Blink Free Photos

[Sean DeMerchant]

An interesting statistical analysis of blinking eyes in group photographs:

http://velocity.ansto.gov.au/velocity/ans0011/article_06.asp

Thought some of you might enjoy it.

enjoy,

Sean

[Cem_Usakligil]

Great link Sean thanks. So if I understand it correctly, I need to shoot 2/3 photo's to get a good one for a group of two people in good light (LOL). Seriously though, it is an easy enough to remember rule:

....Piers also came up with a rule of thumb for calculating the number of photos to take for groups of less than 20: divide the number of people by three if there's good light and two if the light's bad."...

Cheers,

Cem
(who unfortunately knows a thing or two about probabilities to realise that all of the pictures can be bad no matter how many are taken. In case at least one is good, then you'll either end up realising that you have forgotten to load film in the camera to start with or the flash memory card will produce corrupted files - Murphy is alive and well <very big grin>)

[Sean DeMerchant]

Great link Sean thanks.

Thanks. I like the application of physiology and stats to answer the question on average. I thought it was creative and it is practical to a point. It just does not guarantee or even give a probability for getting a flattering shot of all the subjects.
So if I understand it correctly, I need to shoot 2/3 photo's to get a good one for a group of two people in good light (LOL).

Just zoom in and capture the 2/3's of the composition without their heads and you will be spot on every time. <silly grin>




Cem
(who unfortunately knows a thing or two about probabilities to realise that all of the pictures can be bad no matter how many are taken. In case at least one is good, then you'll either end up realising that you have forgotten to load film in the camera to start with or the flash memory card will produce corrupted files - Murphy is alive and well <very big grin>)

This just clears up the blinks on average. You still have tongues hanging out and other things to bite you. Albeit, I got one the other night where there was a tongue out when I pressed the shutter and no tongue once I had fully depressed it.

all the best,

Sean

[Daniel Harrison]

there is only one solution......



photoshop

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi Daniel,

I disagree with your statement on two accounts:
1) PS is not a solution to the blinking problem, the problem still remains.
2) PS is not the ONE solution, there are more products out there that can do the same.

Cheers,

Cem
(LOL. Pls do not take this post seriously, just nit-picking)

[Daniel Harrison]

well, I dunno ;-)

according to the article I have to take 30 photos if there are 30 people in the shot just to get a blink free shot. I can do the same in 2 with photoshop :-)

but you are right, everyone should have matchstiks to hold their eyes open and

I could use Paint shop pro, corell draw and lets not forget MS paint :-)

[Mike Spinak]

Hmmm...

Perhaps that statisticaal analysis will apply well as a generalization, where you are photographing a random grouping of people, at random intervals. I'm not sure it applies well to real photography. For one thing, blinking is partly voluntary, and someone can skew the statistics by trying not to blink while being photographed. For another thing, some people blink much more frequently than others. Also, one can have some degree of effective control of timing the shot to avoid blinking, at least for groups of just a few people.

Mike

www.mikespinak.com

[Nill Toulme]

What I wonder is whether Canon's Speedlite preflash makes subjects more likely to blink when you hit the shutter.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

[samdring]

You still have tongues hanging out and other things to bite you.
Sean

hard palette?

[Joe Russo]

I wasn't sure if this was the appropriate forum location for this but it seemed right. Asher - if it is not please feel free to move it.

How to Make Blink-Free Holiday Photos (http://www.livescience.com/othernews/061218_mm_picture_perfect.html)

moved to existing thread by Ray West

[Jim Kenny]

Results of my Large Group - One Shot - Blink Free photo technique. Works every time ... only problem is I don't get much work

http://www.basecampphotos.com/B_F.jpg

I even used the self timer so thats me on the 2nd row on the far left with the really big grin

Jim

[Cem_Usakligil]

I love the quality of the ISO 0.05 images such as this prime example.
Absolutely no noise at all! Great job Jim, I'd definitely hire you ;-)