DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY doesn't automatically produce high quality pictures as many tend to believe. There is a common misconception that one can simply "point-and-shoot" and let technology do the rest. While today's digital cameras do give the average person the capability to shoot an impressive image, there are a few things s/he should understand. This article will explain the following concepts as they pertain to digital photography: automatic flash, forced flash, no flash, natural light, twilight mode, and red-eye reduction.

The great majority of digital cameras have the default setting of automatic flash. This means that the flash will go off if the camera deems it necessary. This feature is a good option most of the time, but not all of the time. Nonetheless, it will provide a descent picture under most conditions.

This feature is helpful when there is a light behind the subject that causes the front of the subject to be cast in shadow. This feature needs to be employed because the same light will instruct the automatic flash no to go off. 

Forced Flash could have eliminated the shadows.

Flash in this picture would have caused the sparkler to lose its shine and it would have showed an unwanted background.

This is a good option if the existing light is dim and the subject is out of the range of the flash. Keeping the flash can cause the image to be darker. When in this mode, it is extremely important to keep the camera steady. This is also appropriate when taking pictures of small lights with a dark background (example: Christmas trees, fire works). Keeping the flash on can give the impression that the lights within the picture disappeared. This is also important when visiting places where flash photography is prohibited.

Many times the best lighting is natural light. When manipulated correctly (by catching it at the right angle), it provides bright and vibrant colors. Cloudy days can also provide particularly good pictures. This light produces soft, delicate pictures where the light seems to wrap around the subjects. Besides the shadow-less effect, it also eliminates glare and squinting that tends to happen in bright sunlight. 

Beautiful soft colors of a cloudy day. 

Beautiful bright colors of a sunny day.

Is to be used when there is a subject in a dark place. It allows for a bright and clear subject while keeping the dark surroundings. The picture should be taken within the range of the flash. 

This picture uses extra flash as a light source and the results are too much glare and a faded background. 

This picture focuses on the thesubject while the dark background quickly disappears.

The red-eye effect might
have been avoided by using
this feature.

This phenomenon is caused by the reflection of the flash on the retina. This feature is used to reduce the red-eye effect by emitting more than one flash. The effectiveness of this feature will not be as effective if the subject is out of the range of the flash or if the subject is not looking at the camera.

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/picturecomp/index.htm

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=38&pq-locale=en_US

http://www.edigitalphoto.com/eUniversity/0011edp_nine/

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/10/22/digi_photo_tips.html

Contributed by Jesus Vargas
Teacher
alexico High School