Red-Eye - wuz - RE: [thechat] Re: High End Filters for Digital Cameras -- Found

[Martin Burns]

On Wed, 9 Oct 2002, Luther, Ron wrote:

> While there are a couple of ways to get around this:
>
> - Use a diffuser to 'soften' the light so it doesn't reflect back
> as strongly.
>
> - "Bounce" the flash off a nearby object like a wall, ceiling, or
> a shiny car so that it enters the subject's eye at an angle and
> doesn't reflect directly back at the camera.

It's also a nice soft light as it's bouncing off a large diffuse surface

>
> - Attach a cable to your flash to get it off the camera and aim
> it at the subject from an angle that doesn't reflect back into
> the lens. [Above the subject and aimed down from the 3/4 side is,
> if I remember correctly, called "Rembrandt" lighting - and is very
> popular in portrait work.]

Put tissue paper in front of the flash

Mount a smallish box which is mostly tissue paper on the camera in front
of the flash.

Another common one is to have a slave flash which fires in response to
your main flash. If it's bright enough, your on-camera flash won't be
significant. Trouble is, with a camera where you don't have manual
control, you'll be way over-exposed.

Or alternatively... don't use flash - use natural light, or at most, use
flash as fill-in. Those Sonys have quite a wide dynamic range, although
you'll get something looking like grain in lower light levels. There's a
nice night-time setting (long exposure basically) which can be good.

> That "red eye reduction" feature these cameras have is a circuit that
> causes the camera's flash to fire several times quickly in succession
> at partial power - before - firing once again (at proper strength) to
> take the picture.

Or have a bright constant light.

> The idea is to try to dilate

Dilate's the other way I thought..?

> the subject's pupils so that very little light will reflect back from
> their retinas ... thereby reducing 'red eye'.  [1]
>
> ... which brings me back to asking if anyone's found an 'inexpensive'
> way to change the flash angle. [I know how to do it the 'right way' -
> and it costs money!]

Small piece of white card, mounted directly in front of the flash at 45
degrees with the bottom stuck to the camera body, so the flash bounces
upward, and off the ceiling/wall. The wall acts as a big reflector which
has a much softer light, plus is at an angle so no red-eye.

With SLR flash which can be angled, you'd often point it straight up.

I should point out that for B/W photography, a hard, on-camera flash can
be quite effective, as it's reminiscent of the 1930s news photography.
It's not going to get you Hollywood glamour, though.

Cheers
Martin
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