raj surati Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Hewlett Packard Research is perfecting its software methods for automatically removing photo flash red-eye with its <a href="http://www.redbot.net">RedBot.net</a> service. By submitting photos to this service you can help them make it better, and have your JPEG red-eye photos fixed for free!<p>Red-eye is that familiar problem where a subject's eyes in a flash photograph appear red instead of their normal color. As shown below the photo on the left is how the image should appear (as corrected byRedBot) while the photo on the right is what the camera produced.<img src="/news/graphics/redbot370.jpg"><p>The reason this happens is best illustrated in the graphic below (from http://FAQ.redbot.net). In humans the red color observed is due to the direct reflection of the flash off the blood vessels of the retina. The camera captures both the burst of light AND the reddish hue of the reflection. The more compact the camera the worse the effect is --the closer to the flash the lens is the more likely you are to get red-eye.When-ever the angle beta is less than alpha red-eye will occur.<img src="/news/graphics/red-eye.gif"><p>Past approaches to mitigate this effect simply strobe the eye prior to the exposure to reduce the pupil size -a technique employed in almost all camera. A pre-flash is expensive from a power perspective and has limited efficiency. Besides not always reducing red-eye, subjects --especially children-- often presume the initial flash is for the photo, then move to ruin the composition not realizing the actual photograph is moments later. <p>Using a single flash with post-exposure software correction is less expensive from a power perspective and is ideal for today's tiny cameras and cell phone cameras where power is at a premium and the red-eye effect is exacerbated. <p>RedBot actually employs three algorithms: one based on face detection, an eye-detector-based algorithm, and one licensed from FotoNation Inc.of San Francisco. Each photo submitted to RedBot uses one of these algorithms selected at random. The Web service logs the details and records feedback from the user. <p>This wide testing helps improve red-eye correction performance for HP's cameras and printers. The HP R707 was the first camera to have red-eye correction built in.<p>Several thousand users have already corrected their red-eye photos with RedBot and have been pleased with the results. Red-eye corrected JPEG images are returned with the highest quality preserving the integrity of the original.<p>Try it out for your self at <a href="http://redbot.net">http://redbot.net</a> and tell us what you think below? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich815 Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Based on your after shot it looks like it goes from red-eye to cataract-eye. None too pleasing looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_tuthill Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 Does H/P have a free "cataract eye" correction website? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hique Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 Lol. Richard and Bill really started the discussion in the right direction, the funny one. Points for each of you. I prefer to darken the pupil when correcting red-eyes, not to get this effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 I can see what the jokers mean about cataracts, but the processed version is an improvement on the original, and people who want an auto fix for this problem will probably like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_breshears Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 Another humorous aspect is the appended ads: Cure your "red eye" and other ocular problems with DryEye.com. I suppose these are automatically attached to the article based on a computer analysis of the content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis_bascones Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 I was very suprised to see how effective red-eye removal works on Photoshop Album (PSA). My wife uses PSA for to organize/catalog her p&s snap shots, and I was suprised and pleased to see how easy and effective PSA removes red eye. My 2 year-old goes from little vampire to little angel with 2 clicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john falkenstine Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 My parents opted for a "professional photographer" last year. What they got back was....evidence of an incompetent amateur attempting to remove redeye by painting the entire pupil black, making my parents look like something from a Ted deGrazia painting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad_willard1 Posted October 11, 2004 Share Posted October 11, 2004 The pupil, as with most people is supposed to be black. In photoshop I add a click circle over the pupil, then erase where the highlight is because that typically doesn't turn black. Then I add a little transparency to the layer I made. Works well for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_lofquist Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 I wanted to avoid having a problem with Cataracts, so I bought a Rincoln! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.smith Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 As a person who just has some photos of family I was thrilled to have the red eyes removed from three photos .... I had tried to remove the red-eye using my Kodak photo-share but couldn't... it left dark blotches on the faces. So, for my family album the results were great. Thank you. June Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciprian_cudalbu Posted May 11, 2005 Share Posted May 11, 2005 There is competition :). You can also try out this free online service: http://www.sharp-consult.com/RedEyeRepair.php?L=E&P=1400 I hope you will enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrea.gerosa Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 That's strange, it's so easy to understand that to reduce red eyes you must have black in place of red, and not grey, that I don't undestand how HP can miss it. I usually select the area, desaturate and darken 40-50%, increasing contrast by 10-15%. It usually works better than automatic red-eye reduction. It seems not too difficult to automate that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now