PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

It has to with Blink Rate. A priest asked me to do a portrait of him. I shot off a roll of 20 exposures in my film days and not one had his eyes open. That is when I learned about blink rate. It was before the digital capability of bust images.

Just observe before you shoot.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Elements 2020 - don't have it, but saw a list of features. The link should take you there.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

That has worked best for me. It also has the serendipitous effect of putting some wonderfully natural candid facial expressions on everyone.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Any experienced portrait shooter can tell y'all that BLINKERS can be problamatic. I don't tell my clients they are "blinkers"- it's kind of an in-word among portrait and wedding photographers, however, oftentimes the client tells me about their condition or I find out soon enough shortly into a session.

If you can avoid shut down eye, partially closed eyes, squinting, etc while shooting you won't have to try to fix thigs up in post-processing.

There are many causes or reasons why folks blink insistently. It could be a result of nervousness or self conscientiousness in front of a camera. Oftentimes it is a sensitivity to light, and.or seasonal allergic reactions, some people anticipate the flash when it is used or even anticipate the click or in the olden days the motor drive noise. Many times it is just some kind of medical or neurological condition that you need to cope with.

Sometimes it is just a matter of engaging the subject in conversation and calming them down or distracting them form all or someof the aforementioned sensitivities.

Believe it or not, sometimes you can shoot many multiple frames per second and still miss- sometimes the blinks are also accompanied by other undesirable expressions or facial contortions.
Never lose patience or show any frustration or the blinking will worsen.

Controlling the direction of the subject's eyes is always important in portraiture. You may want to establish eye contact with the lens and therefore with the viewers of the portrait. You may want to center the eys so there are not too many whites. You don't want the subject" staring into nowhere" so you need to establish a target. I direct with my hands and oftentimes walk off-camera to communicate with my subject. This also helps with the blinking issue. Especially when I have a "blinker", I shoot with both eyes open so I can tell if I have the shot and the expression.

So...my method is timing, that establishes a shooting rhythm that is compatible with the subjects blinking. Other times I will shoot a few frames and then say "when I take the next picture I want you to..." but I shoot on the word "want" or "you" or "to" because at those points the are beig attentive to my suggestions and the eyes are open. Speaking in softer and then somewhat louder tones can help but without startling or yelling sounds. As you work with the subject(s) your timing will improve along with your ratio of blinks to open eyes. Another method is having the subject close their eyes, open them, and then shoot. This can cause a "deer in the headlights" look but after a few practice shots, it may work.
Communication and building a repour with the subject(s) is of the utmost importance. With large groups where I am shooting for 20 or more feet away, I have been known to employ a bull-horn- we seldom have distracted participants or closed eyes.

It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Not to over philosophize, but that's why I don't like messing with eyes in post-processing. I think we have all seen the bizarre, manic, strange looks in overprocessed, over whitened, and over accentuated eyes! Remember the song "Barney Google"?!

So..if all else fail and retouching is the only possible remedy there are a few approaches that may work. In large groups, we always shot several shots of each and if someone has closed eyes we can "change heads" from another shot where the eyes are open. If one eye is cole or squinting, we can clone in the other eye. We can wide a partially closed eye or eyes in retouching- Portrait Pro has a few presets and sliders. My resident retoucher can do wonders on the computer but sometimes she prefers the old method of positive retouching on the print- and that comes with 45 years of retouching experience and is way above my level of skill or my pay-grade- I pay her the big bucks! In both methods, she skillfully, successfully, and miraculously draws in the eyes wit colored pencils, dyes and her airbrush.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Unfailing trick - ask them to close their eyes, and on the agreed count, open their eyes and smile. That and asking all the subjects to be sure they can see the lens are the two best group tricks I learned.

Worst case, apparently PSE 2020 has a fix - link posted earlier in this thread.

CO

A new camera has just been introduced with a blink reduction feature. Here is it in actual use.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

My ex daughter in law had the fastest blink reflex in the universe. Never could get her with her eyes open. It's the dumb automatic pre flash that Nikon (and maybe others) use to measure exposure for flash. I simply set my AEL-AFL button to disable the pre flash, and trigger the measuring flash, then as long as I don't change distances from the subject, can shoot as many as I want.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I want one! And a software with a Portrait-Pro-like pre-set with a selection of substitute open eyes in every conceivable shape and color- something for every age and facial structure.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

Even the playing field with a mirrorless camera in e-shutter mode. If you never know when they will blink, they can never know when you shot the photo.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

For uniformity have everyone close their eyes. Use white zinc oxide on the closed lids than edit-paste on a black dot in the final photo.

fotoman150

I say on four your eyes have to be open. 1,2,3 snap! Works great.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

PS has liquify but it will not open a closed eye and provide an eyeball.

rdemarco52 Loc: Wantagh, NY

A little trick somebody taught me: tell your subjects to close their eyes and on the count of three to open them.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Somewhere on the web there is a thesis on how many photographs of a group need to be taken to insure everyone's eyes are open. Yes, the number of people involved factors into the equation.
--Bob