Red Eye

Red eye is a major problem for amateur photographers and occurs when a built-in-flash unit is positioned too close to the camera. This is down to poor design of cheap cameras, but can also happen with the built-in flash units in most SLR cameras.

Red eye is caused by light reflecting back off the retina at the back of the eye.

The chances of red eye happening and destroying an image are high if you are new to photography. One trick that usually works is to ask the subject to look at a bright light seconds before you take your image. The best way to avoid it is by placing your flash off camera and at a 45 degree angle to the subject.

One of the handiest tricks for avoiding red eye is to use the double flash technique. When you are ready to take your shot pre-program your camera to give a double flash. The first flash will make the eyes of whoever you are photographing react by narrowing their pupil size. The second flash is for the images that you are taking. Not all cameras have the pre-program for a double flash facility; but a flash on an old camera will do the same if you time it correctly.

Another technique is to angle the camera so that you are not shooting head-on portraits. This should also help to avoid any unwanted glare from the image. Some photographers use tracing paper to diffuse the light. The tracing paper is placed over the flash window. It is a method that can work, but it would be my least favourite.

While all the above may work well, the best way to avoid red eye in photography is by using a flash off camera or by bouncing the light of a surface that will direct the light back onto the subject.

Camera designers have gone to great efforts to minimize the effect of red eye, and there are many software programs that claim to remove it digitally. For those who are into digital photography and have access to Adobe Photoshop the red eye can be removed in two minutes.

To remove red eye in Photoshop follow these instructions.

1. Select the Red Eye brush tool from the toolbox.
2. Zoom in on the eyes.
3. You may need to click on the Default Colour button and reset the colours. Once done make sure that the Sampling tab is set to First Click.
4. Resize the brush tool to suit the image.
5. Place the brush pointer over the red eye and click.

This method works by changing the colours of pixels in the area affected. If it does not work completely the first time restart the process and set the Tolerance tab to a higher percentage. When the tolerance tab is set correctly all the red eye should be removed.