Camerahand Loc: Huntsville, Tennessee

When I photograph animals at night, I end up with those animals (deer, raccons, etc.) having "full-moon" eyes. Sometimes I have pretty good luck at correcting them, but most of the time the eyes will not look real at all.

I usually have more trouble with the deer. Their eyes are so large. I have tried to darken them with the air brush/paint brush in Photoshop and I have tried "selecting" the bright areas and darkening them by using "brightness/contrast" and/or "levels". The catch light is a bugger to get placed correctly, too. The photos will sometimes look pretty decent until they are enlarged to where the details show.

If anyone has had some experience in correcting this, I would appreciate any suggestions that you could offer.

I am posting two photographs. The first one is a section of the original photo. The second is a section of the edited version. I will post the full size sections so you can download them for a closer look.

Please don't judge me on the overall quality because they really are poor photos. The edited version has been sharpened, lightened and ,well, just edited all to heck.

Burton

Section of the original photo


Section of the edited photo


Edited Photo (full size)

Munky Loc: New York City

Have you considered cutting out a pair of deer eyes (in photoshop from a picture of course, not literally) from a shot taken during the day and pasting it over the eyes of this pic. Matching the exposure would be easy...getting similar angled shots probably not as easy but I think it could work.

Camerahand Loc: Huntsville, Tennessee

That's a very good suggestion, Munky! I would say I have enough photos that I could find a matching pair. They could always be sized to fit. Thank you. ---- Burton

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have the same problem with my dogs. How about moving the flash farther away from the camera? With the distances involved, that might not help.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

How about moving the flash OFF of the camera?

coco1964 Loc: Winsted Mn

I gave it a shot and in the short time I had to work on it this is what I came up with. Looks like PS may be the answer but I can't help you there...........

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

None of these fixes, so far, correct the green eye-liner. (color bleed)

Bekkie Loc: Ohio, USA

To correct the green eyeliner in Photoshop,

-make a copy layer (CTRL + J)
-use the Hue/Sat (CTRL + U)
-click where it says "Master" a drop down menu appears
-choose the greens and slide the desaturation slider to the left
-also choose cyan and do the same thing.

When blending in the eyes, using the blur tool around the pasted eyeball. I also used the burn tool to blend it in with the rest of the deer. Don't forget to flatten your image and save.

Hope this helps.

This was a 30 second edit.

http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n585/BekkieHarper/1329854267978-1329719981353_img_0170_003copy.jpg

Camerahand Loc: Huntsville, Tennessee

I'm making plans to try that. The on-camera flash really isn't powerful enough for the distance that I'm shooting, so I plan to dig out one of my old Vivitars and mount it (if it still works) off to the side about half way to the deer and rig up some way to trigger it. I have a Wein hot shoe slave, but if I trigger it with the on-camera flash, I will have the same problem I have now. More light but still moony-eyed deer.

I've been shooting in MANUAL at the max ISO, wide open, and even that wouldn't give enough light without having to use Photoshop. However, that little bit of show on the ground seemed to lighten things up a bit.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

Burton

Camerahand Loc: Huntsville, Tennessee

Thanks, Coco, for the edit. Now THAT looks more like deer eyes. They look more glossy than the original. My attempt looked terribly dull and flat.

Burton

Camerahand Loc: Huntsville, Tennessee

Bekkie!!! Thank you! No more green-eyed monster! I have your steps saved and will put them to use on my other photos. Thanks again.

Burton

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Not too shabby!

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

You could trigger it with cheap ebay wireless triggers....25.00 a set. (or even less sometimes.)

Camerahand Loc: Huntsville, Tennessee

I'll be sure to check that out. Sounds very reasonable. Thanks.

Burton