Brightening Holidays with Better Indoor Photography
10 December 2007

With plenty of family gatherings and other Christmas festivities being celebrated indoors, we anticipate plenty of photographic opportunities presenting themselves beneath the roof this holiday. To steer clear of horrific photo results in this enchanting season, we have taken the pleasure to share with you some useful tips for better indoor photography. Joining us for this enlightening session of photography is the elegant model Kimmy. For demonstration purposes, we have chosen the Sony T200 to put our tips into practice.

Indoor photography can be a tricky matter when lighting is far from helping. Whenever possible, it is always best to avoid using flash as subjects are often poorly depicted by the overwhelming brightness of the flash light.

In order to achieve clarity without using flash, you may want to consider adjusting to a higher ISO sensitivity, which is essentially a camera’s sensitivity to light. Depending on your camera, ISO sensitivity can be adjusted manually or set automatically by the camera in response to the surrounding light intensity. Alternatively, most compact cameras will have a ‘night scene’ mode or a similar feature that gives preset settings specifically suited for photography in dim-lit environments.

However, with higher ISO sensitivity, the slightest hand-shake could mar your images with a nightmarish blur. Even with today’s anti-shake technologies, they are by no means an absolute guarantee for blur-free images. Therefore, we advise using a tripod or a mini-tripod to achieve greater clarity. By using a tripod, you will also receive the benefit of framing your shots with greater ease. Despite achieving greater stability on a tripod, there is still a chance of shaking the camera as you press down on the shutter button. The surest way to reduce this possibility is by setting a timer to release the shutter.

Even without a tripod, there’s no reason to despair because there are a number of ways you can achieve a steadier shot. First of all, you may resort to propping your camera on a table or a firm surface to substitute for a tripod and making use of a timer to take the shot for you. With the camera in your hands however, you can lessen the chances of hand-shake by choosing to rest your arm or your elbow on a table or a firm surface. Furthermore, you may want to consider leaning your back against a wall to achieve the same effect and as long as you find a way to keep the camera steady, all shots should reel in the same satisfying results.

While higher ISO sensitivity can deliver a much clearer or brighter image in an otherwise dim setting, lighting issues can also be easily resolved by simply photographing your subjects in brighter areas of the room. Moreover, shining constant lighting from lamps or the like on your subjects can further increase the brightness and clarity of your images without needing the use of flash.

However, when situations justifiably demand for the use of flash, we do have some advice on how it could be used more effectively. While the intensity of a flash may ruin what was originally a beautiful photo, there are tricks to avoid this. To soften the overpowering light being projected, one may choose to diffuse the flash by placing white translucent paper over the camera’s flash. It would also be wise if the ISO sensitivity is lowered in anticipation of the flash being projected.

It is also important to position your subjects away from reflective surfaces to prevent flash bouncing back at the camera. Your subjects should also stand further away from walls so that shadows won’t be casted in the background. Keep in mind that when incorporating flash into your photography, there is a great likelihood for red-eyes to develop on your subjects and therefore it is best to make use of the camera’s red-eye reduction capabilities. As a final word of advice, it is best to test the camera’s quality and settings with a few test shots first before taking the shots that matter.

Christmas is a time to rejoice with those dearest to us and is a season filled with nights of heart-warming dinners and wondrous gifts. These magical moments shared with family, friends and lovers are truly memorable and we hope that our advice for better indoor photography will prepare you for a holiday full of beautiful photos.

Camera in Action: Sony DSC-T200 Taking minimalism to the extreme, the ultra-slim Sony T200 audaciously adopts a 3.5-inch LCD touch screen for comfortable widescreen viewing and easy navigation of menus. More than just an innovative design, this lightweight camera features quality camera performance with an 8.1 megapixels CCD and a capable, non-protruding 5x optical zoom. The featured Face Detection technology consistently works to deliver beautiful portraits.