How to Take Outdoor Nighttime Photos with Pixel 3, 3a and 4

While Night Sight astrophotography was being developed it had to be tested under realistic
conditions. Trying out one version after another the Night Sight team captured thousands of
outdoor nighttime pictures. Below we list some tips and tricks that have worked for us.

Operating the Camera

A brief user manual for the Google Camera app can be found at the ​Google Camera Help
website. Here are a few additional instructions for taking pictures outdoors at night:

● Stabilize your phone to make sure it will not move during long exposures: prop it up on a
stable surface such as a rock or a fence post, or use a tripod if you happen to have one.
● Launch the Google Camera App, switch to Night Sight, and frame the shot.
● Once the phone is steady, the viewfinder should display a message that says
“Astrophotography on” to indicate that long exposures are enabled, and that, depending
on the brightness of the scene, taking a shot may take up to four minutes. If there’s
strong wind and the phone is on a tripod, then the camera may shake too much for a
sharp long exposure and “Astrophotography on” may not appear. If that’s the case try
shortening the tripod legs to keep the phone closer to the ground, use your body to
shield the phone from the wind, or move to a spot that is less windy.
● The phone will try to focus automatically, but autofocus can fail in extremely dark
scenes. For landscape shots you may just want to set focus to “far” so that anything
further away than about 4 meters (13 feet) will be in focus.
● For best results set the self timer to 3 seconds. This shifts the beginning of the exposure
to 3 seconds after you have tapped the shutter button, and avoids unwanted motion-blur
by ensuring that the phone doesn’t move when it starts capturing light.
● Once the exposure has begun, the viewfinder displays a timer that shows how many
minutes and seconds are left until the exposure is complete. If you want to stop the
exposure early for some reason, for example, because a car’s headlights have appeared
in the frame, tap the shutter button again. You will get a photo even if you stop early,
provided at least one frame has been captured, but letting the timer count down all the
way to zero will produce a brighter and clearer image.
● The viewfinder in the Google Camera App works at full moon light levels, but in
environments darker than that the on-screen image may become too dim and grainy to
be useful. When this happens we recommend the following: point the phone in what you
think is the right direction, then tap the shutter button. As soon as the exposure for an
individual frame is complete, the frame will be shown in the viewfinder, and you can
check and correct which way the phone is pointing. Wait for the next frame to see the
effect of your corrections. Once you are satisfied with the composition, tap the shutter
button a second time to stop the exposure. Then tap the shutter button once more to
start a new exposure and let it run to completion without touching the phone.
 ● You may want to reduce the phone screen’s brightness and also enable Android’s Dark
theme. This will help you preserve your own night vision while working on
astrophotography.

The Right Time and Place

Scenes worth photographing with Night Sight can present themselves anytime you are outdoors
while it’s dark. Maybe you are hiking on a full moon night, or you are enjoying a summer
evening at the beach. Still, it is a good idea to plan ahead when you intend to capture images of
nighttime landscapes:

● Apps like The Photographer’s Ephemeris or PhotoPills can tell you the current phase of
the moon, where on the horizon and at what time the Sun and Moon rise and set, and
how long evening and morning twilight lasts.
● Planetarium apps such as Stellarium or Sky Safari tell you which stars and constellations
will be visible, and where in the sky the Milky Way will be on any given night.
● For pictures of stars you’ll want a clear sky, so check the weather forecast. In the United
States ​https://www.weather.gov​ provides detailed hourly forecasts that include
temperature, wind, cloud cover and fog.
● To see and photograph a sky with thousands of stars, wait for a moonless night, and get
as far away from artificial light sources as you can. The sky near large cities is bright
enough to hide all but the brightest stars. Light pollution maps, for example,
https://www.lightpollutionmap.info​, can help you find good spots to set up your phone
camera.
● The Milky Way is a diffuse band of faint light across the sky. Portions of it can be seen
on most nights of the year. The brightest and most impressive part, located in the
constellation Sagittarius, is visible from approximately April to September. For a Milky
Way shot like ​this one​, you will want to pick a night close to a new moon in late summer
or early fall (assuming you live in the northern hemisphere), and visit a place with
minimal artificial light.
● When the environment is so dark that photos show the landscape only as a black
silhouette, ​try adding light to the foreground​, using a flashlight or a glowstick.
● If your friends or family are patient enough to hold still for a couple of minutes, ​try
including them​ in your nighttime photos.