Light in eternal darkness – night photography at the end of the world

Single photo from a time-lapse of the night sky in front of icebergs. Ice blocks are visible in the foreground. (Photo: Lukas Weis)

The endless, star-studded nights of the Antarctic winter open up breathtaking opportunities for so-called nightlapses, i.e. time-lapse photography at night. Compared to temperate latitudes, however, there are additional challenges here, namely the extreme temperatures. On the other hand, the sky is free of light pollution and there are no disruptive exhaust fumes in the clear, dry air. The landscape itself offers surreal backdrops that are perfect for foreground scenes.

Today, I, Lukas, would like to show you how I shoot and edit night-time time-lapse photography in this unique environment. Some tips are specifically tailored to the conditions here, but many can also be applied elsewhere. When in doubt: if you can manage here, it will be much easier elsewhere.

In the following, I would like to explain my approach step by step, from equipment and preparation to motif selection and camera settings to post-processing and combining the individual images into a finished video. At the end, there is a compact checklist as a reminder.

I am not a professional photographer myself, but a physicist with a passion for photography. Many of my decisions are based on personal experience, and as we all know, tastes vary. If you ask five photographers, you will get five different answers (and not just about tripods 😉).

In short, a time-lapse consists of many individual photos that I edit later and combine into a video. But until then, there is much more to it than just pressing the shutter button.

So that you know what we are working towards, here is an example of a night lapse that I took here in Antarctica.

Time-lapse with the Milky Way and Northern Lights in front of the Air Chemistry Observatory (Video: Lukas Weis)

Quick start guide 
If you just want to try out what a night lapse looks like, you can achieve amazing results with a minimal setup – without any special equipment or hours of planning.
Here’s how:

1. Place the camera on a tripod (or on a firm, stable surface such as a wall or large rock).
2. Set to manual mode (‘M’): exposure time approx. 10-13 seconds, aperture as wide as possible (small number), ISO e.g. 1600–3200.
3. Set the focus manually to ‘infinity’ (it’s best to focus on a bright star).
4. Activate interval shooting: e.g. one photo every 15 seconds. Many cameras already have this feature built in.
5. Save directly as JPEG and then combine the images into a video using a free app or software.

That’s often enough for the first ‘wow’ moment. If you then feel like delving deeper, the next section contains the detailed workflow that I use in Antarctica.

Equipment and preparation:

For me, preparation is the be-all and end-all for a successful night lapse. It is extremely frustrating to walk around in the dark for half an hour at minus 40 °C and then realise that your memory card is full, your battery is dead or the subject is not what you hoped it would be.

Tripod

A sturdy tripod is essential. As a general rule, the more robust and heavier it is, the less it wobbles. At the same time, portability, size and price should be taken into account. In Antarctica, models with spikes and the option of attaching additional weights are particularly helpful in withstanding gusts of wind.

Outside Antarctica, the camera can also be placed in an improvised location in an emergency, for example on a rock or a tree stump. Ice blocks are less suitable due to their smooth surface and potential movement.

Camera and lens:

I use a mirrorless system camera – the lack of a mirror reduces mechanical wear in extreme conditions. The most important factor is the light intensity: the larger the aperture (small f-number) and the larger the sensor, the more light can be collected.
My current combination: full-frame sensor + fixed focal length 20 mm at f/1.8. But good results can also be achieved with simpler setups.

Focal length

Short focal lengths (wide angle) are often ideal because they offer a large field of view. This emphasises both the foreground and the movement of the stars in the background. Zoom lenses are more flexible, while fixed focal lengths are usually faster.

Interval control

An interval timer (also known as an intervalometer) is required to ensure that the camera triggers regularly. Many modern cameras have this function, but external devices often offer more options. However, they are potentially more prone to errors in cold conditions. In Antarctica, I therefore only use the internal function.

Power supply

Cold weather is the enemy of any battery. However, there are several ways to extend the runtime:

• External power supply via USB-C and power bank (newer cameras).
• Dummy batteries that connect directly to larger power sources.
• Thermal protection: wrap the camera, battery or power bank in fabric, foam or down. I wrap my power bank in down gloves and add a hand warmer if necessary, which usually keeps it above 0 °C.

Cold protection for equipment

In addition to the power supply, the camera housing can also be surrounded with insulating material. Simple towels can be used for insulation, or more elaborate constructions, as can be seen in the photo of our engineer.

Tip: I plan the setup so that I have to make as few fine adjustments as possible in the dark (see also the section on camera settings). Every movement at –40 °C is twice as strenuous and even more difficult in windy conditions.

