flash of inspiration SNAP HAPPY: Brenda Kean with her Quasar Red Eye Eliminator Gran's Chinese takeaway invention earns acclaim A FLASH of inspiration could lead to a revolution in holiday snaps -- and rid the world of the dreaded red eye for good.

Brenda Kean has patented her invention which she claims does away with red eye -- a common blight of amateur photographers -- and is hoping a manufacturer takes her idea on board.

The Burnley grandmother has just returned from Birmingham television studios where she and her invention -- the Quasar Red Eye Eliminator -- were screen tested for a new show on inventors.

If successful she will be filmed next month and the programme will be aired later this year, as she hopes to clinch a distribution deal.

Although many compact cameras already have inbuilt anti-red eye devices Brenda claims they don't measure up to hers and has the backing of the experts.

Jon Tarrant, editor of the British Journal of Photography, said the compact cameras are hit and miss.

He said: "Some of the inbuilt systems work and some of them don't. They fire a pre-flash to make the pupil close up to reduce red eye but the problem is that the flash and the lens are too close together. This other device seems certainly seems more effective but it could add more bulk to the camera, inbuilt systems are a compromise -- they don't have any extra bulk but in some cases it doesn't work."

If her invention finds a backer Brenda, who last year came runner-up in the British Woman Inventor of the Year competition organised by the Professional Women Network, red eye could be eradicated and Brenda could go into business full-time.

And she owes it all to a Chinese meal!

Brenda said: "I invented it in 1993 when I was working as a professional photographer and was asked to take pictures of some day old chicks. I couldn't use studio lights because it would have caused them distress and I couldn't bounce the light off the ceiling where I was working. I picked up an old Chinese take-away box and attached it to the flash and it worked like a dream, it was brilliant."

Red eye is caused when flash light focuses on the retina at the back of the eye causing the camera to photograph blood capillaries rather than the outer eye.

Brenda's invention works by diffusing the light over a subject rather than focusing it in on one area and it can be simply fitted to any camera turning the ordinary snapper into an erstwhile David Bailey.

Light from the flash is directed onto the Quasar's reflective surface before it is bounced towards the subject creating indirect light which is spread more evenly over and around the subject.

It was a simple and effective idea and one which Brenda realised she had to protect. She applied for a patent seven years ago and is now used as an example of best practice by the Patent Office.

Brenda set up a business manufacturing the devices which she then sold at £9.99. But she made them a lot quicker than she sold them leading to surplus stock.

Brenda now hopes a marketing company will see the television programme -- to be broadcast later this year -- and get on board.

She said: "I had to stop making them because it wasn't viable but I'm hoping somebody will see the product and will be prepared to distribute it."