We’ve explored some options to avoid the red eye effect with a point and shoot camera, but what if you have a more sophisticated SLR camera? That’s great…that means you have a bit more control over what your camera does than most average point and shoot cameras.
From my experience, the best way to avoid the red eye effect is not to USE the flash that is attached to the camera. More than likely, your camera is equipped to work with an off camera flash. These flashes aren’t necessarily cheap, but they are worth every penny. With my digital camera, my off camera flash recycles faster, which allows me to take more pictures in a short time than if I were relying on the built in flash. Besides that, an off camera flash means that you can move your flash, without moving your camera! Move the flash away from the subject, and slightly higher than they are.
Most off camera flashes are made in such a way that you can adjust the angle of the flash itself. This is a great option if you aren’t able to hold the flash away from the subject. Simply tilt the head of the flash so that the light from the flash will be bounced off of the ceiling, or another wall. This way you still get the light on your subject, but it is not going straight at them, and therefore it’s not reflecting off of their retinas.
Now what do you do about your pictures that already have this red eye effect in them? That’s up next, so come back, and I’ll be writing about how to get rid of red eye in photos that you’ve already taken, using a couple of different methods on the computer.