Once upon a time, each holiday photo was like Halloween!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Oh, those awkward family photos from the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s. Smiling families in colorful holiday sweaters with red demon eyes like the Balrog from Lord of the Rings.
The problem? The flash! Goes off so fast, pupils don’t have time to contract. Bright light enters your eyes and gets focused onto the back wall – the retina. The tissue’s full of blood vessels, so light bouncing off reflects its redness.
Animals get red eye too. And green – and yellow – eye…
Today’s cameras are typically armed with red–eye reduction. Several smaller flashes go off first, so when the big one fires, your pupils are already contracted.
Now, if only there were a modern scientific solution to fruitcake. Yichhh.