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Hack 40 Prevent Red Eye

The plague of point-and-shoot flash
photography, red eye, can turn your children into demons and your
pets into monsters. Here's how to exorcise this
curse from your life.

Red eye is
caused by one of those laws of physics that's
difficult for point-and-shoot cameras to overcome. When the flash is
located close to the camera lens and the subject's
iris is dilated in low, ambient room light, the flash sends a beam of
light into the eye that's reflected off the retina
and beamed right back into the camera lens. Presto! You now have red
eye.

Wedding photographers figured out a long time ago that if you move
the flash away from the camera lens, preferably above it, you change
the angle of reflection off the retina, so your camera lens
doesn't notice it. But adding an external flash
isn't always practical for many digicam-toting
amateurs. So what are the alternatives?

I can tell you what the first alternative
isn't: the
Red
Eye Reduction mode on your camera. Most of these controls are based
on the theory that if they can somehow constrict the irises of the
subject's eyes, red eye will be eliminated. As you
know from your own experience, this doesn't work
very well. And you usually end up annoying your subjects by pelting
them with strobes of light before the actual exposure.

But the concept of constricting the irises is viable. Instead of
using Red
Eye Reduction mode, however, try turning up the room
lights, as shown in Figure 4-2. Also, if a lamp or other bright source is
nearby, have the subject stare at that for a few seconds, then turn
back to you for the picture. Both of these methods better achieve
what Red Eye Reduction mode is trying to do, and with far less
aggravation for everyone concerned.

Figure 4-2. Brightening room lights can help prevent red eye

Another trick is to have the subject look off to the side slightly
and not gaze directly into the camera lens. This changes the angle of
reflection and works most of the time.

If your camera accepts an external flash, then consider getting a
dedicated
flash
cord (see Figure 4-3) so that you can raise the
flash above the lens. This is far and away the most effective method
for preventing red eye. You can simply hold the flash above the
camera and shoot, but over the course of the evening, you will be
much more comfortable by mounting the flash on a bracket.

Figure 4-3. Hot shoe and dedicated flash cord

You'll also enjoy the added benefit of lowering
those unsightly
shadows cast by your
subjects so they don't appear on nearby walls.
Extension-cord flash photography is one of the easiest ways to shoot
like a pro indoors.

If your camera has a flash hot
shoea holder on the camera to mount the flash,
as shown in Figure 4-3then chances are good
that the manufacturer makes a flash and extension cord for your
model. If not, take a look at the next hack for tips on how to add
this functionality to your digicam.

It's true, red eye is a monster. But you
don't have to let it terrorize your photography if
you take a few easy steps to tame it.