Here are Hayati’s tips for snapping stunning starscapes with a phone, as well as some suggestions that could help you capture specific night sky features.
In 2023, Hayati captured a thousand-year-old roadside inn or caravanserai in central Iran framing the constellation Orion in the night sky. He used his smartphone’s main lens set to 1x, with an f-stop of 1.8, a 30 second exposure, and an ISO 1600. He also reduced some of the noise in the image using Adobe Photoshop.
How to set up the shot
All modern smartphones have similar lens technology. Apple and Android phones can automatically shoot dark skies in a digital image file format called a JPEG using a “night mode” setting.
But Android users may opt for manual “pro” mode and shoot in RAW files (selected through advanced camera settings). RAW files are unprocessed images and contain more data, allowing greater flexibility when editing colors, exposure, and other details afterwards. (Apple phones shoot in automatic mode, but these settings can be adjusted through third-party apps.)
Tweaking some advanced camera settings can also help. Under dark skies, the camera lens needs to take in more light to capture a clear image. The shutter speed or exposure time—basically how long the camera shutter is open, should be slower to allow more illumination. Ideally the setting should be on a slow shutter speed, between 15 to 30 seconds. The lens’ sensitivity to light, a setting called ISO, should be high—around 800 to 3200—to increase the input of light based on the scene. (Digital cameras also adjust the aperture, or how wide the camera lens remains open, but the aperture is fixed on smartphones.)
While it might seem tempting to zoom in, avoid digital zoom, and instead, use the main lens (set at 1x) on the camera for the best resolution.