As I mentioned before, we have a new digital camera. And I have been taking endless photos of my world. My world includes dogs, and after taking countless dog photos, I’ve become rather familiar with the concept of "red eye."
If you’ve taken pictures using a flash, you probably know what I’m talking about. Red eye happens when the bright light of the camera’s flash reflects off the retina at the back of the eye. You can skirt the problem by telling your photo subjects to avoid looking at the camera or by using a detachable flash that you hold away from the camera itself.
Unfortunately, many times neither solution is an option. I don’t have a detachable flash and my dog Cami rarely does what she’s told (those who have met Cami know her willful nature). As a result I have a lot of Cami photos where she looks like demon spawn.
Fortunately, most image-editing software comes with some type of red-eye correction tool. Most of them work similarly. You click the tool, then click the area of the image that has the red-eye problem. For example, Paint Shop Pro 8 has a particularly good red-eye removal tool that even has automatic settings specific to animals.
In Paint Shop Pro, first you choose Adjust|Red Eye Removal. Then you choose a method, such as Auto Animal Eye. Next, you click and drag to select the pupil and select the type of eye from the Color drop-list. You see a preview of the new improved eye on the right hand preview window as you make adjustments to the settings.
Cami may still be willful, but at least she doesn’t look quite so photographically fiendish anymore.