We are in the middle of vacation and wedding seasons.  Today’s solution is something I’ve talked about in the past, but it bears repeating.

Learn how to turn the flash off on your camera.

Many weddings ask you to not use flash, and if you’re sightseeing, there are many places that don’t allow flash as well.

There are also situations you just plain don’t want flash, such as photographing a quilt where you specifically want the quilting to show.  (Flash will wash away the shadows and your quilt will look flat.)

Click HERE for a previous post I did (2009!!!) on camera flash.  I didn’t realize it was quite so long ago that I went through some camera features, so if there’s enough interest, I will do that again.

This was a couple of cameras ago, but it’s pretty similar with each camera.  Look for the little lightning bolt for your flash options.  Practice.  You will need a steadier hand in some situations, so practice bracing your hands on the back of a chair or something similar.

There are also times you will want to use flash outdoors, and I’ll talk about that next Saturday.

Here’s where my photographing attention lies this week — dragonflies!  (Nothing to do with flash, just like those dragonflies, and we have a bumper crop.)

This is a Dot-Tailed White Face dragonfly.  If you look closely, you can see white on the front of his/her face.  There is also a single dot on the “tail”.  These are fairly small, maybe 1 1/2 inches.  It’s pretty amazing to me that you can actually see the hairs on this little critter!

–Sue