Blinkers

Hi--
I've not seen anything on this subject, but it's becoming more evident with each portrait sitting I do. I have some subjects that have no trouble with flash (i.e. they don't blink), but others that consistently blink in every shot! I'm using a 550ex as the main, a 420ex as the fill, both bounced into umbrellas. I'm using the flash in manual mode, so there's no pre-flash (at least--- I don't think there is!). I also have 2 strobes for the background lighting (it's a white background) and sometimes use a strobe hairlight. I don't have any continuous lighting and generally turn off the lights in the studio so there's no color cast. I've tried moving the main more off to the side, up higher, higher shutter speeds... everything I can think of... but still get blinks with some people.
Are there any tricks that you know of to prevent this?
Thanks for your help---
Holly

*edit*

THats better

My wife is a chronic blinker. When we were married many moons ago our wedding photographer did this trick:

He posed my wife and composed the shot, then, just before he released the shutter, he had her close her eyes and look slightly down. Upon his instruction, my wife would raise her chin and open her eyes and he'd release the shutter.

Every shot was perfect.

I use his technique today when taking family portraits and snapshots. Works every time, at least with my wife. Others may have faster eye lids.

YMMV...

Can you shoot a continuout sequence with the 550?

Please clarify.

The manual says that it can recycle at the following rates:
quick flash -- 0.1 - 4 seconds
normal flash -- 0.1 - 8 seconds

---Bob Gross---

Maybe you could shoot 4-5 pics in sequence, & pick the best one?
Actually, now that I think about it, I suspect that she's keying on your actions before you snap the shutter! So, don't give her a cue to blink. Hide your finger on the shutter or use a remote release, & don't say "Ready", etc?. Try it, I'll bet it will slove your problem.

When shooting wedding portraits, sometimes my partner says, "OK, on the count of three. One, two, (snap). Fooled you!"

But that only works once per session. It does not give them any chance to think about blinking.

---Bob Gross---

Assuming you are working off a camera stand or good tripod...

I used to come out from behind camera after focusing, hold one hand just over the camera and tell the subject to look right at it smile and stare at that hand. I would keep on talking and press release when expression looked right and smile at it's peak (not necessarily big either). Worked for me most of the time.

If I had to work with SLR in front of my face, I would ask my client to look just above camera, I would keep on talking a hope for the best. No way to watch the eyes this way but it also worked most of the time.

I don't know how this will work with something that emits a pre-flash, I'm just now getting back into photography with a Digital Rebel. I used to hate and detest the red-eye reduction pre-flash on P&S gear so I've got some adjusting to do with the DRebel.

Bruce Foreman

I would just like to state that I am the world's worst blinker. If there is a flash anywhere in the room, my eyes will close when it goes off. I have very sensitive eyes so I'm constantly blinking anyway.

The duration of a flash is thousandths of a second - nobody human could react to the light and blink in time to make any difference. They must be reacting to something you say or do, or to your finger on the button, probably not conciously. Try using a cable release with your hand out of view and / or doing something to distract them at the crucial moment. The eyes down and look up trick sounds good I will have to remember that

However, that is just one flash.

For those shooting using one of the normal Canon flash modes, there are two flashes. First, the pre-flash, and then the main flash.

A blinking subject can see the pre-flash and then react just in time to have eyes closed for the main flash.

---Bob Gross---

Try disabling Red Eye Reduction which will set a pre-flash I believe, which is what may be causing the blinking. Then's there's the pre-flash which only happens if needed - don't take pictures in situation where pre-flash is needed. If so, try 2nd curtain synch so that maybe their eyes are open again when the flash goes off.

Bob,

I agree preflash can be a problem, can you turn it off? and if you do how badly affected is the exposure?

Pre-flash depends on the mode of your camera.

---Bob Gross---

I don't *think* I have a preflash.... I'm using the ST-E2 transmitter with a 550/420 slave combination (the 550 on one group, the 420 on another... with the ratio on the ST-E2 slightly favoring the 420). The 550 is set to manual mode, as is the camera. I don't seem to have any control over the 420's setting. The thing that throws me is that the ETTL light always shines red on the ST-E2, even though the 550 is in manual mode. I don't seem to have any way to turn off that ETTL light on the ST-E2. The reason I'm wondering about the preflash is that I also have some slave background lights... and one of them happened to be in one of the shots I took... and I noticed that the flash of that light wasn't showing up in the shot. I have tested and see that it flashes... and seems to flash when I hit the shutter, but I know that preflash happens so fast that it might not be apparent. I did some tests where I had the background strobes turned off as well as turned on... and didn't notice any apparent difference in lighting. That's what has me wondering if there's a preflash triggering these too soon or something?

I did notice that my subject didn't blink when we did some *model pose* type shots (instead of standard smiling poses). She seemed to have a natural crinkle of the eyes when she smiled... and when she did more serious shots, the blinking went away.

I will try those suggestions. However, if anyone sees anything about my set up that would cause a preflash, let me know.

Thanks for the help!
Holly