Digital Photo Tip # 35 By Bruce Kirkby Jan 1, 2008

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Take a look back over your photos from the Christmas holidays, and it’s likely that most of them were taken indoors—around the tree, opening presents, or maybe posing at the dinner table—and nearly all of them used a flash. With lots of time spent indoors still to come this winter, why not try and get some very different results at your next get-together… by turning off your flash?

I know, I know, it is counterintuitive. Maybe it even sounds a little crazy. Every basic “How-To” photography book will tell you to use your flash when inside. In fact, indoor flash is so prevalent that most digital point-and-shoots will force the flash on unless you tell it otherwise. This is because indoor flash is safe. It always works. It always gives the same look: a strongly front-lit foreground (albeit slightly bleached), a darkened background and frozen action. But even if you like this “standard” look, why not experiment?

First, turn your flash off by looking for the universal flash symbol on the back of your camera, usually a stylized lightening bolt. Press this button, and cycle through the options (you may see red-eye reduction, automatic, etc.) and select the flash symbol with a line through it, indicating that the flash is off.

Next, and of crucial importance, you must support your camera on something solid with the flash off. If you don’t, every image will be blurry. If you have a tripod, use it; if not, brace the camera against an armchair, a doorframe, on a tabletop—anything sturdy you can find. Then snap away.  

The first thing you should notice is that the images will appear warmer. Anyone or anything that moves will be blurred. There’s no right or wrong, just experiment and see what you like. Try to capture the moody side lighting on a child’s face as they gaze out a window at dawn, or a dinner table lit only by candles, or the family clustered around the hearth.

Admittedly, shooting with your flash turned off is risky. And not every shot will work, but the ones that do can be spectacular. Most importantly, it’s a fun change from the same-old, same-old.