The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: August thirteenth, with tips on flashing outdoors.

Any traveler who enjoys photography has encountered situations where the natural light is too bright or the shadows are too dark. Whether you're shooting digitally or with film, an electronic flash can improve the quality of your photos, indoors or out, in any kind of light.

For example, you can minimize the "raccoon look" when shooting portraits in bright sunlight by mixing and matching the available light with electronic flash. Adding a dash of flash to your basic daylight exposure will also minimize those dark shadows. Most automatic cameras simplify this fill-flash technique.

Have you ever photographed someone silhouetted by the sun? Usually the subject looks too dark, because the camera exposes for the overwhelming brightness of the sky. Once again, a flash can save your shot. Set the flash to match the available light reading, both the foreground subject and background scenery will be properly exposed.

When shooting outdoors at night, photographers generally put the shutter speed at the fastest setting at which it will synchronize with the flash unit and fire away. That results in subjects that are properly exposed but appear to be floating in a sea of darkness. The light from the flash doesn't travel far and the quick shutter speed allows no ambient background light to reach the film. Instead, try a strobe and burn technique. Let the flash illuminate your foreground subject while using a long exposure. This gives the background time to burn in. It's another useful photographic technique that can work both indoors and out.

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