Photographer Puts iPhone’s Night Mode to Test, Captures 40 Days in Darkness

BY Mahit Huilgol

Published 27 Dec 2019

Pixel and other Android phones have been offering a night mode from quiet some time. Apple joined the bandwagon by baking in Night Mode on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. A photographer has put the night mode to full use and has captured scenes in a town that has 40 continuous days of darkness.

Photographer by the name Amos Chapple headed to Arctic circle and put the Night mode into good use.

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.

The photographer considers Night Mode as a revolution and something that is unique to the current generation of smartphones.

As I walked down the corridor I remember thinking I’d just had more trouble organizing the equipment I needed to brush my teeth, than I had preparing for a 12-hour day of professional photography. No SD cards to check, no stacks of batteries to charge, no bag full of lenses… Total freedom.

Throughout the essay, Chapple is in awe of Night Mode on the iPhone 11. Furthermore, he has never seen a motion blur and describes all the shots as “tack sharp.” In his essay, the photographer mentions he never had the need to use a tripod during the shoot.

Interestingly, when the camera senses it’s on a tripod it behaves exactly like a normal camera — so during a long exposure people walking or snow falling just become faint blurs. I took a tripod with me but hardly ever used it after noticing this switch that the camera makes.

I personally loved the photos taken on iPhone 11. The Night Mode seems to work brilliantly and the only qualm is that you cant manually switch to night mode. Chapple also points out that the telephoto lens would not let him switch on night mode in tricky situations. Despite the cons, the Night Mode on iPhone 11 seems to work brilliantly and the above photos stand as testimony.

[via PetaPixel]