When someone stole my Pentax film camera, I used disposable cameras for months since I was so busy taking care of my mother, cats, and also trying to move. I finally bought a slightly used Canon PowerShot 560, half-price, to have something that would be taking good pictures of my kitties before they started passing away. I think it's a fairly good camera. It has the added feature of a "video" capability which was a really nice surprise. It's not like a Camcorder but it still captures memories!

Here's my question: Is there some setting (other than "red eye") that I should know about that will reduce the bright, shining eyes of the kitties? I get some great pictures but the kitties have sun-like discs for eyes, whether the cat is close-up or at a distance across the room! Is there a remedy for this? This was not an issue as much with my film camera or even with the disposable cameras.

When I take pictures now, I wait and wait and wait for the kitty to blink or half doze off so the eyes don't show up discolored. In the meantime, I'm not able to get pictures of the kitties with their normal eye color unless they happen to be in the sunlight and I can turn off the flash.

Any suggestions?
Susan
aka 57 Feral Cats

Susan ~

There are a lot of photoshop type programs that you can use to get rid of the red eye - they come out as if they never were red. You can also upload your photos to shutterfly.com and edit them there for free and they have a red-eye removal tool.

That sounds great, Kim! But how do they restore the eye to its natural color (green, gold, hazel, etc.) if it's blocked out by the gold shiny disc? Excuse my ignorance! I just haven't had time to look into these things!

I think Kims' ideas are best. It's my understanding why many animals' eyes light up, also as with headlights or flashlights, is because they have reflector like properties in their eyes that magnify the light inside their eyes so they can see in the dark.

Thanks for your input, Fizzbut.

The problem with a point and shoot camera is that the flash points directly at your subject so the reflection comes straight back to your lens. You might turn off your flash and use indirect lighting. A bit more expensive and cumbersome - it depends on how serious you are about avoiding the reflected light.

You can download "Picasa3" free and it allows to do not only remove red eye but also to do many other tweeking with your photo's.