Weird colored eyes...

[Marana]

When I take photos of pets, I have gotten golden, opal, and even pure blue eyes! This is when using the flash on my CX1. Does anyone know what causes this? I'm used to red-eye, but not blue-eye, or flaming opals...

[Detail Man]

"A lot of the animals we see, especially the ones that go out at night, have a special, reflective surface right behind their retinas." ...

... "That light-reflecting surface, called the tapetum lucidum, helps animals see better in the dark." ...

... "A large number of animals have the tapetum lucidum, including deer, dogs, cats, cattle, horses and ferrets. Humans don't, and neither do some other primates. Squirrels, kangaroos and pigs don't have the tapeta, either.

And not all eyes animals' glow the same color. Powell says this is due to different substances — like riboflavin or zinc — in an animal's tapetum. "Also," she says, "there are varying amounts of pigment within the retina, and that can affect the color." Age and other factors also can change the color, so even two dogs of the same species could have eyes that glow different colors.

Cats often have eyes that glow bright green, though Siamese cats' eyes often glow bright yellow."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=96414364


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[Marana]

Thank you for the info! It's funny, but I never bothered to find out until this dog's outrageous blue eyes just begged the question.