Wendy here posting for TanyaH666! 

Hey everyone!

Henriette is in the process of moving so I get the pleasure of hosting this challenge for the month! I looked back through all the past challenges to see what fun stuff has already been done and what tips and techniques have been given, to try and find something that hasn’t been covered yet.

So this month we are gonna talk about using your camera’s flash! I know personally, that most of the time I won’t even bring my camera out at night because I hate the way pictures look with the flash.

I was lucky enough to get an external flash for my camera this year and it has really helped out my nighttime shots. But for those of you that have Point & Shoot camera’s, getting those great night shots is a bit more tricky. But it can be done =)

I found an article with some awesome tips for P&S camera owners! If you have a SLR camera and don’t find the article below useful, then check out this article: Flash Photography.

From an article by David Pogue

Point-and-shoot cameras: 3 useful tips

Tip#1 – No Flash! – This might be a personal preference, but I find when you use flash when taking the photo in a dark/dim place, the light from the flash is usually too strong which makes the whole photo look artificial. The simplest solution is to try and brighten up the place – turn on a light, open the curtains etc. Lighting is quite important in taking a good photo, so the more flexible you can be with your lighting the better.

Another alternative is to cover your camera’s flash with a piece of paper/tissue. This somewhat subdues the flash while still providing a source of light. I’ve only tried this a couple of times and overall it worked quite well. Of course, you can always take two photos, one with the flash and one without – that way you will have both alternatives and you can pick the best one.

Tip #2 – Night Photos – Probably one of the hardest times to take a nice photo with a normal point-and-shoot camera is at night, especially outdoors since you can’t just flick the light on. I’ve found to take decent photos at night you really need to just place your camera on a stable surface, use the timer and have a longer exposure.

How do you change the exposure I hear you ask. Well, most modern point-and-shoot cameras have preset Scenes or Modes (eg. portrait, night, fireworks etc). Anything that is for night/dark conditions will generally have slower shutter speeds, which means longer exposure time, which means your camera will “soak up” more surrounding light and give you a sharper/clearer photo. Since your camera will sit there for a couple of seconds “soaking up” the surrounding light you need to make sure that your camera does not move at all – thus the timer trick. You may have to play around with the different night modes on your camera to get something nice. I have taken gorgeous shots of both the Sydney Opera House and The Museum of Contemporary Art at night without the flash. Both taken using my point-and-shoot camera set on “Fireworks” mode with the slowest shutter speed possible (The normal night mode just didn’t let in enough light resulting the photos being quite dark).

Tip #3 – Focus and Trick Your Camera – Every now and then you might want to trick your camera into letting in more or less light than what it would automatically do. For all digital camera’s I’ve seen/used, when you half press the shutter-release button the camera will focus on the frame you have chosen – generally there will be some sort of feedback that it has found the focus (maybe something displayed on the screen or a beep).

Once the camera has found the focus, it will calculate all the required settings for that particular frame. Relying on this, if you want your camera to soak up more light, first focus (half press the button) on something darker than your subject (preferably similar distance away), then move your camera back to what you really want to take, then take the shot.

This works because when you initially focus on something darker, your camera will think it will need bit more light to take a clear shot, so when you go back to your intended subject (which is brighter than the initially focused subject) your camera will let in more light than usual since it still has the “let in more light for dark object” setting from your initial focus.

Go ahead and try to use any or all of these tips to get a great night shot!

Please read the posting rules too, especially about posting in the right gallery, thank you!!

1. Upload your photo (and LO if you have one) to the appropriate gallery, then please link it back to the challenge in the forum
2. Just one entry per person will be eligible for a point, one extra point can be earned for doing a LO with the picture and if you win the challenge you also gain one extra point
3. The pictures must be especially made for this months challenge
4. No double dipping with other challenges please

Tip #1
Select Macro Mode – this is a fairly obvious first step but I’m always surprised by how many digital camera owners haven’t explored the shooting modes that their camera has. Macro mode is generally symbolized with a little flower and when selected it will tell your camera that you want to focus on a subject closer to your lens than normal (the minimum distance allowed will vary from camera to camera – consult your instruction manual to find yours). Macro mode will also usually tell your camera to choose a large aperture so that your subject is in focus but the background is not.

Tip #2
Use a Tripod – in macro photography a tripod can be particularly useful, even if you’re just shooting with a compact camera. Keeping your camera still not only improves your shots (getting rid of camera shake) but it allows you to play around with different settings without losing your composition.

Tip #3
Aperture – once in macro mode some cameras will not allow you to make many other adjustments but if you are able to play with your aperture settings it can be well worthwhile to do so. As we’ve covered in our Aperture tutorials, the main thing that aperture impacts is the depth of field of your shots. Choose a small aperture (big number) if you want a large depth of field with everything in focus or a large aperture if you just want your main subject in focus. In macro photography you’ll probably want a shallow depth of field so select the largest aperture available.

Tip #4
Focusing – I find that in macro photography it is helpful to have full control over focusing – especially when you have shallow depth of fields where it is all the more important to make sure the right part of your shot is in focus. If your camera allows manual focusing select this option and manually focus on the part of our subject that is the main point of interest.

Tip #5
Composition – remember some of the basic rules of composition like the Rule of Thirds. Make sure your image has a main point of interest and place that focal point in a smart position in your image in order to draw the eye of your viewer. Try to select a non cluttered or simple background for your main subject so as it doesn’t compete with it visually.

Tip #6
Flash – in many macro shots having some artificial light is important. The challenge with compact cameras is that most give you limited control of your flash. As a result choosing a good time of day when there is plenty of available light is probably your best bet. If you do need more light check to see if your camera allows you to pull back the level that your flash fires at. Alternatively you might like to try diffusing it in some way (tissue paper or cellotape over the flash for example). Another option might be to use some other source of artificial light or to invest in a reflector to help make the most of available light. Experiment with different methods of lighting your subject.

Tip #7
Take Your Shot – once you have your shot lined up and in focus take your shot. Make sure once you’ve taken it to take a good look at it on your LCD, zooming in to make sure that your focusing is sharp. Try shooting at slightly different apertures, with different compositions and focusing on different points of your subject to see what works best.

Tip #8
Macro Lens Attachments – some compact cameras actually have accessories available to help with macro/close up photography. These will enable you to enlarge your subject and/or decrease your minimum focal length. These might be worth investing in if you intend on doing a lot of macro work.

PS: The term ‘macro photography is used fairly loosely here. Technically ‘macro photography’ is actually when you produce an image where your subject is captured on your image sensor at life size (or bigger) with a 1:1 ratio.
In the case of most (all?) compact cameras this is not achieved and in fact ‘close up’ photography would be a better description. However as most manufacturers call their close up mode ‘macro mode’ I’ve used the term for the purposes of this article.

Here is my go on the challenge:

I used the macro setting, a tripod, flash light and manual focus!

Please read the posting rules too, especially about posting in the right gallery, thank you!!

1. Upload your photo (and LO if you have one) to the appropriate gallery, then please link it back to the challenge in the forum
2. Just one entry per person will be eligible for a point, one extra point can be earned for doing a LO with the picture and if you win the challenge you also gain one extra point
3. The pictures must be especially made for this months challenge
4. No double dipping with other challenges please

HAVE FUN !