Phone cameras can take in more light than the human eye − that’s why low-light events like the northern lights often look better through your phone camera
Smartphone cameras have significantly improved in recent years. Computational photography and AI allow these devices to capture stunning images that can surpass what we see with the naked eye. Photos of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, provide one particularly striking example.
If you saw the northern lights during the geomagnetic storms in May 2024, you might have noticed that your smartphone made the photos look even more vivid than reality.
Auroras, known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis) occur when the solar wind disturbsEarth’s magnetic field. They appear as streaks of color across the sky.
Smartphone cameras have significantly improved in recent years. Computational photography and AI allow these devices to capture stunning images that can surpass what we see with the naked eye. Photos of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, provide one particularly striking example.
If you saw the northern lights during the geomagnetic storms in May 2024, you might have noticed that your smartphone made the photos look even more vivid than reality.
Auroras, known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis) occur when the solar wind disturbsEarth’s magnetic field. They appear as streaks of color across the sky.
The left side shows the aurora as seen with the naked eye. The right side reveals how a smartphone camera can capture brighter and more colorful lights.Douglas Goodwin
What makes photos of these events even more striking than they appear to the eye? As a professor of computational photography, I’ve seen how the latest smartphone features overcome the limitations of human vision.
Boeing has told major customer Ryanair that production is likely to be disrupted for two to three weeks after the end of the current strike, Ryanair Group Chief Executive Michael