how to avoid getting red eye in photographs?

Question

I always get red eyes in photos, how do I avoid this? exactly where should I be looking at when being photographed? coz sometimes even if I'm not looking at the flashes, my pictures always turned out red eyed.

Answer 1

Red eye results when the strobe's light is reflected from the eye's retina (in the back of the eye); it really doesn't matter what color eyes the subjects have (although it is more common with subjects that have light colored eyes, and also with animals that look directly into the camera lens). This is because the strobe and the camera lens are so close together and the strobe light reflects back into the lens.

One way to avoid this if the camera has a built-in strobe.
is to have the subjects look slightly over your shoulder (I tell them to look at my ears). This kills the spontaneity of the photos, though.

Another avoid red eye effect is to use a diffuser on the strobe. I made one out of an almost clear film cartridge plastic container; I cut the bottom out with a utility knife, then cut the hollow barrel so that I can open it into a "C" and I place it on the built-in strobe of my two Nikon N80 cameras. I keep this "diffuser" in my everyday walking around camera bag with my two N80 cameras.

You can also avoid using the strobe flash but that isn't always feasible. Or, you can not use the strobe and use a fast lens, like f/1.4 but that would certainly limit your creativity since f/1.4 or even f/1.8 lenses are primes.

The one way that I've found that works all the time for me is to use an "L" bracket with my strobes on my two Nikon F5 cameras, which I use for weddings, graduations, and environmental or on-site portraits. This causes the light beam from the strobes to be off center so that the reflection is thrown back elsewhere and not directly back to the camera lens.

I hope this helps. Good luck and best wishes.

Answer 2

Removing the red eye effect can only be done by posing a change somehow, so the light from the flash doesn’t bounce back into the lens. This can be done several ways:

(a)Turn off the flashlight. This is the point most people forget about. Obviously, if you can do without a flash, either by increasing the light in the room, by switching to a film that has a faster ISO value*, or using a faster lens**

(b)Diffuse the flashlight. If you hold a piece of (white) cloth in front of the flashlight, you will notice that the intensity of the flashlight is only a little decreased. It does, however, seem less piercing to your eyes. This is not a coincidence - if you hold a piece of thin white cloth in front of your flash, you can often drastically decrease the problem with red eyes, because the light gets diffused and “bounces” around in the room before it hits your subject.

(c)Move the flashlight further away from your eyes This is a bit harder with compact cameras, but if you have an SLR, you should definitely get an external flash that goes in the hot shoe of your camera. For one thing, these flashes are a lot more sophisticated than the internal ones, but they are also are significantly further away from the lens.

(d)You could try to turn on the anti-red-eye function that probably exists on your camera. This function usually sends off a few short flashes, or it will shine some other sharp light into your “victim’s” eyes. This makes their irises smaller, and the problem diminishes.

(e)Turn on more lights. This has the same effect as above, but it also has some other advantages: One, you get more even light, two, depending how sophisticated your camera is, it might fire a less strong flash, giving a more natural light. Three: you might get away without using a flash altogether.

Answer 3

Red eye is cause by light aimed directly into the eye and near eye level to the subject. To avoid red eye from occurring use a light source other than the camera flash and be sure it is angled down on your subject with catch lights in the eyes at the one o'clock or ten o'clock position. This method is used in portrait photography. Available ceiling light or natural light work just as good if you are taking for candid photos. The main element to watch is how the light enters the eye to avoid red eye.

Answer 4

Firstly I can't believe a teacher is talking such bollox! Red eye is a physiological phenomenon from the reflection of on axis flash from the blood vessels in the retina at the back of the eye. It happens more in low light because that's when the pupil of the eye is widest. It's quite possible that your pupils were wider and/or you were the one with your eye most on axis, but it's certainly nothing to do with supernatural mumbo jumbo.

Answer 5

Hey cocoahaze...,

Yes, the camera lens and the flash are too close. You can fix Red Eye in most software for digital pictures. The problem is that it does not give you the Blue, Green, or Hazel eyes back.

Answer 6

3 options:
1: close ur eyes when taking a picture... lol
2: photo shop work
3: buy a better camera... bad cameras do red eye effect

BUT

Answer 7

I recommand you to use Google Picasa to manage and edit your pictures.

Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organized.

Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips. And Picasa makes it a snap to share your pictures ¨C you can email, print photos at home, make gift CDs, instantly share via Hello™, and even post pictures on your own blog.

free download in here, just have a try:

http://www.toolforyou.net/google-picasa/

Good Luck, Best Wishes!!!

Answer 8

Keep the flash lamp at least 1 foot from the camera to avoid bouncing back from the retina.

Answer 9

this is a free product, look at the tutorial "Red Eye"

http://www.photobie.com/tutorials.php