Red eye in photos

[Dollie]

I've never had a photo taken in my forty-some years that I've had red eye in. Also my 2 children never have red eye in a photo. I know its something to do with the reflection on the retina with flash photography, but I find this strange as we have been on photos with other people who have had red eye on the same picture as us. Does this mean that the make up of eyes differ from person to person? TIA

[Teddio]

A flash-photo was taken of an owl and it had only one "red eye". The owl was found to be blind in the non-red eye.

[Postdog]

there you go, you're blind and didn't know......

[wildwood]

Yes, there are a lot more variations than the brown or blue eyes. The combination of partial and mixed melanin factors make for a myriad of different colours. Maybe you and your kids have a darker pigment in the eyes that prevents the red eye.

[Hymie]

You are correct in that photographic �red eye� is due to the reflection of the flashlight on the retina of the eye. This is normally more pronounced in photos taken in poor light, since the subjects� pupil will be fully dilated.
The propensity to suffer red eye is somewhat dependent on the size of the subjects� pupil at the time the photo was taken and the angle between the light source (flash) and camera lens.

In olden days, this was avoided/reduced by placing the flash gun light source as far as possible away from the camera lens, thereby limiting the angle at which light could enter the eye and be reflected back to the camera.

Modern cameras, with a red eye reduction function, strobe the flashlight prior to taking the photo, thereby causing the subjects� pupil to contract and reduce the likelihood of light reflection from the retina.