Watching the Super Bowl, I was once again struck by the stupidity of thousands of people shooting pictures of the field, I assume with digital cameras, with flash still turned on. I’ve seen this before at other games and concerts.
Do these idiots actually believe the light from the flash will carry all the way to the field?
If so, would they use flash if trying to take a picture of the moon?
Is it just that they don’t know how to turn the flash off? Seems impossible that many would not know, but…
Don’t they realize how much using flash runs down the battery?
To me, the scary thing is that most of these people will probably be voting for our next President.
That always drives me nuts, too. I’ve seen so many clips of Bonds swinging with a hundred flashes going off in the background.
However, I watched Behind The Music for the Aerosmith/Spears Halftime show, and they said that everyone was handed a disposable camera as they entered the stadium, and told to flash them at a specific point in the show. Made for a great effect on TV, but I couldn’t help thinking, “60,000 pictures of the backs of people’s heads were just taken.” I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar was done this time around.
They either don’t know, don’t care to change the settings of the camera, or don’t know how to do so.
Yes, I see it all the time.
Most probably don’t because they have never felt the need to learn how. People operate most small cameras as pure point and shoots.
If you have NiMH rechargeables or any good current crop of cameras you’ll still get several 100 shots, even with flash. It’s effectively a non-issue in that case. With Alkalines it’s a much bigger issue.
In the pre-digital days (not that that’s important) I once saw people out at night taking flash pictures of a lunar eclipse!
I don’t think that people realize that light has to actually bounce off a target and return to the camera. I think people just assume that if it’s dark, then I need to have a flash, without thinking the process through.
My favorite goofball camera flash trick was trying to take photos from a moving tour bus. Not that I did it, of course – I’d taken a photo class in high school. But it was fun to watch my fellow GIs take all those photos of great white flashes reflected off the bus windows!
To be fair, the people in the expensive lower seats probably could get some good out of their flash if the flash has a high enough guide number. I used a mid-range accessory flash with a digital SLR to take pictures of my sister’s college graduation (in the university’s basketball arena, a very dark setting) and I found that it did actually have an effect on the pictures. We were about halfway up the stands and well over a hundred yards away from the point where she recieved her diploma.
But yeah, the guys in the nosebleed sections with their digicams probably weren’t getting much good out of that flash.
I’ve used a flash when taking pictures of the night sky. It’s useful for illuminating trees and whatnot in the foreground. You still have to have a long exposure.
