Glare with flash?

[relux]

Greetings,

I am new to photography and am learning quite a bit however I am having an issue with glare from the flash on things. For example trying to photograph a vinyl record you can see the glare from the flash. What is the best way to get a good picture without having a glare on it? Is not using the flash the way to go? I own a Powershot S50.

Thanks!

[Tom W]

Not using the flash is a good way to prevent flash glare, particularly from a vinyl record where the grooves will tend to reflect light back at you. Since you cannot remove the flash from the S-50, your best bet is to use other lights to illuminate the record. You may have to steady the camera with a tripod to prevent blur, but if you have a couple of bright lamps or spotlights, set the camera white balance for "tungsten" and use the bright indoor lights instead of the flash.

You may need to experiment a bit to get the lighting just where you want it, but at least you aren't wasting film. :)

[MediaMagic]

The suggestions from Tom are sound. Since you can't bounce the flash, perhaps you can cover it with a coffee filter or some other diffusion material? THe softer the flash, the less glare.

If you can diffuse the flash, and crank up the compensation, you should get a properly exposed, smoothly lit shot. It'd be worth a try, but since the light is so tiny, it may still show a bright spot.

Otherwise, you'll have to use other lighting.

[Vegas Poboy]

I'll say try all of the above & see if you can find a Polarizer filter it helps cutting glare in reflective material.