mobile photography
COMPETITIONS,  News

Apple reveals the best Night mode photos shot on iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max

iPhone photographers around the world answered the call to participate in the Night mode photo challenge, sharing their captivating Night mode images shot on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. A curated panel of judges selected six winning photos from thousands of submissions worldwide. The winning images will be featured in a gallery on apple.com and Apple Instagram (@apple) and will appear globally on billboards.

The winning photographers represented countries from China, India, Russia and Spain, sharing their various perspectives of the beauty and colours of night in the cultures surrounding them.

Apple’s panel of judges included Malin Fezehai (US), Tyler Mitchell (US), Sarah Lee (UK), Alexvi Li (China), Darren Soh (Singapore), Phil Schiller, Kaiann Drance, Brooks Kraft, Jon McCormack and Arem Duplessis. Each shared their thoughts on what made these photos stand out from the pack.

Shot on iPhone Night mode challenge — the winners

mobile photography
Instagram: @chalabov

Konstantin Chalabov (Moscow, Russia), iPhone 11 Pro

Phil Schiller says: “Konstantin’s photo is a super-dramatic image shot with Night mode. It could be the opening shot of a great Cold War spy movie. It challenges us with intriguing questions — ‘Where is the driver? Where are they going? Why stop out here?’ A cool mist permeates the blue Russian hillside and snow-covered ground, framing the lonely vehicle with bright red lights that hint at an unknown danger.”

Brooks Kraft says: “A movie-like scene that leaves you curious about what happened in this snowy remote setting. Night mode captures the blue light exterior hue beautifully as well as the incandescent lighting inside the cab of the truck and the truck lighting — a wide variety of lighting.”

 

mobile photography
Instagram: @houdini_logic

Andrei Manuilov (Moscow, Russia), iPhone 11 Pro Max

Darren Soh says: “An amazingly well-balanced composition that throws so many questions back at the viewer — ‘Where is this? Who lives here?’ — and perhaps the most important — ‘Why is laundry hanging out to dry at night?’ As an architectural photographer, I am drawn by the image’s one point perspective that leads the viewer into the frame, right smack into the hanging pieces of clothing.“

Sarah Lee says: “I love this and feel it could only have been shot on Night mode. It is beautifully composed, uses symmetry very well, and without cliché to communicate a fascinating story about densely populated urban spaces and the way many people live. This work reminds me of Michael Wolf’s ‘Architecture of Density’ in its theme, but compositionally the photographer has their own take, which is really interesting.”

 

Instagram: @mitsun

Mitsun Soni (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India), iPhone 11 Pro

Tyler Mitchell says: “This one blows my mind. I have no idea where that deep rich red light is coming from on the tree. It almost feels like a UFO sitting above the tree, just out of frame. Absolutely beautiful composition as well.”

Arem Duplessis says: “The rich red colour of the tree and ground gives this picture an otherworldly quality. Paired with the night sky, it feels like a still from a sci-fi film.”

mobile photography
Instagram: @rubenpb

Rubén P. Bescós (Pamplona, Navarra, Spain), iPhone 11 Pro Max

Phil Schiller says: “Photography is the art of light, and Ruben’s photo magically uses light to bring this art installation in Spain to life. The colour in this Night mode image is a captivating orange, beautifully framing the band of pilgrims in sharp silhouette. The crackly details on the foreground rocks add to the story of the long and difficult journey ahead for these pilgrims before they reach their holy site.”

Alexvi Li says: “Taking great advantage of Night mode with exposure setting, the photographer captured the silhouette of a group of people in the city light backdrop. The ground in the photo reveals beautiful texture when shooting against the light. The simple composition quickly draws viewers into a story, while delivering good image quality.”

mobile photography
Instagram: @tomrus

Rustam Shagimordanov (Moscow, Russia), iPhone 11

Kaiann Drance says: “A captivating shot of a winter village by the sea, which must feel cold, yet looks warm with the glow against the rocks and lights inside the red cabins, inviting a story about the people inside.”

Malin Fezehai says: “I love how the lights in the red cabins give a sense of warmth in the cold. The layers in the image create depth and give me a sense of cold and warmth at the same time. It’s a beautifully captured landscape image of a winter evening.”

mobile photography
Weibo: ericube_23

Yu “Eric” Zhang (Beijing, China), iPhone 11 Pro Max

Jon McCormack says: “This image represents iPhone at its best. Capturing life as it happens, no matter what the light is! The sense of moment, intimacy and place in this image is very good. It really transports the viewer to being right there.”

Arem Duplessis says: “This picture has a very real quality to it. The rising steam, the silhouetted figures backlit from the lamp all align perfectly in this magical caught moment.”

iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max offer a best-in-class camera experience and bring major advancements in photography to the world’s most popular camera. iPhone 11 features a breakthrough dual-camera system and iPhone 11 Pro features a triple-camera system, both deeply integrated into iOS 13, with intuitive and powerful new tools to enable every customer to shoot like a professional. All iPhone 11 models feature a new Wide sensor with 100 percent Focus Pixels that enables Night mode, delivering low-light photos captured in indoor and outdoor environments never before possible on iPhone. This is in addition to an all-new Ultra Wide camera, next-generation Smart HDR and upgraded Portrait mode experience. 

Please read…

We have a small favour to ask. More people than ever are reading TheAppWhisperer.com and we could not be more excited about that. We specialise in mobile photography and mobile art and we value all of our readers, writers, contributors and viewers but we do have costs and we do need to ask for your help. We at TheAppWhisperer spend many hours each day, each week and each month to bring you this high quality level of journalism. We do it because we are passionate about it and because we want others to be as passionate too.

If everyone who reads our website, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be so much more secure. Please help us by offering a contribution or supporting us with a monthly donation of your choosing.

[seamless-donations]

Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)