A red nose, rosy cheeks, red lips and pink ears don't bother anyone. But red eyes are no reflection of the soul of your subjects. They're an artifact of point-and-shoot flash photography.

As a photographer, there are actually a few things you can do to avoid red-eye. Some of the following tips minimize the effect, but one actually eliminates it.

But first, let's see find out what exactly red-eye is.

Red-eye is simply a great reproduction of the inside back wall of your subject's eyes, the retina. Your digital camera can capture it because:

- First, it was so dark your subject's pupils dilated (opened wider),

- Second, they were looking directly at the camera, and

- Third, the flash on your camera was right next to the lens, beaming right through those open pupils staring at you in the dark.

Avoiding red-eye is as simple as altering one of these factors. Unfortunately, you can't always control any of them. The scene may be dark because it's a night shot, the only flash you have may be the one built into your camera, and you probably prefer to have your subject look at the camera.

After all, you can always paint away the red-eye in your image editing software. But that can feel a little too much like work.

So let's look at some things you can do before you trip the shutter to minimize and even eliminate red-eye. All you have to do is pick the one that makes sense for your particular situation.

One of the simplest things you can do is add more light to the scene. You don't have to paint the room with enough light to expose without flash, just add enough so the occupants' eyes aren't widely dilated.

In the living room, turn on another lamp or two. In the garage, turn on the fluorescents. At a reception, dial up the dimmer switch.

If you can't change the lighting but want to capture a (cooperative) individual or a couple, there's still hope. Have them look directly at a light source for a second or two before turning back to the camera. It's disorienting, but their eyes won't be dilated.

If you're shooting candids, you only have to worry about people who are looking directly at the camera. If they're looking off to the side, the flash can't reflect off the back of their eye. So ask couples to look at each other. Ask individuals to admire something nearby. When you explain you're trying to avoid red-eye, they'll be especially cooperative.

Your Sony digital camera has excellent low-light focusing capability, so if you have to shoot in the dark to maintain the effect of the ambient lighting, your shots will be in focus. And the flash is strong enough to reach the action, too.

But there is a special flash feature worth considering before you fire your first shot.

It's called Red-Eye Reduction. To enable Red-Eye Reduction, turn the Mode Dial to Set Up and scroll down to the Red Eye Reduction setting. (Refer to your camera's manual for the details of your particular camera's user interface.) Toggle it On using the arrow key. The Red-Eye Reduction icon, a small eyeball, will appear on your LCD monitor.

Now, whenever the flash fires, it will be preceded by a strobing preflash, a quick burst of small flashes before the main flash fires. They're just bright enough to contract the pupils of your subject's eyes, reducing the likelihood that their retinas will be exposed.

It takes a second or two to fire the preflash and for it to have its effect on the pupils. If you're trying to capture fast-moving action like kids on the dance floor, Red-Eye Reduction mode won't be appropriate.

It also offers only a reduction, not the complete elimination, of red-eye. Your flash will still illuminate your subjects' retinas, but you've closed their pupils down a bit so less light reaches the pupils, and the red area is smaller.

If brightening up the room or manipulating your subject's pupils won't suffice -- or if you just want a sure-fire red-eye elimination method, turn off your flash.

Your digital camera will often "suggest" flash when, in fact, there's sufficient ambient light to make lovely, even dramatic, images.

To do this effectively, you have to avoid camera shake. After all, the reason your camera wants to use flash is to avoid having to slow the shutter down so far that camera shake becomes an issue.

If your camera has a Shutter Priority mode, this is the time to use it. Set it to a shutter speed you can hold (1/60 second is a safe bet, although some steady people can manage 1/30) and let it adjust the aperture.

But give your camera a fighting chance by cranking up its light sensitivity to ISO 400 or higher. (Once again, refer to your camera's manual to learn how to adjust exposure modes and ISO settings.

Sometimes, of course, flash is simply necessary. But that doesn't mean red-eye is, too. A trick from the pros is all it takes to guarantee flash shots without red-eye.

The trick is to use off-camera bounce flash. You'll often see press photographers and paparazzi using external flash guns with small white cards attached to them (sometimes with a rubber band if a slide-out card isn't built into the flash). Whether they handhold the flash with their free hand or leave it mounted on the external flash shoe of their camera, they bounce its light off that small card.

That gives them an umbrella of light that will gently illuminate subjects with soft shadows from three to 40 feet, depending on the f-stop they select. With no red-eye, since the light is scattered from above rather than shot directly toward the back of the eye.

The disadvantage is the hassle of managing another piece of equipment. But that's a small price to pay for soft, natural shadows and no red-eye. If your camera supports an external flash unit, "bouncing" its light off the ceiling or a white card held above the camera can produce very natural-looking photos with no red-eye problems.

Not all cameras directly support external flash units, but there's still an off-camera flash solution if your camera is one of these. Sony's HVL-FSL1A is a remote "slave" flash that's designed to fire in synchrony with the internal flash on your camera. The trick is to partially block or redirect the light from your camera's internal flash so it won't produce red-eye, yet will still trigger the slave. A slip of paper taped at an angle under the camera's flash head will direct its light harmlessly up toward the ceiling, where it won't contribute to red-eye, but can still trigger the HVL-FSL1A.

Red-eye is an unpleasant side effect of dark rooms, curious subjects and on-camera flash. But there are a range of options that can reduce and even eliminate it. Pick the one that addresses your situation the best and you'll save a lot of time when you're ready to make prints.