Photo On Canvas Guide: Fix That Annoying Red Eye!

Ever wondered why the people in your photos sometimes have red eyes? Thankfully, it's not caused by some kind of demonic possession, although that may be independently true in the case of little brothers! Red-eye is an annoying, inevitable photographic effect that can result in your subjects have red pupils when using flash. It can ruin an otherwise perfect photo that's the last thing you want on your prized photo on canvas! But why does it happen and how can you remove it? Get ready, here's the science bit...

Red-eye occurs when the flash from your compact camera is reflected by the red-pigmented fundus tissue in our eyes. The pet lovers amongst you may have noticed that the same is true for many animals, such as rabbits. However, red eye isn't present when photographing animals with a tapetum lucidum, like cats.

The tapetum lucidum is a layer of tissue in the eye which helps some animals see better at night. If you've ever happened to shine a torch at a cat at night, or seen nature programmes about cats, you've probably noticed that their eyes glow eerily in the dark. This effect, called eyeshine, is the tapetum lucidum reflecting light from the retinas in the cat's eyes.

For those without pets, let's return to the pesky red-eye in your photos. Red eye is normally exacerbated when shooting in low light conditions and when the subjects are looking directly at the camera. A way to avoid red eye altogether is to ask your subjects to look at a point slightly adjacent to the camera, rather than directly at it. This also has the gratifying side-effect of causing your friends and family to think you are a photographic genius!

However, there are ways to combat red-eye in your existing photos, so you can create amazing photo on canvas prints with them. Thanks to modern graphics software, it's easy to restore pupil colour from demonic red to a less-scary black. There are now a multitude of digital photo software packages available to suit all abilities, and we'd like to show you a few...

Even digital photo novices are now able to use techniques that once would have been the reserve of photographic darkroom professionals. We recommend Google's Picasa as an entry into the world of digital photo processing. It's an excellent, free tool that helps you to organise and improve your digital photos. You can use Picasa's built-in tool remove red-eye simply drawing a box around the problem areas. To learn more, check out this great tutorial.

For the more advanced digital enthusiasts, anything's possible with Adobe's perennial Photoshop software. Now in its eleventh incarnation, Photoshop is the photo-editing program of choice for the graphics professionals and enthusiasts the world over. Sure, it's not cheap, but the repertoire of Photoshop extends far beyond red-eye removal, which it also does with characteristic aplomb.

In addition, there is Photoshop Elements, a streamlined version which offers many of the essential features of its big brother, without the prohibitive pricetag. As with most retouching procedures, red-eye removal can be performed in many different ways. This great tutorial provides a great method that works on most photos.

If these amazing software packages still strike you as a bit too much, never fear. When you place your photo on canvas order with 48 Hour Canvas, you can rest assured that your photos are in the hands of experienced and knowledgable digital graphics specialists. If your photo has red-eye, we'll remove it as standard. Our aim is to make your photo the best it can be and bring it to life as a wonderful photo on canvas that you'll treasure.