Night photos from an airplane window – best hints please:-)

Book an emergency exit seat in a 737 Max and you might not have to worry about reflections in the glass :)

Joking aside, if you're using an iphone you could try using a rubber seal to keep out the light and hold the phone close to glass. Try it a few times at home first and see if it works. But a blanket over the head and window is also not a bad idea.

Somebody suggested on a tour that placing the phone/camera against the bus window was helpful, and I've done that with success. Might work on planes, too.

That's what I've always done when taking photos through glass. The only way I know to avoid the reflection is to put the lens right up to the glass. I look ridiculous in museums but I don't care. :-)

Of course the best night shots aren't actually in the middle of the night. Twilight or before dawn is going to be best.

You see HDR on a lot of phone cameras now. That's pretty much what a night shot with lights in it is. The lights are really bright, everything else is really dark, a high dynamic range. Your mileage may vary with getting a good exposure with the HDR function on your phone. It depends phone to phone how it processes it. It's going to be tough for its little brain to get a well exposed steady shot at night in HDR maybe?

The tiniest bit of light in the sky is always going to reduce the dynamic range and make it easier to get a better shot that isn't just little dots of light.

edit: I re-read your post and none of this applies to the northern lights really. I had photographing cities from the air in mind.

I appreciate the ideas! Thanks a lot for your speedy responses. I was able to capture a kind of cool picture of the Big Dipper and some green in tue distance a couple of years ago when there was a big Aurora event. Since things have been more active this year. I wanted to be prepared for my best possible photos if I get lucky enough to have the lights visible on this flight. :-)

Laurie

Contradicting myself again a little, what I said about dynamic range probably is worth thinking about in the context of the northern lights and stars too. I think any time you're taking a photo at night, whether it includes a streetlight or a star, there's always going to be a big dynamic range if it's dark all around. It's something to ponder when you're trying to get the best exposure anyway.

Make sure the flash does NOT go off! If it does, you will get a great picture of the inside of the plane and probably wake a bunch of people up. :-)

I saw the lights on my flight to Iceland. Unfortunately I was seated just behind the wing and so most of my photos have plane lights in them. Because the windows are double paned it doesn't matter how close you get your camera to the window inside, there is going to be interference from the exterior window. I gave up after a bunch of not so great photos and instead focused on enjoying the view.

I recommend a real camera, not electronic toys, to do a photo.

My husband got pretty good results using a large sheet of black construction paper with a hole the size of his lens cut in the middle of it. This was daylight photography in an observation tower, but the principle of glass reflecting would be similar.

I recommend a real camera, not electronic toys, to do a photo.

I think what Mark's getting at here is that it's a bit of a hit or miss getting the type of photo you describe. It really helps if you've got a camera with manual controls over shutter speed, aperture and ISO. The higher end phones have that these days too. The average camera or phone camera is set up to get you a good picture in daylight automatically. Night photography is hard.

If we're sharing tips, remember to hold the camera / phone as steady as you can. If you're taking photos at night, the shutter speeds may be quite long, so shakiness is more obvious. Getting something steady to prop an elbow on or tucking your elbows in can help. I'll sometimes do the routine: breathe in - hold - squeeze shutter - breathe out. That's maybe going a bit too far for this application :) I also have another one involving a piece of string that's overkill for here.