If you are like a lot of other keen camera users, you probably have a sophisticated compact point-and-shoot camera that you use for most of your photography. Maybe its from a big manufacturer of cameras like Canon, or one of the electronics giants like Sony or Samsung. If it is relatively new, it most likely has a high megapixel count, not to mention a host of other features. Lastly, it probably looks pretty slim and sexy to boot!

Even with all those options, you may be puzzled, disappointed or frustrated when you try to take a photo in low-light such as at night or indoors away from a window. You may have found that photos you take at night come out either blurry, horribly washed out by the flash, grainy/noisy, lacking in color, or all of the above.

Why is this? The fact is that almost without exception, any camera will take sharp, clear, photos in good light ” such as the light outside during the middle of the day. It is much more difficult for your camera to take a photo that approximates what your eyes see when the light is dim. The primary reason for this is that in order to gather enough light to expose a bright enough photo your cameras shutter has to stay open a lot longer when the light isnt good. Because it is impossible to hold a camera completely steady with your hands alone, your photos will therefore be blurry. To get around this, you could use flash (which often looks unnatural and gives people a nasty-looking complexion) or a high ISO (which will add ugly digital noise), but these methods have their own problems.

Some tips are listed below to help you in your low-light photography:

1) Next time you buy a compact camera, ensure that it has some form of optical image stabilization. This technology, which most new cameras now have, incorporates a moving element inside the camera that compensates for camera shake, meaning that you can use lower shutter speeds and still get a sharp photo. This is a great feature and well-worth paying for.

2) Try turning off the flash and asking your subjects to remain very still. Have your subjects move nearer to you in low-light or simply play around with your cameras Night Mode setting in the menu. It is important to remember that in Night ode, you must remain very still.

3) For non-moving subjects such as buildings, try using a tabletop tripod. These work wonderfully and are very easy and compact to carry around. However, if you are in a bind, a tree or lamppost can also be utilized to stabilize your camera.

Tobias Sterling is an experience photographer who is passionate about sharing his knowledge with fellow photograpgy enthusiast. His articles including Sensual Fine Art Photography and Photographing Portrait and People can be found on Clivir.com - the free learning community.

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