help! how to stop blinking in photos involving flash!

hi guys,

sorry if this is the wrong forum to post in, i wasn't sure which one was the most appropriate, but please give insight! for some reason, my eyes seem very sensitive so that whenever someone takes a picture of me with flash, i tend to blink. the darker the environment, the stronger the blink. i've tried many different methods, relaxing, concentrating on not blinking, trying not to anticipate the blink, and none of them work very well. also, my right eyes seems to be more sensitive than my left, so many of my pictures end up with me having this kind of "stoned" look which is very frustrating.

i REALLY would like to see if i can correct this issue. i really don't recall being like this as a child but rather started noticing this issue maybe 1-2 years ago. some people tell me this is psychological, but i am wary of that.

if any of you can sympathize or have any insight on this topic, please share! correcting this or "desensitizing" my eyes would make my life a lot better =)

thanks!

I can see this being more of a problem with TTL flash when the flash pre-fires and then the shutter follows. Maybe its not TTL but front sync flash causing this. I have found I get flash through my viewfinder before the shutter actually releases and this may cause some quick eyed individuals to react and the camera catches them if not in full blink at least in squint mode.

On my A1 with Speedlight flash the whole thing works in one quick "flash" and you have no time to react before the image is captured.

Dunno for sure if this is what is happening or not, but it's my educated guess. Maybe change flash mode to rear sync and have the flash fire at the end of the capture?

I dunno.

Tim

One of the things I have noticed that cameras using on-board flash have more of a problem in this area than cameras that use a flash where the head can be titled to allow the flash to bounce.

Also on my Canon there is a longer delay after the pre-flash than on my Fuji and this seems to componsate a little for the "model's eyes" to recover. However saying this I sometimes turn off red eye componsation and get much better results by sorting the red eye later. So it may be the red-eye that is causing some of the problems your seeing.

Do you notice that this is only from posed shots or is this the same for ipromptu shots as well?

Roger

Probably has something to do with pre-fire of the flash and this can happen with both compact and SLR cameras. When Nikon's D70 came out, a lot of people complained about closed eyes because of this - the process was slower in this camera than the D2H (D2X wasn't out yet) and D2H users that bought a D70 for backup were caught by surprise with this.

thanks for the replies! it seems that turning on anti-redeye makes it worse because i blink in a higher % of photos now.

i still blink in the candid shots altho to a lesser %.

on a sidenote, i notice that if i am drunk... i don't blink at all in any of my photos (or so that's the trend that i've noticed). so maybe my reflexes are slower then? or am i just more relaxed (or both)? i'm pretty sure this is a psychological thing but i cant figure out a way to get rid of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by woggy987

on a sidenote, i notice that if i am drunk... i don't blink at all in any of my photos (or so that's the trend that i've noticed). so maybe my reflexes are slower then? or am i just more relaxed (or both)?

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Well, yeah - same reason for not driving this way! You may actually blink after the flash goes off.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by woggy987

on a sidenote, i notice that if i am drunk... i don't blink at all in any of my photos...

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Another good reason to always carry a flask around with you. Never know when someone is gonna want to take your picture... :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cyberlord

I can see this being more of a problem with TTL flash when the flash pre-fires and then the shutter follows. Maybe its not TTL but front sync flash causing this. I have found I get flash through my viewfinder before the shutter actually releases and this may cause some quick eyed individuals to react and the camera catches them if not in full blink at least in squint mode.

On my A1 with Speedlight flash the whole thing works in one quick "flash" and you have no time to react before the image is captured.

Dunno for sure if this is what is happening or not, but it's my educated guess. Maybe change flash mode to rear sync and have the flash fire at the end of the capture?

I dunno.

Tim

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Yes the preflash does it. You only get photos with eyes closed. My old Olympus C-3030 it was a problem, but the D70 it has not happen as yet.

I use a D70 and I get this a lot, especially when I am taking victory lane photos. I don't know how many times I've gotten home, start sorting photos to send in to the racing trade papers, and notice that at least one of my winners has his eyes closed in the shot I ended up with.

Sometimes I catch it when it happens, but because of the environment (usually fairly dark) and the pace at which we have to move to get all the needed victory lane shots for the various sponsors, it is much more common that I don't catch it until I'm home.

Just last weekend, I had a first time winner, I was pretty sure he had blinked, so I shot a second photo, blink again, so a third....I shot 5 photos of this guy, turns out every one he had his eyes closed. Talk about frustrating.....

Try raising your upper eye lid when you know you are getting your photo taken and you might find your blinking isn't so bad, you have to consciously raise the upper lids though. Takes a bit of practice as well.

I thought I was the only one with this problem!! It IS so frustrating, bc after taking the same photo about 5 times, people start to get a little annoyed also. I have been thinking of so many ways that I can help this bc I also look stoned in half my pictures as well. I have tried so many things and none of them seem to help!! What is up with that?!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by woggy987

hi guys,





sorry if this is the wrong forum to post in, i wasn't sure which one was the most appropriate, but please give insight! for some reason, my eyes seem very sensitive so that whenever someone takes a picture of me with flash, i tend to blink. the darker the environment, the stronger the blink. i've tried many different methods, relaxing, concentrating on not blinking, trying not to anticipate the blink, and none of them work very well. also, my right eyes seems to be more sensitive than my left, so many of my pictures end up with me having this kind of "stoned" look which is very frustrating.

i REALLY would like to see if i can correct this issue. i really don't recall being like this as a child but rather started noticing this issue maybe 1-2 years ago. some people tell me this is psychological, but i am wary of that.

if any of you can sympathize or have any insight on this topic, please share! correcting this or "desensitizing" my eyes would make my life a lot better =)

thanks!

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super glue

Depends on the situation but have the group close their eyes and count to three. Tell them when you say three to open their eyes and that is when you take your picture. This way most people would have to blink again even with the flash in their face.

James

If you're using an SLR camera with a separate flash, try putting the flash in something other than TTL or especially Red Eye Reduction mode. With most people shots, good 'ol fashioned "A" auto mode will work just fine. This avoids any pre-flash. May not be 100% but I bet it'll help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by another view

If you're using an SLR camera with a separate flash, try putting the flash in something other than TTL or especially Red Eye Reduction mode. With most people shots, good 'ol fashioned "A" auto mode will work just fine. This avoids any pre-flash. May not be 100% but I bet it'll help.

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I have to agree use a dumb flash until.