISO 1000 or beyond. The higher the ISO speed, the more image noise (digital grain) will be visible, but most modern cameras (especially those with full-frame sensors) can handle high ISO speeds up to ISO 2000 very well with little to no visible noise.

Slow shutter speed: Speeds of around two seconds are a good starting point, but again, you may find you need more light, so slowing it to five seconds might be necessary. Remember that the aurora does move, so if you want to capture it with clarity, keeping your shutter speed to a few seconds is best. If instead you want to fill the sky with a total wash of color (also fine), you can try experimenting with even slower speeds of 30 seconds or more.

Keep in mind, too, that with long exposures, any movement of the camera will create blur in your image, so don't touch it while it's taking the photos. If you don't have a remote release cable for your camera, use the 2-second timer to allow for any vibrations to settle before your camera takes the image.

Raw format: As with phones, shooting in raw gives you full control to adjust white balance later on in apps like Adobe Lightroom, while also giving more scope to light shadows and pull back highlights. Shooting in raw on your camera is a must here.

Image of someone taking a photo of the northern lights

Tips for better aurora photos

While having the right kit and sorting your settings will help your aurora photos come out nicely, there's plenty you can do to elevate your images from simple "oh, nice" snaps to "oh WOW!" pieces of art.

First, consider your location. Simply shooting out of your bedroom window might be convenient, but perhaps there's a nearby spot you can quickly go to in order to get a better viewpoint. If you're anticipating an aurora overhead that evening, try and plan a trip out of town, away from light pollution in order to let those colors shine through even more.

Remember to concentrate on your composition. Sure, pointing your camera directly upward to take an image of the aurora by itself in the sky is fine, but think about how you can use the landscape in front of you as part of the composition. Maybe there are mountains, rivers, lakes or coastal bays that would look amazing with the aurora glimmering above.

Perhaps you're in the city, far away from such beautiful natural scenery. No worries -- you can focus instead on bringing buildings into the equation, perhaps finding a viewpoint overlooking the city that allows you to capture the light show above. It's worth having some ideas in mind, so if you're keen to capture the aurora, it's worth googling some images and seeing if they help give you inspiration for your own shots.

Finally, don't forget about editing. The editing stage can transform your aurora photos. Those of you shooting in raw format will already need to adjust the white balance of your images, but any shot will benefit from a few key tweaks. In my own images, I'll often slightly increase the exposure, up the contrast and even add some clarity to help the details of the aurora really stand out.

Increasing the saturation is a no-brainer (we really want those colors to stand out!) and adjusting the crop to eliminate any unwanted distractions can be helpful too. There's no right or wrong way to edit your photos, so it's worth spending some time playing with the sliders.

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