1/28    Why do eyes turn red in photos, and how do you stop this from happening?
        \_ Your flash is reflecting off the back of people's eyeballs.
           Probably the best way to stop it is to use better lighting
           (don't flash directly into people's eyes).  It's probably better
           to remove it in Photoshop than to bother with your camera's
           "red eye reduction" feature (which pre-flashes a light to get
           people's pupils to constrict).  -tom
           \_ Why is the photoshop approach better? I think the red-eye
              pre-flash works fairly well. Not everybody is shooting digital.
              \_ Well, in my case the photoshop solution is going to be
                 perfect, since I'm not the one who took the pictures, but
                 I'm the person who'll end up putting them on the web.
                 Thanks to all who replied.  This was interesting. -op
              \_ It uses battery, is more intrusive to the subject, and
                 doesn't really solve the problem.  -tom
              \_ It causes delay between pressing the shutter release and the
                 shutter actually releasing, because the camera has to allow
                 time for the subject's pupil to contract.  Some subjects
                 get confused thinking that the picture is already taken when
                 the pre-flash fires, so they start moving before the shutter
                 is released.  -- yuen
        \_ Red eye also depends on where the flash is located relative to
           the lens.  The closer the flash is to the lens the more likely
           you'll get red-eye.  This is because of the angle the light is
           reaching your eye.  A cool camera like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1
           is terrible for indoor picture taking because the flash is right
           next to the lens.  The best way to avoid red-eye is to have the
           flash as far away from the lens as possible, the like the snap on
           flash bulbs that sit high above the lens creating a downward angle
           flash, thus avoiding red-eye.
           \_ of course the problem with flasth far away from the lens is odd
           \_ of course the problem with flash far away from the lens is odd
              shadowing effect you can get from the primary light source being
              at an odd angle.
              at an odd angle.  Hence the flash diffuser 'umbrella' used by the
              pros.
              \_ You get odd shadowing from hard light.  The umbrella thing
                 is for diffuse light.  Ideally, for pictures of people's
                 faces, you bounce some light from another angle to soften
                 shadows more.
        \_ Somewhat related, I think I heard on CSI or something like that
           only living people will have red eye because it has something to
           do with the living pigments (or something  in your eye.
           Dead people won't get red eye.
           \_ Maybe because dead people's blood isn't red anymore after the
              oxygen in the blood is gone?
        \_ The best indoor flash pictures are taken by bouncing the flash
           off the ceiling. You get more natural light photos of ppl that
           way. Might need to adjust the color if the ceiling isn't white.
        \_ take pictures of Asian men/women only. Problem solved. And IMHE
           the people who have the reddest eyes are my Bulgarian friends.
           \_ That's because they're drunk.