I’m going to get a little photo-geeky on you today.  I’m far from a professional, but I’d like to think my photography has improved over the last few years, and I’d like to share a reason or two why that is, and tell you about something cool I bought that made a big difference.

If you’re trying to take your basic photographs to the next level, one of the first things most people will tell you is to TURN OFF THE FLASH.  Nothing says “point & shoot snapshot” like slightly washed out faces, red-eye, glare on shiny surfaces, and harsh shadows.  Witness Exhibit A, this picture of almost-2-month-old Daniel.  With the flash on, the white of the Boppy is overpowering, his cheeks are weirdly shiny, and there’s an annoying shadow behind his head.  Some may say this is nitpicky. Perhaps. But if you want your shots to really look good, you’ve got to look at the details.

But, of course, leaving the flash off is easier said than done.  Obviously, without the flash, you have less light in your pictures, leaving them underexposed (too dark).  You can try to compensate, but even with a decent DSLR, there are plenty of trade-offs. Slow down the shutter speed and you’ll have a hard time holding the camera (or your wriggly subject) still enough to avoid blur.  Turning up the ISO (“film” sensitivity) can help the camera capture what little light there is, but even a few bumps up on many cameras can make for an extra-grainy photo.

Still, we do it.  We risk blurry, grainy, underexposed shots all the time.  Such is the great hatred for the camera’s built-in flash.  Witness exhibit B, taken 30 second after the other picture.  The color/light is a little more natural and the shine and shadow are gone. But while I could remedy the fact that it was too dark with a simple editing tool in iPhoto, I can never fix the fact that it’s blurry (click on the photo to see it larger on Flickr if you don’t believe me).  The shutter speed was so slow, there’s no way I could hold my hand steady enough.

In the meantime, I got a nicer lens, and tried to take as many of my photos in as much natural daylight as I possibly could.  Lots of natural light goes a long, long way, even if you just leave your camera on Auto. Exhibit C: look who learned to take the monthly chair pictures first thing in the morning, right next to an open window!

But, unfortunately, much of life does not happen in great light.  Sometimes you need a flash, and there’s no two ways about it.  And back we go into snapshot territory, which is a really annoying place to be when you have a somewhat expensive, fancy-schmancy camera.  Exhibit D: a year ago at the very-dark Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Oh sure, if you have a DSLR, you can invest in an external flash.  The kind you can adjust and tilt to bounce off the ceiling so that the light that hits your subject is less direct, less harsh.  But that little accessory will set you back a solid $200+, which is not a small commitment.

But friends, I am here to tell you there is a solution.  Or, at least, a big-but-cheap step in the right direction for most DSLR cameras and probably some higher-end point & shoot cameras, too.  It’s a flash diffuser, and it clips right onto the top of your camera, as long as it has a little connector on top for external flashes and accessories (like I said, all DSLR cameras should have this, and I think that some higher-end point & shoot ones do too, check your manual for something called a “hot shoe”). And I got mine from Amazon for a whopping $24.99. Exhibit E: me and my camera in the mirror, and no, the flash is not on in that picture.

It’s a pretty un-obtrusive attachment, not making the camera feel all that much larger than normal.  It’s a simple little plastic thing that comes on and off with zero effort.

But in Hawaii, it enabled me to take pictures of the kids on the beach, with the sun rising behind them, without underexposing their faces or washing them out with a harsh flash.  It adds the light you need, without the glare that you don’t.  Exhibit F: it was still not very light outside. Rebecca’s face would have been washed out and there would have been an annoying glare on the water without my diffuser. Click the photo to see the larger version on Flickr and you can see that M and Rebecca’s faces actually have some light on them.

Hey, it’s not going to make every shot perfect.  But for $25, it makes a big improvement, and allows you to take halfway decent shots when you otherwise might not have gotten anything at all.  Today’s final Exhibit G: all four of us at a luau.  It’s far from a perfect shot.  But it was nighttime and there was only minimal light around us.  With a normal on-camera flash, our faces would have been shiny and washed-out, and the background would have been almost completely black.  There’s still a little shine and M’s hair blends into the background, but I’ll take it.

The external flash is still on my holiday wish list, but I love my little find in the meantime.

And no, I was not in any way asked to write about this product, nor did I get it for free, nor do I get any kickback if you buy one.  I just like it, and thought you should know.