Why do You Have Red Eyes in Flash Photos

Why do You Have Red Eyes in Flash Photos

Who hasn’t seen those photographs with the red devil eyes staring back at them. What causes red eye to occur in photos? Red eye happens when light enters the eye. Picture a V shape – this is how light is reflected. It reflects at an angle that is equal to and opposite to the point of entry. If a bright light enters the eye and there isn’t much angle it’s reflected back, as is the case with many flashes.

The photos with red eyes are taken at night using a flash. So when the light reflects off the eye’s retina the result is a red eye. This happens in people and animals including, deer, rabbits, dogs, and cats.

 

In animals it happens because the animals have a special reflective layer on the retina called the tapetum lucidum. It acts like mirror on the eye’s back. If a headlight or flashlight is shone into the eyes in the dark of the night, the eyes shine back with a white light.

 

Humans do not have the tapetum lucidum layer on the retina. In other words when you take a flashlight into a human eye at night you will not see a reflection. However, the camera flash is very bright, so it causes a reflection to occur of the retina. This results in red eye because the blood vessels are nourishing the eyes.

 

Many of today’s cameras have a feature called “red eye reduction.” How the red eye reduction works is by having the flash go off twice. It will go off once just prior to the photo being taken, and then again during the picture being taken. The first flash will cause the person’s pupils to contract and this reduces red eye a great deal. One other trick you can use is to turn the lights on in a room, which will let the pupil contract.

 

Moving the flash away from the lens will also reduce/eliminate red eye in your photographs. On most point and shoot cameras the flash has no adjustment because it is built in and sits about an inch from the lens. As a result the reflection is bounced back to the camera’s lens and this results in red eye on your photos. If you are able to detach the flash and hold it a few feet from the lens this will make a huge difference. Another option is to set your flash to bounce off the ceiling.

 

If you have a camera with no flash adjustment, most of the digital software packages allow you to correct red eye. It’s a pretty simply process. Usually it’s just a matter of clicking on the eye and then the correct red eye icon. Just follow the instructions provided with your software.

 

Many of the newest point and click digital cameras have a setting that reduces red eye. Read your manual to see if your camera has this setting and how to activate from the menu system.

 

Those devilish red eyes no longer have to be something you contend with on your photographs now that you have some ideas on just how to reduce or eliminate red eye.

 

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