My flash photos look like they were taken in a black hole. Why is the background totally dark?
This is the flip side of the previous question. In P (program) mode and all flash-using PIC (icon) modes except for night mode (if your camera has it) the camera uses the flash as the primary light source for the foreground subject. If the ambient light levels are low, therefore, the background will turn out very dark. This is because the flash is not illuminating the background and the shutter speed is too short to expose adequately for background areas. Remember that the light from any battery-powered flash is somewhat limited. You can t expect a small flash unit to light up the Grand Canyon or Eiffel Tower. You can only reasonably expect it to light up people standing in the foreground or close backgrounds such as room interiors. To avoid this problem of black backgrounds you will need to take a photo in Av, Tv or M modes, as mentioned in the previous question. If the ambient lighting is very low you may need a tripod to avoid motion blur for the time required to expose the backgrou
