Portraits at night

Photographing a person at night doesn't have to be difficult. A D-SLR will most often yield better results because one can override the automatic settings most often offered on point and shoot cameras.
For this shot of Ashley, I choose a combination of settings to get this shot.A higher ISO such as 400 to 800  setting and longer shutter speed, say between 1/30 to 1/15 sec. plus I opened up the aperture to let in more light and to throw out the background focus.
Last I powered down the flash by -1 1/2 exposure to give more of a natural looking skin tones.