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Photos [Somewhat OT]



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 15th 04, 12:05 PM
Ruby Tuesday
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Default Photos [Somewhat OT]

I've tried again to take Mico's picture, and so far only one out of about 10
shows him with his gorgeous blue eyes. I've used a disposable camera, and a
Polaroid. The other pictures I've taken have redeye, or weird yellow blanks
for eyes. Anybody have any advice on how to take a good picture? Does
anybody know if they can do something with this at the photo shop?

Thanks in advance,

- Ruby Tuesday


  #2  
Old December 15th 04, 03:58 PM
Rene S
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I've always had good luck taking a picture where the cat is *not*
looking into the camera. Try to snap the photo when he's looking
slightly to the side or up. That way, the flash won't reflect off of
his eyes.

Another idea is to use the "red eye" feature that some cameras have,
where the flash goes off twice. The only trouble I've had with this is
that there's often a hesitation between flashes and kitty moves, so you
don't always get the shot you want.

Rene

  #3  
Old December 16th 04, 04:26 AM
MaryL
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"Ruby Tuesday" wrote in message
...
I've tried again to take Mico's picture, and so far only one out of about
10
shows him with his gorgeous blue eyes. I've used a disposable camera, and
a
Polaroid. The other pictures I've taken have redeye, or weird yellow
blanks
for eyes. Anybody have any advice on how to take a good picture? Does
anybody know if they can do something with this at the photo shop?

Thanks in advance,

- Ruby Tuesday



Try to take the cat at an angle, so the cat isn't looking directly into the
lens. If you have a camera with an adjustable flash, aim the flash at the
ceiling instead of directly at the cat. Best of all is if you can avoid a
fliash. There are a number of software products for removing red eye (some
are difficult to learn). There is even a product that I saw at a photo
shop, but I have never experimented with it. It is a pen for drawing
directly on the photo, and it is made specifically to remove red eye. I
have never seen a finished product, so I don't know how practical it is (but
it was inexpensive).

MaryL
Holiday safety tips for cats:
http://community-2.webtv.net/getcathelp/holidaysafety/


  #4  
Old December 16th 04, 04:47 AM
Ma3rk
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Avoiding using the flash altogether is the best method, i.e. natural light.

Knowing that's not always possible, there are a couple things you can
possibly do to the direct, harsh, raw light of the flash. Most likely,
neither the disposable or the Polaroid have any sort of red-eye deterrent so
you need to either diffuse the light or redirect it. If the Polaroid's
flash is movable you could get it farther away from being on the same axis
as the lens and help things a lot. Some of the older ones could rotate the
flash head so you could bounce the flash.

Anyway, depending on the camera figure out a way to attach (most likely with
tape, vinyl electricians works well) some form of light weight, white
translucent material. This could be a cut of typing paper, folded to
stiffen, or an index card, or the bottom of a styrene cup, or... You're
trying to get as large of a light diffusing surface in front of the flash as
you can w/o interfering with other camera operation or being in the lens.

OR, with a small stiff piece of cardboard or such, tape on some alum. foil
then mount the bottom of the flash & angled out 45 so the light is reflected
straight up. In this case, you'll be bouncing the light off the ceiling and
that becomes your large, light diffusing surface.

A lot has to do with the angle of the light to the cat's eyes which is why
the bounce technique works well but not every situation can make use of it.
The diffuser technique softens the light but more importantly less of it
will be going into the eye at an angle that reflects off the back of the
retina.

Either camera should compensate for the exposure difference I'd think. Maybe
you'll get a new digital camera w/ red-eye compensation in a couple weeks.

You can certainly fix red eye and the feline equivalent in Photoshop the
program, but there's no button or plug-in that does it automagically. There
might be some other software packages that do though.

Hope this is of some help.

M.


"Ruby Tuesday" wrote in message
...
I've tried again to take Mico's picture, and so far only one out of about
10
shows him with his gorgeous blue eyes. I've used a disposable camera, and
a
Polaroid. The other pictures I've taken have redeye, or weird yellow
blanks
for eyes. Anybody have any advice on how to take a good picture? Does
anybody know if they can do something with this at the photo shop?

Thanks in advance,

- Ruby Tuesday




  #5  
Old December 17th 04, 12:46 AM
Rona Yuthasastrakosol
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Default

"Ruby Tuesday" wrote in message
...
I've tried again to take Mico's picture, and so far only one out of about

10
shows him with his gorgeous blue eyes. I've used a disposable camera, and

a
Polaroid. The other pictures I've taken have redeye, or weird yellow

blanks
for eyes. Anybody have any advice on how to take a good picture? Does
anybody know if they can do something with this at the photo shop?

Thanks in advance,

- Ruby Tuesday


If you have Adobe Photoshop, or other similar programs, you can get rid of
the red eye thing. Higher-end photo shops which specialize in digital
prints may be able to get rid of for you if you can digitize the print first
(just scan it in and save it to disk). It's not cheap, though.

rona

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people who really wanted to live in Europe, but didn't have the energy to go
back. We call them Canadians."
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  #6  
Old December 17th 04, 05:31 PM
Rene S.
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MaryL,
I know what you're talking about--the red-eye "marker." I bought one
and tried it on cat eyes. It only turned them an eerie green. I think
it's only meant for human eyes. But it was less than $5.

Rene

  #7  
Old December 17th 04, 06:52 PM
Ma3rk
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For those a bit adventurous, here's a simply tutorial on fixing red-eye that's applicable to many software paint programs. Work's well on non human eye colors too.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/librar...n-psredeye.htm

M.
  #8  
Old December 17th 04, 09:12 PM
MaryL
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"Ma3rk" wrote in message
...
For those a bit adventurous, here's a simply tutorial on fixing red-eye
that's applicable to many software paint programs. Work's well on non human
eye colors too.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/librar...n-psredeye.htm

M.

Thanks! I have PhotoShop Elements and a couple of "easy" programs, so I'm
going to try this.

MaryL


  #9  
Old December 17th 04, 10:43 PM
icedog
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"Rene S" wrote in message
oups.com...
I've always had good luck taking a picture where the cat is *not*
looking into the camera. Try to snap the photo when he's looking
slightly to the side or up. That way, the flash won't reflect off of
his eyes.

Another idea is to use the "red eye" feature that some cameras have,
where the flash goes off twice. The only trouble I've had with this is
that there's often a hesitation between flashes and kitty moves, so you
don't always get the shot you want.

Rene

Another tip as used by the professionals is either to use bounce flash
pointing upwards or, if stuck with a fixed disposable, mute the flash with a
strip of surgical gauze as it is the photochromatic spectrum, not the
intensity, which causes redeye.

Icedog.


  #10  
Old December 18th 04, 02:45 AM
Ruby Tuesday
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Default


"icedog" wrote in message
...

"Rene S" wrote in message
oups.com...
I've always had good luck taking a picture where the cat is *not*
looking into the camera. Try to snap the photo when he's looking
slightly to the side or up. That way, the flash won't reflect off of
his eyes.

Another idea is to use the "red eye" feature that some cameras have,
where the flash goes off twice. The only trouble I've had with this is
that there's often a hesitation between flashes and kitty moves, so you
don't always get the shot you want.

Rene

Another tip as used by the professionals is either to use bounce flash
pointing upwards or, if stuck with a fixed disposable, mute the flash with

a
strip of surgical gauze as it is the photochromatic spectrum, not the
intensity, which causes redeye.

Icedog.



Hmmm. Interesting. I just might try that. Thanks.

- Ruby Tuesday


 




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