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Most photographers will experience this at some point. Red Eye is caused by light bouncing off the back of the eye and reflecting back into the camera lens. There are two conditions, working in conjunction, that lead to this. Low light conditions cause the iris of the subject's eye to open up, and the on-camera flash is close to the lens which allows the light to bounce almost directly back from the eye into the camera. The problem is exacerbated by longer lenses because such lenses effectively reduce the distance between the flash the eyes and the lens. Most modern cameras with built-in flashes or dedicated flash capability have red eye reduction features built in. These work in one of two ways. Some fire one or more small flash bursts before the shutter is triggered and the main flash burst is fired. Others use a solid beam of light. In both cases the goal is to get the subject's iris to contract so that less light is reflected back into the camera. While the red eye reduction feature is quite effective on most modern cameras, it is not a guaranteed solution. To eliminate red eye in your photographs, you can use a few different methods. The simplest is to have the subject look slightly away from the camera. While this is effective at addressing the problem of red eye, it often gives the subject a distracted look. In addition to that, a subject that is not used to being photographed may have difficulty not looking at the camera. There are also situations where you cannot direct the subject to look away from the camera. You can also move in closer to the subject, if necessary using a slightly wider angle, although be careful of distortion! Moving in closer will increase the angle between the flash and the back of the eye. Another method is to change the position of the flash in relation to the lens. You can move the flash away from the camera so that the light from the back of the eye does not readily reflect back into the camera. This also provides some modelling to the light. It also helps if you keep the room lighting as bright as is possible so your subject's eyes will close down, thus reducing the likelihood of reflections from the back of their eyes. I find that the most effective way to deal with red eye is to bounce the flash off of a wall or ceiling. This also serves to soften the light and give it some direction, as discussed in the section on bounce flash. Having the light come from an entirely different direction virtually eliminates the chance of red eye occurring since the light cannot bounce off the back of the eye onto the film or CCD. Bobby has been a photographer for over 25 years. He has an in depth knowledge of the subject, specialising in wedding photography. You can access his site for a free report on Flash Photography, and more information to help improve your photography at http://www.photobiz4u.com Frequently Asked Questions | Photographing Groups | Photographing a Wedding | Flash Photography Red Eye | Photographing a Wedding - The Guests | Photography Books | | Return Home | |
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