URGENT HELP PLEASE

[bobjack83]

Hi all,
New to this forum but wondered if anyone can help me out, i have a canon ixus 400 digital camera ,but when i take photos using the flash when the photo comes out 9 times out of 10 the person in the photo has there eyes shut,have you anyideas on how to alter this ?
Can i fit a weaker flash?
Thanks in advance Bob :lol:

[robertwgross]

Superglue their eyelids open. :-)

Tell them "OK, on a count of three. One. Two. (snap)"

That should keep them from anticipating the flash.

Then make sure that your camera does not have any shutter lag. If they see your finger pushing down on the button, and then they have time to blink, they will.

---Bob Gross---

[Scottes]

Also check if you have red-eye reduction on - doesn't that send a preflash? And/or second-curtain flash, which might be giving them enough time to close their eyes.

[aam1234]

Was that an urgent question?

[bobjack83]

Very!!
We have just had our first child and im trying to get some keep sake shots ,but not the best when eyes keep shutting!!

[aam1234]

Oh Congrats!

May God bless him/her. And his/her parents too.

[Conk]

It was said in another thread here to try having the person shut their eyes until you que them to open and at that moment take the photo.
Also I would think that if you have the person look somewhere else other than right at the camera would work. Something close like your watch.

[Tom W]

It was said in another thread here to try having the person shut their eyes until you que them to open and at that moment take the photo.
Also I would think that if you have the person look somewhere else other than right at the camera would work. Something close like your watch.

That's a bit more difficult with the S-400 - there is considerable shutter lag.

I would say turn off the red-eye reduction, get pre-focused (shutter button halfway down) and then snap the shot. The lag is greatly reduced when you prefocus, though it still isn't as fast as an SLR (IIRC - I haven't shot my S-400 very much since the 10D came along).

The other alternative is to get some natural light on the subject (perhaps a nearby window or something) and take the shot without flash. You may need to bump up the ISO setting a bit to get a fast shutter speed.

Get someone to hold a piece of cardboard with some aluminum foil on it (shiny side out) to reflect some of the window light to the other side of the face and even things out a bit.

Experiment! You have 18 years to get it right. ;)

[Jesper]

Very!!
We have just had our first child and im trying to get some keep sake shots ,but not the best when eyes keep shutting!!

Congratulations and welcome to the forums!

But next time please use a better subject line, for example "What to do about blinking when using flash?" or something like that. You probably thought that you would be getting more attention by writing "URGENT HELP PLEASE" with all caps, but it will make searching the forum archives more difficult if everyone would be using subjects like that all the time...

[Big_B]

Nothing to add to this discussion except......





Congratulations!!!!!!!