redeye correction for dogs?

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Level 1

4 points

redeye correction for dogs?

Hi. I'm a dog photographer, and just upgraded to Aperture as my primary image management/correction/presentation tool. Dog photography is a little different from people photography in that dogs suffer from "green eye" rather than "red eye" from a flash. Dogs' eyes are also wider (or whatever) so that moving the light off a dead-on line does not eliminate the "green eye". In PS CS2, it's a simple matter to correct - set a brush to overlay, and darken the green to black.

Is there an Aperture way to accomplish the same task? I've not even worked my way through the tutorials yet, so I may find an answer, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Thanks,
Ben

macbook 13, iMac 24" al, Mac OS X (10.6.2), Macbook 2GB, iMac 24"al 4gB

Posted on Dec 22, 2009 6:45 PM

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Answer 1

rwboyer

Level 4

3,170 points

Dec 22, 2009 6:55 PM in response to bbarlow641

Not really, Maybe the dodge and burn plug-in could help but...

I really really hate to be giving advice that does not relate to Aperture but I cannot help myself here, considering that I am a people photographer. If you shoot dogs for fun or profit or both you really should think about a better way to do it than a red eye/green eye horrendously horrible way of lighting your subjects with the little crappy flash built into the camera.

Just a thought.

RB

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Answer 2

bbarlow641 Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 22, 2009 7:04 PM in response to bbarlow641

OK. How about burning? That will probably do it...

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Answer 3

bbarlow641 Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 22, 2009 7:15 PM in response to rwboyer

RB,
I don't use the "little crappy flash" built into the camera - I have two speedlights positioned about 90 degrees apart, one 2-3 feet above the dog, one sometimes bouncing off the ceiling. My goal is to get a good, even, diffuse light on the subject, and I get that most of the time. The problem is the design (or implementation?) of the dogs' eyes. They will reflect light over a much wider angle than human subjects' eyes. My test picture has Santa and a child holding a dog, all three facing the camera. Santa and the little girl have not a hint of redeye, but the pup's eyes are bright green.

Anyway, the burn and dodge tool (burn specifically) seems to work until I become more adept. Got to figure out how to exclude burning the hair partially over the eye. It stinks.

Thanks for responding, though.
Ben

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Answer 4

rwboyer

Level 4

3,170 points

Dec 22, 2009 7:39 PM in response to bbarlow641

Glad I could help,

If you are getting red eye or dog eye your lights are not at a great angle and probably need to be bigger as well. Trust me on this, I have been lighting all sorts of junk with all kinds of lights for a long long time. Get your self a $35 60" umbrella or two if you really need it to start with and use one as the main - it don't get much easier. Personally I would use the 60" as the main (actually I would use a scrim of the same size) and the other light as a separation light from the top or opposite side.

RB

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