Taking good indoor pictures can be tricky sometimes, though it all depends on what level of quality you’re going for. There are different tricks and techniques that you can use to get better photos, depending on what equipment you have available to you.
If it’s daytime and all you have is a point and shoot or even a lower end DSLR with a kit lens, you’ll want to stick close to windows so that the natural light can illuminate your subjects for you. That flash on your camera is actually a fill flash. It’s not intended to work as a real full flash, and that is why your backgrounds are always so dark when you use it. If it’s a bright day, it’s almost always better to put your camera in ISO mode and shoot by a window. If you have a DSLR and a kit lens (which are typically pretty slow), I would recommend increasing your ISO and slowing down your shutter speed as far as you can without getting camera shake. To do this you would want to put your camera in shutter speed priority and try setting it to 60. Any slower than that and it’s going to be hard to get a sharp picture.
If it’s dark outside or you have no windows, hopefully you have an external flash for your camera or really bright lights in your house. If you have really bright lights, turn them all on and use the flash. Some point and shoot camera’s have a night time mode. Basically it fires off the flash and then leaves the shutter open for just a tiny bit more to pick more of the ambient light. It helps get rid of those dark backgrounds. If you do have an external flash, try bouncing it off a white wall or the ceiling. This will help eliminate shadows and create a more natural look.
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