No really. Chances are pretty good you’re missing the point of a good night mode on your phone camera.

We know the complaints. We’ve heard the “hot takes”.

“If I’m taking a photo at night, shouldn’t it be DARK? I HATE how PROCESSED phone photos are!”

It’s worth taking a second to break this sentiment down, because it’s likely being shared by someone who really doesn’t understand photography. At least, not as well as they think they do…

How do we make images brighter?

We’re going to keep this practical. You have a camera, conditions are dark, how do you capture a better image?

Photography is light. The better the light, the better the image, but we can’t always count on perfect light. If you’re shooting on a standalone camera, there are tools and techniques we can use to capture an image in more challenging conditions.

1 – Use a Flash

If there’s not enough light, let’s add more light! The good thing about a flash, it’s great at illuminating a moment. The bad part about a flash, it’s likely you’ll hyper isolate your subject.

It takes a little time and technique to learn how to use a flash as a fill, and properly balance your subject with the surrounding environment.

Plus, a better flash is going to be an expensive accessory to add to your camera.

2 – Use a Longer Shutter Speed / Higher ISO

If you need a brighter image you can always increase the sensitivity of the sensor and shoot with a longer shutter.

A higher ISO will create more noise in your shot. A longer shutter speed means you have to hold the camera still longer.

A longer shutter will likely require a tripod to stabilize the camera.

3 – Shoot a Bracket of Images

Moving beyond just brighter images, many standalone cameras can bracket a series of shots. You program the camera to shoot a series of images at different exposure values. Often three to seven individual images, each image is a different brightness.

The idea here, you’ll take this collection of darker and brighter images and merge them to create one image with more data in highlights and shadows.

This is the backbone of HDR photography.

More information is captured in highlights and shadows, and all that data is combined to create one processed image.

Capturing a bracket of shots is easy enough. You’ll need a tripod to minimize movement from image to image. Then you take that bracket and merge them in a program like Affinity or Photoshop.

A bracket is more complicated processing than shooting a single longer exposure, but you’re likely to retain better scene information thanks to the different exposures of images captured.

What can we do on our phones?

Well our phones have the same three tools available for challenging conditions.

We can use a flash to better illuminate a subject. We can prop up a phone on a tripod and shoot a longer exposure.

Many phone pro modes also have tools to shoot a traditional bracket of multiple images, and those shots can be merged in apps like PhotoMate R3.

There is one other tool however: The Night Mode.

A good night mode is VERY similar to shooting a bracket of images, but you don’t have to hold the camera as steady as when you shoot a long exposure or bracket. The phone will capture a stack of RAW files rapidly, and then combine those images in-camera to finish a processed JPEG.

The entire time it takes to capture the bracket of shots and process the final image is significantly faster than just shooting a bracket from a standalone camera.

It’s a streamlined approach to shooting a bracket.

It doesn’t require the user to break out a tripod. The processing happens in camera, so there’s no merge editing required. It’s a dramatic consumer evolution of a complicated photography technique.

When is a RAW photo not REALLY a RAW?

This method of image stacking is also being used to improve smartphone “RAW” files. Vivo SuperRAW, Samsung Expert RAW, and Apple ProRAW aren’t really RAW files. They’re a stack of DNG files merged in-camera to create a DNG with better dynamic range.

All of this processing is similar to shooting a bracket of photos. It’s highly unlikely that a human could shoot a good bracket handheld in challenging light though. It’s unlikely that a human could hold still for a seven second single image exposure.

Yet the modern premium smartphone has few issues compositing and processing a night mode, where the user holds still for 7 or 8 seconds.

Spitting out a brighter HDR JPG is direct and simple.

When people complain about “too bright” night modes, they’re ignoring the extra gear and editing required to make a nicer image on a standalone camera.

When people complain about phone images being “processed”, I doubt many of those folks could capture and edit a more “natural” looking bracket from a mirrorless camera.

Those folks need to ignore the immediacy of the phone night mode, and grade the mirrorless camera on a GENEROUS curve for the amount of effort it would take to finish a better photo.

The last point I need to re-iterate constantly, when you see a shockingly bright night mode from a phone, that doesn’t mean it’s the ONLY photo that phone can shoot.

Techies are really bad about this.

They make a singular assumption based on one or two images. They lack the understanding of how the camera really works when adjusting settings. They aren’t curious to learn more about photography, and they’re confident in their assumptions.

A SUPER bright night mode just means the camera can process an incredible image from a burst of handheld shots.

The user who actually learns about their camera more than “just push shutter button”, will also know they can turn down the exposure on most night modes. Or, they can shoot a traditional auto mode jpeg with less image stacking and HDR processing. Or, they can shoot a RAW file from a pro mode.

A bright night mode doesn’t mean “processing bad”. It means the user has more capabilities and more range to capture the image they imagine BEFORE turning to extra accessories.

Super bright night modes mean less gear to haul around when shooting in challenging conditions. It means less editing in post.

A good night mode democratizes difficult photography concepts, streamlines that work, automates some of the more tedious aspects of editing, and creates a better image in shorter time.

A night mode isn’t always the right tool for every situation, but that’s a silly obvious statement to make. A flash isn’t always the right tool. A bracket isn’t always the right tool. A long exposure isn’t always the right tool.

Learning about photography means learning about light, and when to use different tools for different situations.

Techies who complain about the night mode, more often than not, are telling you they don’t know when to use the right tools for the correct situations.