When Not to Use Your Camera’s Flash
Want to know when you should turn off the flash? Whenever possible.
At a play, a concert, or a sporting event, you should turn it off because it’s useless. Your flash has a range of about eight feet; beyond that, it does nothing but make you look silly.
In any other situation, you should turn it off because flash photos look terrible. The light from your flash is white, harsh, and unnatural. It bleaches people’s skin tone. And it turns the background into a black cave. Trouble is, if left to Automatic, most cameras tend to be flash-happy, firing in way too many situations.
So: Whenever you can turn off the flash, do. Unless it’s very dark, you can still get a good, sharp shot if your camera has a big sensor inside or if you’ve stabilized it, as described on the following page.
To force the flash off, press the lightning-bolt button. It’s usually at the three o’clock position on the control dial on the back of the camera. And it displays a choice of flash settings on the screen. You want the one that says Flash Off (or the slash-circle symbol). Now the flash won’t fire, no matter what.
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Adapted from Pogue’s Basics, Flatiron Books. Order here.
