Taking photographs of people who wear eyeglasses can cause a challenge when using a flash. Because of the position of on-camera flashes, the sudden burst of light tends to create a glare if the light bounces off of the glass lenses. When taking photos of someone wearing glasses, pay careful attention to the position of the glasses they are wearing in relationship to the flash on your camera to minimize the chance of flash glare.
Instructions
Things You’ll Need:
Camera with built-in flash
Photo subject wearing eyeglasses
Flash diffuser (optional)
1. Turn off the red-eye reduction setting on your digital camera. Newer model digital cameras have a built-in feature that helps to eliminate red-eye in photographs by emitting two separate bursts of light from the flash. By turning off the red-eye reduction feature, you allow the camera flash to only emit a single light burst and minimize the chance of flash glare on eyeglasses.
2. Position your photo subject with his chin pointed downward slightly or have him push his glasses up farther on the bridge of his nose. By making these position adjustments, you will eliminate the direct path of the flash to the subject’s eyeglasses.
3. When using a digital camera, take advantage of the preview screen located on the back of the camera to test your positioning. Look for any glare from the flash that may be present, and change the position of either the subject or the position of her eyeglasses slightly to correct for the flash glare.
Tips & Warnings
In some cases, depending on the model of your camera, you may be able to purchase a flash diffuser. Flash diffusers attach to your camera over the built-in flash and cause a “softening” effect with the light. This softening can help to reduce glare from the direct light of the flash. Tissue paper or thin white nylon fabric also may be used to construct a homemade flash diffuser for your model of camera.
Take advantage of the zoom feature on your camera to help reduce flash glare on eyeglasses. By standing a farther distance from your subject and zooming in to capture his face, you increase the distance that the light has to travel and can reduce the chances of flash glare.
Offset your subject in the frame of your photograph to help decrease the glare from her eyeglasses. By composing your photograph with the subject outside of the center of the frame, you not only eliminate glare off of her eyeglasses, but you can also create a more interesting photograph from a composition standpoint..