Flash? Or no Flash?

Although most night photographs spend most of their time shooting old buildings, beaches and smokestacks, sooner or later we'll all be in the position where we need to photograph people at night. Sometimes it's just for a snapshot, other times it may be art. The million dollar question becomes, "Should I use a flash?"

On one hand, a flash solves two of the biggest problems at night: it provides lots of light, and lets you work at a faster shutter speed. On the other hand, reckless use of a flash washes out everyone's features, and sometimes makes the subjects' eye bright red. It's a question that we all ask ourselves everytime we push that ON button on the back of the flash.

This morning, a coworker sent me the below photograph. It's one of the best side-by-side examples that I've ever seen of the difference shooting with flash, and without flash:

(photo: Unknown "artist" from MyConfinedSpace.com....sorry!)

Happy Hallowe'en!