What causes redeye? It’s simply because the flash is so close to the lens. Whether you have a Digital SLR or a Point-and-Shoot camera, both suffer from the same problem. The redeye you see is a reflection of the person’s retina. The flash goes into the eye and is reflected back almost directly into the lens because of the close proximity of the flash. It’s a very narrow angle of reflection.

Who is most susceptible to redeye? Well, kids under the age of five, blonde haired blue eyed people (like my niece above), and of course animals get that dreaded yellow or green eye. Or what some people call "devil eyes".

Using the Redeye function of your flash will work perhaps 80% of the time, but it’s not without problems. Some cameras have a big delay between the preflash and the burst that actually takes the picture. Some people will blink from the preflash or they turn their heads thinking the shot is done.

Tell people you’re using the Redeye function and have them hold still for an extra second or two.

Fix it forever

Photo editing software – Whether you use Picasa, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop CSx, Lightroom, or virtually any other program, they all have a tool for fixing redeye. With a couple of clicks you can remove the redeye. Save the file and never touch it again.

The absolute best solution to eliminate redeye is to use off-camera flash. (P&S users don’t really have this option. You’ll be correcting in software.) Using off-camera flash will require a cord or a wireless function in your flash and camera, but this will certainly eliminate redeye.

Having the flash off to the side or above the camera creates a larger angle of reflectance. In simple terms, the light is not reflected back into the lens and therefore no redeye.

The other way to eliminate redeye is to use bounce flash. You can do this with your flash mounted on top of the camera (not the popup, but an addon flash). Angle the flash head and bounce the light off the ceiling or side wall. Indirect light will give you more pleasing, soft light and solve the redeye dilemma.

You can also use any of the bounce cards or diffusers from Stofen or Lumiquest. They’re cheap, effective and very useful.