by Chris d'Aquin

Created on: April 02, 2008

While a flash can make a decent photo look much better, it can also turn a great photo into junk. That's why it is important to know how to use your camera's flash settings.

This simple guide will cover the four most common settings - automatic, red-eye, always on, and off - to get you thinking more about when you should or shouldn't use your flash and which setting will give you the best results.

RED-EYE

Let's start with the most commonly used flash setting, red-eye. The red-eye flash will work slightly differently in each camera, but they all try to do the same thing - prevent the dreaded red pupils in your subjects.

They try to do this by popping out a brief (but quick) series of flashes that will cause the pupils to dilate, thus preventing red-eye effect when the picture is taken. Because of this, however, it uses more power than the other flash settings. Therefore, you don't want to use it when you don't need to or you will drain your batteries.

You should use the red-eye setting when you are taking photos of people. The closer you are to your subject, the more you will need it. Be careful, however, the multiple flashes may cause some people to blink when the photo is taken.

ALWAYS ON

There are times when you want your flash to always fire, even if the camera would normally think it isn't needed. This is what the always on setting is for. It tells the camera to always fire the flash, regardless of how brightly lit the photo is.

Most people don't think about it, but one of the best times to use your flash is outdoors in the bright sunlight. The sun can cause harsh shadows to fall across your subject's face. Forcing your flash to fire will help fill in those shadows and produce a pleasant photo. This especially works well if your subject is facing away from the sun and their face is in complete shadow.

Another good time to for forcing the flash to fire is when your subject may be dimly lit but there is something bright behind it. A good example of this would be if you are under a large pavilion at a picnic. Your camera will likely expose the shot for the brightly lit landscape outside of the pavilion. But if your subject is standing in the pavilion's deep shade, it will be severely under-exposed. By adding the flash, you can properly expose your subject.

There are even times when you will want to use your flash in well lit photos without dark foregrounds or harsh shadows. If you are taking a photo of people, using your flash in these instances will not add any discernable

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