How to use flash without getting the “deer in headlights” look

Red-eye is caused by the light of the flash entering the pupil and bouncing off the retina of the subject’s eye (which is packed with blood vessels) back to the camera’s sensor.

There are three types of flashes: the built-in flash, the pop-up flash, and the external flash you insert on top of the camera.

How to avoid “red eye” in your photographs:

1.. Your camera’s red-eye reduction setting will fire a burst of flashes just before the camera takes the picture. These mini-flashes will cause the subject’s eyes to constrict just before the final flash is taken. That reduces the size of the pupil and lowers the likelihood of red-eye. This will take a bit of time and you may miss the action by a fraction of a second or so.

2.. That will reduce the odds of red eye bouncing directly into the camera’s lens.

3.. Pupils will enlarge in dark rooms and will contract in brightly lit areas. The smaller the pupil the less red-eye.

4.. Placing a white handkerchief or napkin in front of the flash might help reduce the intensity of the light bouncing off the subject’s retina.

5.: Pop-up and external flash unit are able to use diffusers to help reduce the power of the flash. Some flash units include diffusers with the unit. They are easy to use.

6.Almost all external flashes swivel up or down and back and forth. That gives you a lot of flexibility in avoiding red-eye. If you aim the flash up at a white ceiling or sideways towards a wall there is little if any light entering the eye and thus no red-eye.

Removing red-eye:

There are many programs that will allow you to remove (or reduce) red-eye once you’ve downloaded the pictures to your computer. So, don’t be discouraged if you do have some images with red-eye.