OT - getting the red eye out of photos

[LucyG]

I am very much a basic, entry-level camera user. We have an Olympus Freedom Zoom 130, which is a great point-and-shoot camera. I have noticed, though, that we are getting a lot of red eye in our shots, even those where we use the red eye reduction feature on the camera (three big flashes before it snaps). Can some of you photo savvy people give me any tips on reducing the red eye? What kind of lighting situations cause more red eye than others? It's frustrating, because the shots are otherwise great. Thanks so much for any tips you might have!

[bnme]

I don't know anything about photography, but you can try using editing software to get the red-eye out that you already have. Microsoft PictureIt, which is not even a very advanced photo-editing software-does a great job in editing out the red eye.

HTH

Interested to hear tips on how to avoid in the first place becuase I get it all the time, too!

[flagger]

You can try and download this for a free trial. It is Paint Sho Pro 8.

http://www.jasc.com/products/paintshoppro/

Several graphics experts I know are very pleased with the automatic red-eye reduction function of this software.

HTH

[LucyG]

But can any of these photo editing programs be used with photos taken with film and developed at someplace like Target?

[flagger]

You would have to scan them in and then work with them on your computer.

[LucyG]

Ah! No scanner here, unfortunately. Harumph.

[brigmaman]

We have major red-eye probs with our Olympus 35mm as well. I have not yet figured out what the lighting should be so that we can avoid it in the first place. However, I am thinking that I will start to send my film to shutterfly or snapfish so that even my 35mm pics will be online. Then, I can use thier red-eye fix option.

[egoldber]

It depends. If you have very light colored eyes (like me and DD), you will get red eye in most instances with a point and shoot type camera type except in the brightest of conditions. My DH's quest to be able to take photos of us without red-eye is in no small part the reason why we have 5 cameras and even larger colledtion of accessories.

The red eye is a function of many things. If you have light eyes its a problem. If you have a camera where the flash is close to the lens, then that will exacerbate the problem. Frankly, the red-eye reduction feature on most camera does very little to help.

To help alleviate the problem with the lens you have, try using faster film (800 or 400 vs 100) and brighter lighting.

HTH,

[amp]

There are also the very low tech and not terribly precise red-eye pens that let you dab on some green to counteract the red if you get a pic that does have red-eye. And if you have a digital camera or if you upload pics (from a picture CD) to a site like Shutterfly or Snapfish, you can fix red-eye there.

[Piglet]

We found that age was a big factor in red-eye, i.e. - DS had red-eye when he was a baby and not much red-eye as he got older. I recall reading the reason for this, but can not remember right now.

That having been said, a couple years ago, we also upgraded our camera to a great Canon SLR-style camera (there are a few to chose from by Canon, Nikon, etc. that are well-liked). We find now that we have no red-eye in our pictures and the overall quality is superb. I used to have a 50% success rate with our 35mm (also Canon and a great camera), and now we are close to 90% success rate on our pictures because you can see what you are shooting and the way it will focus before you snap the picture. Oh, and they are all auto focus now, so you don't have to mess with focussing the lenses yourself (unless you want to - I have never done it in the time we have owned this camera).

We had a choice at the time of buying a digital or an SLR/scanner combo and we are really happy with our choice - the SLR takes beautiful pictires and the scanner makes it really easy to send the pictures to family and friends.

[LucyG]

DD has very light blue eyes, so that may explain part of the situation. Thanks for the tip on trying faster film and brighter settings! I will do that and hope it helps!

[egoldber]

FYI, the reason why the SLR reduces the red eye is because the flash is much further away from the lens.

[egoldber]

Here are a couple links that explain the red eye problem in better detail.

http://www.megapixel.net/html/articles/red-eye.html

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question51.htm