Kids with Santa photos

[janemaria]

I have a Canon 500D and I will be taking photos at the school fate of the kids as they meet Santa (They used to sit on his knee but I guess that doesn't happen anymore) The photos are indoors in his grotto which will not be very well lit other than a few fairy lights and I do not have a separate flash - so is there a way that I can avoid red eye using my built in flash or should I try adding lighting to the grotto in some way... any ideas on the best way to do this? The delay in the photos by using the red eye option on the camera will mean that the kids will have grabbed their present and left by the time it flashes properly - I'm considering taking the photos with the flash and then photoshopping them all afterwards but that's not really clever is it!

[Tito87]

Welcome to DPS. You'll get better results by adding lighting.

[Peach]

I wonder if making a home made diffuser would help?

I have used one of these in the past:

DIY : Poor man's ring flash (Diffuser) - SGClub Forums - Connecting Youths

I used it for this picture of my eyes:



You can see the diffuser in the reflection there.

I found it did help bounce the flash so it wouldn't be so harsh.

Hope that helps

Edit: No, it does not look "professional" but rather goofy on the camera - BUT if it gets the job done, who cares right?