Ack Red Eye! How to fix it in Photoshop

We have all ended up with picture of demon babies and evil red eyed devils caused by our camera flash. Its a phenomenon that has ruined many a good photo and family snapshot. So what causes red eye?

While you are in a dimly lit room or area your the pupils in your eye expand, this reveals the retina underneath. When you have an inbuilt camera flash that sits close to the lens the flash bounces directly off the retina showing its true red color. If you use your flash in a more brightly lit area (fill flash) this won't happen since the pupil is contracted. If you have an off camera flash this problem is fixed by moving the flash away from the lens because the burst of light will not hit the retina directly. Unfortunately most point and shoots don't have this as an option. Some cameras have a flash for red eye reduction which can help. This works by sending a series of flashes prior to the actual picture. If you are using a red eye reduction flash you may want to warn your subjects about the flashes so you don't end up with stunned looking people.

Sometimes despite our best efforts we still end up with that horrid glow. Here is a quick video showing you two ways to fix it in adobe photoshop. These are by all means not the only ways but they have worked rather well for me in most cases.




If you have any questions or need yet another way to fix a particularly tricky case of red eye feel free to comment leaving a way to contact you and I will do my best to help.

On a personal note here is a photo I just took recently.
Keep shooting people, until next time.