Dilip Krishnan and Rob Fergus at New York University made the camera to do away with intrusive regular flashes. In order to make their 'dark flash' camera, the researchers modified a flashbulb to emit light over a wider range of frequencies and filter out visible light. They also had to remove the filters which usually prevent a camera's silicon image sensor detecting I.R. and U.V. rays, reports New Scientist

Krishnan and Fergus used colour information from a brief, flash-free photograph of the same scene taken quickly after the dark flash image to give the pictures more normal hues. Krishnan and Fergus will present their work at the Siggraph conference in New Orleans in August.