Editors: Remove Red Eye Tutorial

About Red Eye

The red color comes from light that reflects off of the retinas in our eyes. In many animals, including dogs, cats and deer, the retina has a special reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum that acts almost like a mirror at the backs of their eyes. If you shine a flashlight or headlights into their eyes at night, their eyes shine back with bright, white light.

Prevention

There are several ways to prevent red eye while taking your photograph, so that you don't have to correct it later.

1. Take pictures without using your flash; make sure that you have adequate light to do this. If there isn't enough light, your camera's shutter will be open longer, making it more suseptable to the shake of your hands (this causes a blurry image). You can set your camera on a tripod or other solid surface to avoid this.

2. Using the red-eye reduction capabilities built into many modern cameras. These precede the main flash with a series of short, low-power flashes, or a continuous piercing bright light triggering the iris to contract.

3. Increase the lighting in the room so that the subject's pupils are more constricted.

Red Eye Removal

After you have opened MS Office picture manager and selected the photo you want to work with, follow this guide to remove red eye from your photo. If you need instructions on opening Microsoft Picture Manager, please click here.

1. In the Edit Pictures panel click on Red Eye Removal
   

2. Follow the prompts in the Edit Pictures panel. "Reset Selected Eyes" will clear your adjustments if you make a mistake.
   

3. After you click on the red eyes in your photo, select OK. This should remove them.
   

Tips & Tricks

1. You may have to try a couple times to get it right
2. I find that if the red portion of the eye is large (your picture is a closeup), you may need to click multiple times within the red area of the eye to cover everything.