Article Directory :: Arts & Entertainment Articles

How You Can Avoid Red Eye in Your Pictures

By Autumn Lockwood

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 09Oct2010 Word count: 636 Viewed: 216 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Red eye is no doubt one of the family photographer's most annoying problems. 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. This helps your eyes to adjust to bright days or low light situations such as taking a walk 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 Avoid Red-Eye

The simple solution to red-eye is to avoid the situation in the first place. However if you can't avoid it, you can use photo editing software to remove the red eye- it just takes time to remove it especially if you have a lot of pictures to do. 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. Simply changing the angle of the flash will modify the angle of the reflection and often eliminates the red eye or significantly reduces it. You can accomplish this by holding an external flash off to the side, or by using a standalone unit hooked to your camera.

Second, turn the lights on! If your subjects are in a well lit area, their pupils will decrease in size to adjust for the light. This will significantly reduce the chance of having red eye in your picture. Just turning the lights on, will also likely eliminate the need for using a flash and will get rid of your chances of having a stack of red-eyed pictures.

So, whenever you can always try to avoid using your flash. Natural light is more flattering for your subjects in most cases, and not every photograph needs a flash. 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. Just remember that your flash is a tool and should only be used as a last resort when you need it.

Finally, if you absolutely must use the flash, try picking up a digital camera with "red-eye reduction." These cameras are designed to have the flash go off multiple times when you hit the shutter button to help minimize the chance of red eye. 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.

Red-eye is seen by many as a necessary evil of flash photography, when in fact it can be avoided in almost any lighting situation. With the right preparation and an understanding of how light impacts your images, you can safely avoid red-eye and all of the issues it can cause. Think before you shoot, and you may find red-eye to be a worry of the past.

EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here

More articles by Autumn Lockwood

Free Report!
Ten Essential Secrets Of Article Marketing ... Grab Your Free
Copy Now:

Need Content?
Regular Top Quality Content for your Blog, Ezine or Website ...
Delivered Direct,
For Free!
Click For Details