Specific iPhone Setting You Need To Use To Photograph The Northern Lights

In case you hadn’t noticed, loads of people got to see a mighty impressive display of the Northern Lights in the UK last night.

If you missed out on the display, all is not lost - if you’re in the right place at the right time, you might have another chance of seeing them this weekend.

And on top of that, you’ll of course want to capture the best possible photos of them that you can, so you better make sure you’ve got the specific iPhone setting turned on to have the best chance of capturing them in all their glory.

If you’ve got an iPhone 11 or a newer model, you should have a ‘night mode’ setting on your camera. Pretty perfectly, this is literally marketed to help you take the best photo possible with the camera lens in low light.

Newcastle-based photographer - who goes by the name Wil Photography (@wil_photography) - explained: “If your phone has night mode simply use that and either use a tripod or lean it against something for 10-15 seconds exposure, click on screen to focus on distant bright star and that should work.”

Night mode should switch itself on automatically but if it doesn’t, then you just need to tap the little night mode icon at the top of the screen to turn it on and off.

“If not then download an app called nightcap camera for iPhone or Open camera for Android,” Wil added.

“With settings - iso 2000 lowest number for f and shutter speed around 10 seconds, again using a tripod, make sure you focus on a distant bright star."

While last night and the early hours of this morning were the best chances for a sighting of the aurora, Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon told the PA news agency there is chance of further 'residual viewings' this weekend but it’s likely to be confined to Scotland.

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He also said rain and cloud would also obscure some viewing potential - so basically, last night was sadly the ‘main focus in terms of any aurora visibility’.

These amazing displays are caused by charged particles colliding with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

As they collide, light is emitted at various wavelengths, creating the colourful displays in the sky.