Calling all photography experts. How do I fix "goldeye" . I cant seem to get a good indoor picture without the demon glow on the dogs. The fix redeye feature on my camera doesnt change it. I cant even fix it on my Windows Photo program ..because it doesnt recognize it as red. It doesn't change when I put the little red eye corrector box around it. Any ideas?
The only way I've found to fix it is with Photoshop. The red eye feature doesn't work because their blood really isn't red like humans. Photoshop Elements has a "greeneye" removal feature. There may be other ways, but this is the only way I've found.
You do have to purchase it. I paid under $100, and to me it was worth it because I also use it for many other things. It's pretty easy, and there's a specific online post on the Photoshop Elements site that tells you exactly how do do it.
Leslie says you can use the "paintbrush" in Adobe Elements...I have no idea what that is, but I remembered her mentioning it in a discussion:
"What's the best way to edit the yellow eye in pet photos? I have Adobe Elements.
Thanks you all!
Permalink Reply by Leslie and Halas on October 13, 2009 at 2:21pm
You can try the red eye tool. Sometimes that works for me on dog eyes. Or use the paint brush, and just paint the pupil black. If I guess the brush stroke size correctly, I can do it with one click, instead of having to really paint."
I tried this on my free software but it didnt look natural. Maybe I was looking too close. I am going to try again. I was astonished that the cameras redeye feature (quick double flash) worked on me but not the dogs. And there are many more pics like that - infact almost all of them. I want to get a good holiday pic with the whole family dogs included to send to my mom but dont want my dogs to be looking away...or looking demonic LOL.
When you use the paintbrush feature, are you basically having to act like you are coloring, sliding your mouse back and forth? It's been awhile since I've messed with it, but I think Photoshop Elements lets me pick the size/width of the paint brush. So if I try to pick the same size as the pupil, I can just make one click, and it leaves a black dot that colors the pupil. I don't have to move my mouse all over the place like I'm trying to color it. It sometimes looks unnatural, but most of the time the result is decent - better than demon eyes anyway. This probably doesn't make any sense trying to read it instead of seeing it, but I can't think of a different way to explain it. I think there's free software out there called Gimp or Gimpshop that does a lot of the same things that Elements does, so you may want to check that out if you don't want to spend money on software. Or you could try adding enough light to the room so that the flash doesn't have to go off. But if you're trying to get Christmas tree lights in the pic, that may not really be an option.
Red eye in humans is a result of the flash illuminating the blood vessles in the back of the eye. The red eye reduction feature of your camera simply flashes a few times to cause your pupil to close it's diameter down so you don't see it.
Animal eyes, such as dogs and cats are structured differently and show up as a greenish/goldish color, but the principle is the same.
If you have an SLR style camera with a removable flash, tilt the flash up towards the ceiling and allow the light to "bounce" off of it. This gives a soft, smooth, portrait lighting effect and lowers the overall contrast as well. The eyes will appear normal since you are not lighting the inside of them.
If you have a point & shoot camera and the flash is not movable then you need to go with software after the fact. Photoshop Elements is the most popular by far, and costs about $100 bucks or so. Use the paintbrush tool and blacken out the gold and you'll be fine, as the red eye tool obviously looks for red pixels which it wont find.
I have a point & shoot (Nikon Coolpix). I will have to give the software a try. But I think that is a fantastc idea about tilting the flash and diffusing the light! I would have never thought of that! Besides redeye (which I managed to fix in humans with my redeye feature), I find direct flash makes the skin look glowy and waxy, something you always see in home photo's but never in professional pics. Thanks! I may have to rethink my camera and get one with a tiltable flash.