Source:www.hp.com



Here's another tip about one of those often neglected options that most digital cameras offer.

Outdoor holiday lights and lighted displays make his a prime time of year for night photography, but did you know that the use of flash, in certain situations can greatly enhance your photos?

Now common sense tells us that if you are photographing lights or lighted displays, such as Christmas trees, you wouldn't want to flood the subject with more powerful lights because that would OverPower the output from the small bulbs that are used.

However, if you've ever tried to include a person in the scene, you probably know that the resulting picture will usually have a properly exposed lighted part of the scene and an underexposed person causing a silhouette effect.

The reason for this is that your camera's light meter sets the exposure based on the overall light emanating from the display, and with your subject in front of all those lights you have a "backlit" situation, as discussed here.

But you can't use "forced flash" for this type of scene because then you would end up with a well lit person, and an underexposed background, so no lit Santa and tree.

The solution is to use the "Night Scene" flash option, which is sometimes referred to as "Slow Sync." Nearly all digital cameras have had that option for a long time.

This flash mode is usually denoted by an icon consisting of the downward arrow and the letter "S".

Now, depending on how sophisticated your camera is you may have several options within the main mode. Don't be intimidated; refer to your trusty owner's manual to select the one that's best for your scene. The one that's most commonly used is "Front Sync" and is usually designated as the default setting.

Don't be put off by this; you can achieve some really cool pictures by using this setting, such as the one shown at the top of the posting.

You paid for these features, so you might as well use them, and amaze your family and friends with the best holiday pictures they ever saw. Besides, you can practice at home, at no expense, and see the results immediately.

This setting can also be used indoors to properly photograph people in front of fireplaces, or burning candles, without losing the natural beauty of a blazing fire or romantic candlelight.

Test it out at home or in front of a lighted outdoor holiday scene and you'll be ready for the real shots when the time comes.

Think about non-holiday uses for this flash mode too. There are fountains that are illuminated at night and buildings such as found here in Las Vegas, and in other vacation cities where this mode will work very well to capture that special someone, in front of a special place.