Choosing a subject

Once your equipment is ready, it’s time for the most important creative step: choosing your subject. What should play the leading role in your time-lapse? The Milky Way? The Northern Lights? Wandering icebergs? Or simply the starry sky?

Direction & timing

Your choice of subject also determines the direction of your shot.

• For example, the Northern Lights in Antarctica usually appear in the south.
• The Milky Way is currently visible from Neumayer at midnight in the north.

Depending on the position of the sky and the foreground, it may be useful to plan the shooting time carefully in order to capture the movement of the stars in the best possible way. Free software, apps or websites such as Stellarium are helpful here.

Foreground design

An exciting foreground is the decisive factor between a “beautiful starry sky” and an exciting image.
Possible elements:

• The station or research container
• Striking icebergs
• Penguin colony
• Small, nearby ice blocks/objects for greater depth effect

Tip: When the opportunity arises, I try to photograph a distant main element with a nearby foreground object. This creates dynamism and depth.

Preparation in daylight

Structures that immediately catch the eye during the day are often difficult to find at night. That’s why I try to choose my locations during the day if possible. In the pitch-dark Antarctic winter, it is much more difficult to combine a beautiful foreground and background.

Security

In Antarctica, the risk of someone tampering with or taking the camera is practically zero. In other regions, however, you should choose a location that keeps both your equipment and your subject safe.

Camera settings

For night lapses, I always shoot in manual mode (‘M’). This gives me full control over every variable and prevents the camera from automatically making adjustments in the middle of the series, which would later be visible in the video as brightness jumps (‘flicker’).

Settings that are always fixed

• RAW format: JPEG also works, but RAW offers significantly more scope for post-processing.
• Aperture: Open as wide as possible (corresponds to the smallest aperture value, e.g. f/1.8). A slightly smaller aperture reduces image errors such as coma effects or vignetting, but you also lose light.
• ISO value: Set manually.
• Focus: Manually set to infinity – it is best to focus on a bright star or a distant light, rather than relying on the scale on the lens.
• White balance: Fixed value (Kelvin value or preset such as ‘daylight’) for consistent colours.
• Image stabilisation: Switch off, otherwise minimal shifts may occur between images, which will be noticeable as shaking in the video.

Focus and temperature

In cold conditions, the focus often changes slightly because materials contract at different rates. That’s why I check the focus right before I start shooting and readjust it if necessary.

Settings that vary

The following values depend on the subject.

1. Exposure time

The aim is to capture as much light as possible without stars becoming streaks (‘star trails’).

• For the Milky Way: often 10–13 s at a focal length of 20 mm, by trial and error.
• Alternatively, calculators for the exact limit time are available online (NPF rule, 500 rule).

2. ISO
High enough that the brightest stars are not overexposed, but low enough to limit noise.

• Typical for dark nights: ISO 2000–3200.

3. Shooting interval

The shooting interval determines how quickly everything happens in the time-lapse. Depending on what you want to capture, different intervals are suitable.

• Starry sky: e.g. one photo every 15 seconds.
• Northern lights: shorter intervals (1–2 seconds), as structures change quickly.
• Clouds: depending on speed, e.g. every 5 seconds

Tip: I check the histogram after the first few shots. This allows you to see whether the exposure is correct without relying on the brightness-optimised camera display.
Now it’s time to start the time-lapse and collect the camera again the next morning.

Post-processing

I shoot almost exclusively in RAW format and then develop the images manually using external software.

• If the colour of the sky hardly changes during the sequence, I often apply the same settings to all photos.
• For transitions, such as from red dusk to blue twilight to dark night, I gradually adjust the white balance and exposure across the series.
• Such adjustments can be done manually, but they are very time-consuming. That’s why I now use software with automated transitions between keyframes.

Why editing is not just for professionals

Before we get to the differences between the human eye and the camera sensor, here’s a quick reality check: almost every photo we see today has already been edited, regardless of whether it was taken with a professional camera or a smartphone.

• Smartphones heavily optimise their images using software: colours are saturated, contrasts are adjusted, the sky is emphasised, shadows are brightened and details are often sharpened using AI.
• Even with larger system or SLR cameras, adjustments are already made when shooting in JPEG format.
• The difference: with RAW files, these processing steps are omitted so that all decisions can be made later.

This means that image editing is not a special effect for professionals, but an integral part of photography. It is even more important for night shots, as the camera captures information that the human eye cannot see.

