 Thomas |
Red Eye on my images In most instances when I take pictures of people at night using the in-built flash on my Minolta Maxxum 300Si, I sometimes end up with images that have the red eye. How do I ensure that this effect is eliminated and does not occur in my future images?
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
Red eye is the result of light bouncing back from they eye through the dilated pupil. There are a few ways to avoid red eye. First, don't use flash. Next, make sure the pupils are constricted. This can be accomplished by flashing the eyes first. Some flashes and cameras have a feature which fires a preflash to make the pupils close down. Or make sure the ambient light is high enough to constrict the pupils. Finally, and this is the most common method, move your flash farther away from the axis of your lens. The closer your flash is to your lens the more light will bounce directly back at you. Moving the camera to one side, above, or below will cause the light to be reflected at an angle and eliminate red eye.
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John A. Lind |
Over all Jeff's provided good advice. I will add some remarks specifically about the "red-eye reduction" feature found on some [newer, usually integral] flashes: (a) Some people despise the multiple pre-flashes as an extreme annoyance. (I'm one of them and definitely not alone on the issue.) I've encountered children who've been barraged by them since they were old enough to be photographed by mom and dad (and grandma, grandpa, etc.). They run and hide at the sight of a flash strobe, squint their eyes, blink rapidly trying to anticipate the flash(es), and do all manner of antics to avoid the flash. (b) There *will* be a shutter release delay of as much as a full second while it pre-flashes. It's not conducive to capturing the "decisive moment" with candids in which exact timing is crucial. (c) Emphasis on "reduction" in the name commonly given this feature, and note it's not called "red-eye elimination." Having seen it used by others, it can reduce it, but at best it's very marginal for eliminating it. Been asked many times: "used the reduction feature, now what do I do?" If you haven't guessed, IMHO the "red-eye reduction" pre-flash is worst feature ever created for a flash strobe. Jeff gives the best possible solution first (no flash unless it's necessary) and the second best last: move the flash farther from the lens. Best location is almost always directly above the lens. Nearly all wedding photographers use a flash bracket that keeps the flash well distant from the lens and allows it to remain directly above it, whether the camera is vertical or horizontal. While you need not go to quite that extreme, it's a clue about what has proven to work best for pros who cannot afford any photographs with red-eye. Worst flash location is anywhere below the lens axis (unless you *want* the "Boris Karloff" look). -- John
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