Photography Tips - Red Eye Removal

Photography Tips - Red Eye Removal

Photography Tips - Red Eye Removal

Red-eye. The family photographer's worst enemy. How many of your holiday photographs have been ruined by the red-eyed monster?

Red-eye is a common problem for photographers that use a flash, so don't stress if your photographs seem to be full of glowing red bulbs. Thankfully this red eye problem is easy to predict and can be prevented with just a little bit of preparation.

What Causes Red-Eye?

Put simply, red-eye is the effect caused by light reflecting off the inside of the pupil and back into the camera lens. To better understand how this works, you have to first understand how the pupil of a person's eye works. The pupil is the part of the eye that expands and contracts to let in different amounts of light to enter the eye. The pupil lets you see clearly whether you're walking outside on a sunny day or walking by moonlight. So, when a picture is taken with a flash in low light, the pupil can't close fast enough to block the light, so the flash reflects all the way on the back of the eye and shoots back at the camera. This is also the cause of why you see spots when someone flashes a bright light at you.

How to Prevent Red Eye

The easiest way to avoid red eye in the first place is to avoid situations where you have to use a flash in low light. Editing images to remove this effect is much easier than it used to be, but is still time-consuming especially if the issue persists in multiple photographs. Here's how you can prepare in order to avoid creating fiery-eyed monsters in the first place.

First, use an external flash unit that isn't situated directly on the front of your camera. Changing the angle of the flash will change the angle of its reflection, and will often help to reduce or eliminate the effects of red-eye. You can accomplish this by holding an external flash off to the side, or by using a standalone unit hooked to your camera.

The next thing you want to do is turn the lights on. If your subjects are in a bright light situation, their pupils will shrink to compensate for the light. This will significantly reduce the chance of having red eye in your picture. A pleasant side effect of turning the lights on is that you may not even need a flash, which will completely eliminate the possibility of ending up with a stack of red-eyed photographs.

Whenever possible, just skip using the flash. Besides, natural light always looks better and is more flattering to the skin tones of your subjects. By learning to work with the light you have, you'll not only avoid red eye more often, you'll also make your photographs look even better. Flash is a tool to be used when you need it, but is by no means a requirement in good photographs.

And lastly, if you have no other choice but to use a flash, try using a camera that has red-eye reduction. These cameras are set up so that when you hit the shutter button, the flash goes off multiple times before the camera shoots. These preliminary flashes allow the pupils of your subjects to close and will help prevent or minimize red-eye in your photographs. It's worth noting, however, that this feature is in no way foolproof.

Often times, red eye is viewed as a necessary evil of flash photography, however many people don't realize it can be avoided in almost every lighting situation. With just a little preparation and an understanding of the causes of red eye, you can easily avoid this "red eyed monster" and end up with great looking pictures. Just stop and think before you shoot and you'll forever get rid red-eye out of your pictures.

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