Actress Jessica Biel arrives for the premiere of "Easy Virtue" in Leicester Square, London October 28, 2008.   REUTERS/Luke MacGregor   (BRITAIN)

London-based Reuters photographer Luke MacGregor shot the picture above by using a slow shutter speed, around 1/50th of a second, and continually shooting frames with no flash in the hope that he would catch the moment a flash from another photographer illuminated Jessica Biel posing on the red carpet.

This reminded me of an earlier red-carpet picture of Jessica Biel where Luke had used the same "catch flash" technique. The picture of her arrival at the BAFTAs, below, caused a mini stir of discontent amongst the desk editors in Singapore. Some editors championed the picture, others wanted to reject it, or 'spike' it in journalistic terminology. One editor even said the technique was like "shooting by accident".

U.S. actress Jessica Biel arrives at the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards ceremony at The Royal Opera House in London February 10, 2008. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor   (BRITAIN)

Luke himself says "I guess it is a little like shooting by accident - except that I have planned to shoot by accident and have thought through the situation to try and get what I want using some form of judgement". 

The technique only works when there are enough photographers using flash. You have to judge the optimum time to shoot. You have to wait until a subject reacts - waving or gesturing to the crowd for example - and then you stand more chance of catching other flashes.

It is an imprecise science, often resulting in blank and over-exposed frames. The combination photo below shows the frames before and after the picture Luke chose (top right) from the Easy Virtue premiere.

Luke likes the "catch flash" technique as it gives a similar effect to off-camera flash. It doesn’t illuminate the immediate background and so avoids the harsh shadows of direct flash.

Personally, I think pictures like this bring a nice variety to the wire. It is a great way to have your work stand out from the many hundreds of pictures shot by the large crowds of photographers who attend these red-carpet events around the world.

The picture below, taken at the Cannes Film Festival this year, gives you an idea of the competition Reuters shooters are up against.

Photographers work at the 61st Cannes Film Festival May 18, 2008.   REUTERS/Christian Hartmann   (FRANCE)

Any initial disappointment was dispelled by the prospect of seeing how different countries celebrate the arrival of a New Year. I began to look forward to what I imagined would be a fairly relaxed shift because New Year is a quiet time isn't it? Except that in the closing days of the year riots erupted in Pakistan following the killing of Benazir Bhutto and in Kenya following a disputed election result and a stream of images poured into the Singapore desk.

On the way into the office my taxi started to take an unusual route and when I queried the driver it transpired he had misheard me and was taking me to Chimes, a local hostelry. When I explained that I was going to work he found this hilarious and kept repeating, "I thought you wanted to go drinking".

11 pm local time: The first set of New Year's Eve pictures arrive. It's Tokyo's turn to celebrate and as well as the usual fireworks they have a rather serious but traditional Buddhist custom of ringing a bell to symbolize a desire to leave behind earthly desires as Issei Kato's picture shows.

12 am local time: China, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan all share the same time zone and all celebrated with fireworks but my favourite picture is from Bobby Yip in Hong Kong.

1am local time: As midnight struck in Jakarta Supri is there covering the fireworks at the National Monument.

2am local time: Mohamed Nureldin's picture reminds me that news doesn't stop for New Year's Eve showing African Union troops in Darfur changing their berets for the blue berets of the United Nations - African Union Mission.

3am local time: With another 10 hours of 2007 still to run Chip East shows early preparations in Times Square for New York's celebrations.

4am local time: Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the First Vespers and Te Deum prayers in Saint Peter's basilica at the Vatican.  Dario Pignatelli.

5am local time: I'm sure Steve Mason's celebrations will be subdued as he reflects on the goal he let in against Denmark at the 2008 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic. Sean Best.

6am local time: Andy Clark uses the last moments of the old year to deliver Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in a barber's chair, perhaps getting spruced-up for his own 2008 celebrations in Iowa?

It was a busy night but during the shift only three time zones celebrated the New Year and it wasn't quite the feast of multi-cultural celebration I'd expected. However things in Pakistan and Kenya were relatively quiet and there was time for my colleagues Amirah, Farah, Matthew, Weiyang and I to enjoy the celebratory  goodies we'd brought to work.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2008.