Have you heard of “red eye”? It is a term used to describe the red effect seen in the eyes of subjects when their picture is taken with a flashgun.

It happens because light from the flashgun travels through the front of the eye and is reflected off the back of the eye back onto the sensor of the camera. The back of the eye, being composed of lots of red tissue and blood vessels, reflects the light as red. Hence “red eye”.

It is unsightly in photographs and often makes the subjects look like devils or some other possessed and evil being. Interestingly you can get “green eye”, “blue eye” and “other eye” depending on what animal or other subject you are photographing.

How do you get rid of red eye?

The best way is to prevent it:

- avoid using flash where possible
- use flash off of the camera or bounce it off the ceiling
- use the anti-red eye setting on your camera
- ask the subject to look slightly away
- diffuse the light (a cloth or tissue works well)
- put the subject in an area of brighter light

Red eye can also be easily removed in photo editing programs either on your home computer or at your local photo outlet and digital printing kiosks.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com.

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