Taking pictures is an art of its own, and I personally know almost nothing about it. But what I’ve learned so far is that there are occasions where you need to use the flash light – and that there are occasions, where the auto mode of the camera will enable flashing but you shouldn’t use it.
The camera measures the availabe light, and if it comes to the conclusion that the light is too less to set a reasonable shutter speed (aka exposure time), it enables the flash and reduces the shutter speed. This is due to the fact that it is almost impossible to take (sharp) pictures without using a pod, if the shutter speed takes more than a certain time (e.g. more than 1/50 second resp. 20 milliseconds).
On a sunny day, I found a tree which suffered from cancer. Though it was sunny, it was too dark under the tree. Thus the camera enabled the flash light, resulting in the following picture:
The colours do not look very natural in this image. Therefore I disabled the flash, resulting in a (IMO) much more natural picture (though it shows other “bugs”):
Without the flash, there is a lack of light which needs to get compensated. You (or your camera’s automatism) can compensate it in several ways:
- Decrease the lens speed, if possible.
- Raise the exposure time. May require the usage of a pod.
- Raise the “film speed“. May result in more graininess.
So there’s always a trade-off. Most pocket size point-and-shoot-cameras are not capable to give you enough options, and at the moment you need to take the photo, it is likely that you do not know how to set up the camery correctly. Especially if the object you want to shoot is moving (as animals usually do – Fungi are much more patient :) you won’t have the time to consult your camera’s manual first.
Here are two further pics of the same tree, as seen from the opposite side. Guess which one is the one taken using the flash:
