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You would never leave the house without your phone, and as a consequence, you always have a camera on you as well. With the Nokia N8 in your pocket, you have a serious piece of photography equipment with you whenever you need it. Perfect for party photos, then!

There you are, in the pub or at a party, and you’ve got a load of friends standing around doing goofy stuff, practically begging to be added to Facebook for posterity and the kind of ridicule that’s completely fair among friends. How are you going to get the shot?

I don’t know about your parties, but the ones we go to tend to happen in the evening or at night. You can’t blame party organisers for dimming the lights, either: We all look just a little bit better in low light. It makes capturing photos a challenge, but armed with a pro tips, you can’t go wrong.

If possible, turn on some more lights where you are: more lights generally equals better photos. If that isn’t a viable option, all hope is not lost, however: the Nokia N8 comes with the best built-in flash we’ve ever seen on a camera phone.

Direct flash light is great for lighting your subject, but isn't all that flattering
By using a piece of card to 'bounce' your light via the ceiling, you get much softer, more natural light.

For the very best photos when taking flash photos, there’s a trick all the professionals use. Not many people know this, but you can use it with your camera phone, too. Use a piece of white card. A business card, a playing card, or a beer mat will do the trick. Hold it above the lens but in front of the flash, at 45 degrees. The effect you are trying to achieve is to ‘bounce’ the light from the flash upwards to the ceiling. In effect, you turn the whole ceiling into a light source, and you get perfectly smooth, soft lighting – all from the flash that’s built into your camera phone!

You’ll have to experiment a little with the angle you’re holding the bounce card. Your results will vary depending on how high and white the ceiling is (lower and whiter is better). Trust us on this one, though: The final photos look a lot better when using this trick than when you are blinding your friends in the process!