I have one of the few jobs that requires polos, slacks, dress shoes and for me to crawl around on the floor under desks.

I work in IT and when I’m under those desks I am usually tracing wires through the baffling knot they’ve become. Often times, I am trying to figure out if and where a network or phone cable is plugged into the wall. The real challenge is trying to read port numbers off those ports as they are usually behind desks, heavy filing cabinets and other immovable objects.

I have a quick and easy way to get that information without a fork lift. All it requires is a modern smart phone with a flash and a camera.

On my iPhone, I have an app called Flash-Light. For Android, I recommend, MotoTorch LED. All it does is turn the camera’s flash on and keeps it on. Turning my smart phone into a flash light guarantees I will always have it with me.

But what if you can see the port but not read it?

That’s where Camera+ comes in. The camera app has an option to keep the flash on before you snap a photo. ((Sorry, I don’t have a good Android equivalent.))

Simply turn the flash on, snake the phone close enough to the port you need a snap a series of blind photos. At least one of them will have a clear enough picture of what you need to complete your work.