There are several threads already on the subject of Red Eye, it’s causes, and prevention. And though I found one or two comments that darker eyes are less prone than blue or gray eyes, but nothing really as to WHY.
So why is it that darker eyes would reflect less of the flash? Isn’t everyone’s pupils the same? Just the iris is different, right? Is some light reflected through the iris as well as the pupil? My Korean friend says that Koreans never get red eye in pictures. Is this accurate? If so, why?
Lighter colored eyes tend to have less melanine in them, meaning more light passes through them to the back of the retina, illuminating the blood vessels there. The way red-eye reduction works is firing a few flashes of light at the eye (it works best if the subject actually looks at the flash), thereby dilating the pupil, and allowing less light to pass through.