Sensor vs. eye – why processing is necessary

The human eye and a camera sensor work in fundamentally different ways:

Brightness perception

• Camera sensor: Light intensity is measured almost linearly: twice as many photons mean twice as high signal values.
• Eye: Brightness is perceived logarithmically, allowing us to perceive enormous differences in brightness without everything appearing ‘overexposed’.
• Exposure time: The camera can add up light over longer periods of time, while the eye sees continuously.
• Aperture: The effective aperture of a camera is significantly larger than the pupil, so it captures more photons per unit of time.

Colour perception

• In daylight, cone cells (colour-sensitive) and rod cells (only sensitive to brightness) work together.
• On very dark nights, the rods take over almost entirely. The cones receive too few photons to provide colour information, which is why the sky often appears grey, white or black to us.
• The camera sensor, on the other hand, stores even very weak signals separately according to colour channels (RGB) and can amplify them through long exposure times. This makes colours visible that the eye cannot perceive in real time.

Key message: Colours are physically present even at night, but our eyes usually cannot see them because too few photons reach the cones. A camera, on the other hand, ‘collects’ them over a longer period of time and makes these colours visible.

Style considerations in editing

Because we often don’t see the true colours of the night sky in real life, it is difficult to define an objective ‘original state’. Every photographer must decide how to interpret colours and contrasts. I don’t want to go into detail about my individual steps here, as that would go beyond the scope of this article. My general approach is as follows:

• Set white balance
• Adjust exposure
• Lighten shadows, darken highlights
• Increase contrast
• Moderately increase colour saturation
• Clarity (not too much)
• Use noise reduction and sharpening selectively
• Correct vignetting (edge shading) if necessary

Export and video creation

After editing, I export all images as JPEGs and combine them into a video.

• My standard: 30 frames per second → for a photo taken every 15 seconds, this corresponds to an acceleration factor of 450.
• Tool: for example, ffmpeg (open source), often integrated as a module in other software.

And this is what a finished time-lapse can look like:

Time lapse from 29 May 2025 in front of Neumayer Station. Initially, the focus is on the Milky Way, later joined by beautiful auroras. (Video: Lukas Weis)

Thank you for sticking with me this far – I know it was quite a lot to take in, what with all the technology, settings and physics. I hope you’ve picked up a few tips and maybe now feel like trying night lapse photography yourself. If anything is unclear or you’d like to know more about a particular point, feel free to write to me – I always enjoy exchanging ideas.

And now: put on some warm clothes, grab your tripod and head out into the night!

Checklist:

1. Preparation & planning

• Choose location and subject: landscape, ice formations, northern lights, starry sky.
• Check weather & moon phase: clear nights are preferable; moonlight can brighten the foreground but outshines the stars.
• Set time frame: towards the Milky Way and desired transitions (twilight, starry sky).
• Clothing & safety: Layers, windproof, face protection, gloves; cold protection for batteries.

2. Equipment

• Camera: Preferably with a large sensor, manual mode and RAW support.
• Lens: Fast (small aperture), wide angle for sky + foreground.
• Tripod: Stable, e.g. with spikes/foot pads for ice and snow.
• Remote or interval trigger: For consistent series.
• Power supply: Power bank, cable, dummy battery
• Memory cards: Enough capacity for several hundred to thousand images.

3. Camera settings

• RAW format (maximum editing flexibility).
• Manual mode (M): fixed exposure time, aperture and ISO.
• Exposure time: Depends on the subject. Try it out briefly if necessary. For starry skies with a wide angle, often 10–13 seconds.
• Aperture: As open as possible.
• ISO: 800–3200 (depending on camera and brightness).
• White balance: Set to a fixed value (e.g. 3500–4000 K) – do not use automatic.
• Focus: Manual, e.g. on a bright star.

4. Taking the photo

• Set the interval: e.g. one photo every 15 seconds (adjusted to exposure time + buffer).
• Take test photos: check exposure, focus and composition.
• Protect batteries and camera from the cold: use heating tape, gloves or a protective case if necessary.

5. Post-processing

• Import images (RAW development in external software).
• Basic editing: exposure, white balance, contrast, colour saturation.
• Automated transitions for changing light conditions (keyframes).
• Targeted use of noise reduction and sharpening.
• Correct vignetting (if distracting) .
• Interpret colours consciously: the camera can show colours that the eye cannot see at night.

6. Video creation

• Export: all images as JPEG in target resolution.
• Frame rate: e.g. 30 fps (interval 15 s → acceleration x450).
• Software: e.g. ffmpeg or numerous other programmes.