New year, new camera, new tricks, amirite? The new HERO11 Black and HERO11 Black Mini aren't just video monsters, they've also got some artistic prowess that they'd like to flex. The latest GoPros have three new Night Effects modes that appear to bend the very fabric of time as we know it.
Today, we're doing a deep dive on these three new modes. We'll explain what they are, why you should use them, and how you can get the best results. Let's goooo!
What are the night effects modes?
Put simply, there are three new night effects modes:
Star Trails
Light Painting
Vehicle Light Trails
Basically, the camera takes a series of long exposure photos and composites them together into one image or video file. This is the kind of wizardry that night photographers do all the time in post-production, but it typically takes them a fair amount of manual labor or at minimum some hefty computing power, especially in the case of star trails. Not anymore! The HERO11 Black line does all of that instantly, and right in the camera so you can review it right away.
Not only that, but instead of just spitting out a plain image, the camera gives you a video! Essentially it creates an animation of all the layers of images that get stacked onto each other, so you can see how it came together, and you can share the video itself, or using the GoPro Quik app, you can just snag the perfect screen grab and share it as a still.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by GoPro (@gopro)
--
PRO TIP: For all three Night Effects, you have the option to choose 4K or 5.3K. When in doubt, go big. If you're pulling screengrabs from the resulting 5.3K video, it will net you a crispy 15.8 megapixel (MP) still image vs. 8MP from a 4K video.
While each of the new modes work similarly to each other, there are some variations between them, as well as some recommended techniques for each of them. Let's talk about what they have in common first.
Aside from resolution, mentioned above, there are a few main parameters that you might want to adjust if you're trying to go pro (as they say): Shutter, ISO and Trail Length.
Let's start with Shutter.That's how long your camera's sensor will be exposed to light each time it takes an image. For most of the modes you can choose 0.5 seconds all the way up to 30 second Shutter speeds. Generally speaking, the darker the subject is (i.e. the scene you're shooting) the longer you want your exposure time to be, with an inky black sky being about as dark as it gets.
You may also want to adjust the ISO(that's the sensitivity of the image sensor), with the higher number netting you a brighter image. The thing to remember about ISO is that the higher you go the more digital noise you're going to get, so we recommend adjusting the Shutter first and then raising the ISO if you need to.
The other most important parameter you can tweak is Trail Length.Here the options are short, long or max, and the one you choose is really going to depend on the look you're after. We'll dive into this in more detail for each specific mode, but the short version is that this setting dictates the actual length of the respective trail.
Pro Tip: For all three of these modes, wobble, vibration, or really any movement of the camera itself is the enemy. You want to have your GoPro securely mounted to a tripod or at least a stable surface. These modes all have Scheduled Capture and Timer options, and you should use them! Timer is our recommendation, so you can set the GoPro to start capture three seconds after you press the shutter button. This eliminates extra movement (albeit unintentional) from the initial press and any accidental bumpage.
The following are the best practices for capturing with HERO11 Night Effects.
Star Trails
While all three of the new modes are cool, Star Trails might just be the cooooolest. Stacking photos of the night sky in post can be a real pain, and all the work doesn't necessarily guarantee a slick animated video. Star trails, in general, are created by the rotation of the Earth, so if you can find the North Star, you will notice that all of the other stars in the sky swirl around it. Its art meets SCIENCE! Seriously, HERO11 uses the Earth's rotation to help create Star Trails.
Star Trails are super simple. All you have to do is find a space with a relatively clear view of the night sky, select your Trail Length and press record.
For Trail Length, we recommend going with Long or Max. As the name suggests, this will give you nice, long streaks that create some sweet arcs across the sky. Alternatively, Short will create an interesting effect where it looks like each star is a comet with a tail, but it won't be as good for saving a still photo later.
PRO TIP: If you are looking to offset an exceptionally dark sky, play with Shutter and ISO settings. You'll likely get the best results if you set the shutter to a full 30 seconds. And depending on how that looks, you can also crank the ISO up to 800 or even 1,600.
A Star Trails capture may take 20 minutes or even multiple hours, depending on the trail length you chose. We recommend doing a quick test shot before committing. The last thing you want to do is shoot for a long time and then check your camera, only to find that the whole scene was blown out or too dark. Instead, shoot for just a minute and then stop and take a look at the image and tweak settings accordingly.
Light Painting
This one is a classic. If you've played with long exposure photography at night, then you've probably tried writing your name or drawing a smiley-face with a flashlight. The HERO11 Black (and Mini) take that to the next level. First, it eliminates having to scramble and write (backwards) super quickly, because you can set the duration to as long as you want
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name ...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
New year, new camera, new tricks, amirite? The new HERO11 Black and HERO11 Black Mini aren't just video monsters, they've also got some artistic prowess that they'd like to flex. The latest GoPros have three new Night Effects modes that appear to bend the very fabric of time as we know it.
