What does my digital camera's "night mode" do?

What does my digital camera's "night mode" do?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: What does my digital camera's "landscape mode" do?; What does my digital camera's "night mode" do?; What does my digital camera's "kids and pets" mode do? and more...

The "night mode", or "night portrait mode" is generally denoted by a moon or a star and a building. And what the "night portrait" or "night mode" does, it's a flash mode, so the camera's going to fire the flash. But instead of taking a normal flash picture where the flash fires with a fast shutter speed, the camera's going to leave the shutter open a little bit longer so you get some ambient light from the background, so that you don't get those flash pictures with the background, with your subject, rather, in the front, and the black void behind. Hopefully you'll get some detail in the background, but be careful because in the "night portrait" or "night flash" mode, you will get some blur if you don't hold the camera absolutely still.