Baby's eyes and flashes

MichaelHo

MichaelHo

MichaelHo

Associate
Joined
19 Jan 2006
Posts
1,252
Location
London, UK
Went to see my cousins 3 month old son yesterday and bought my camera kit with me hoping to get a few pics. Was during the evening so I wanted to use flash, but then they told me not to use flash because it damages babies eyes. I've never actually heard of this before, I study medicine and I'm sure they would have mentioned this somewhere. So I did a bit of digging online and found this useful article:

http://www.sublime-light.com/index.php/2007/09/17/will-flash-damage-babies-sensitive-young-eyes/

Basically it says that flashes/strobes are safe.
What are your opinions on it?

Michael
 
i doubt using a flash on a baby would be harmful (obviously minimal use and no direct flash)
but its their baby so i guess you have to respect their wishes
 
not a bad article that, i agree with it. i dont think that a flash beam is long enough to cause any damage
although the AF-assist beam on the 400D is damn near leathal :p
 
I can set my flash to almost fully blind a fully grown adult so its relative.
A baby is very sensitive to all sorts of things. While a burst of light may not do any damage to the eye it could upset the child. Either way it doesn't matter what is right or wrong. The parents request is final.

Thanks for the link.

I have only ever fired my flash away from the baby to bounce.
 
MichaelHo said:
Went to see my cousins 3 month old son yesterday and bought my camera kit with me hoping to get a few pics. Was during the evening so I wanted to use flash, but then they told me not to use flash because it damages babies eyes. I've never actually heard of this before, I study medicine and I'm sure they would have mentioned this somewhere. So I did a bit of digging online and found this useful article:

http://www.sublime-light.com/index.php/2007/09/17/will-flash-damage-babies-sensitive-young-eyes/

Basically it says that flashes/strobes are safe.
What are your opinions on it?

Michael
Click to expand...

That's an interesting point. I was taking a few pictures of my nephew the other day and I made a conscious effort not to use the flash directly.

Having read that article, it makes me a feel a little better, but seeing as you study medicine, I would have thought you'd know better and use peer reviewed articles ;) *cough pubmed at least cough* Only joking ;)
 
Lol peered reviewed article for flash and babies eyes? CBA mate, got enough revision to do as it is :p

Yeah, I mean ultimately it is the parents preference and I'm not exactly going to force the point on them and start flashing away but it this could be a bit of helpful knowledge, put people's mind at rest etc. Shame to miss out on a good photo just because you're worried about using flash.
 
MichaelHo said:
Lol peered reviewed article for flash and babies eyes? CBA mate, got enough revision to do as it is :p

Yeah, I mean ultimately it is the parents preference and I'm not exactly going to force the point on them and start flashing away but it this could be a bit of helpful knowledge, put people's mind at rest etc. Shame to miss out on a good photo just because you're worried about using flash.
Click to expand...

Haha.

Back OT, yea, it is a shame, though I prefer the look of a 'bounced' flash... shame I don't have a decent flash, though.
 
bounce flash is good but it seems to have better results if you bounce the flash towards the subject too. For example if you bounce up to the ceiling you will create shadows under the nose and such, so you can have a bounce card to bounce some of the light forwards as well to fill these shadows.
Atm I have a GF Lightsphere imitation, it does the job pretty well. Though a bounce card made of A4 paper works good too.
 
Ask them who told them that, then break the news santa doesn't exist. That should upset them. :D

Everyone else was so considerate i decided to be different ;)
 
its all part of the crazy everything is bad for you culture that we seem to have at the minute. these people are perfectly willing to ignore the fact that people have been taking pics of babies with flashes in huge numbers for over 30 years without any huge increase in blindness.
 
a1ex2001 said:
its all part of the crazy everything is bad for you culture that we seem to have at the minute. these people are perfectly willing to ignore the fact that people have been taking pics of babies with flashes in huge numbers for over 30 years without any huge increase in blindness.
Click to expand...

Very true indeed, depending on their age their parent's might even have used flashes on them too.

Could you not have gotten one of those flash diffuser things? The fabric type item that sits over the flash unit to gove more of a soft glow than a blinding bulb? Might be worth considering in future anyways.
 
sunlitsix said:
i dont think that a flash beam is long enough to cause any damage although the AF-assist beam on the 400D is damn near leathal :p
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the flash duration makes it safe. However if it was my child I think I'd prefer to be over-cautious, especially at close range.

You're right about AF-assist though. When I bought my Olympus SP-550 I thought I'd blinded myself taking a self-portrait when testing it (at arm's length). I had a 'burn-in' spot in my field of vision for about 12 hours before it recovered fully. It had me quite scared... especially as I only have one eye that works 100%.

Lesson learned. :-)

Andrew McP
 
Andrew_McP said:
You're right about AF-assist though. When I bought my Olympus SP-550 I thought I'd blinded myself taking a self-portrait when testing it (at arm's length). I had a 'burn-in' spot in my field of vision for about 12 hours before it recovered fully. It had me quite scared... especially as I only have one eye that works 100%.

Lesson learned. :-)

Andrew McP
Click to expand...

yeah, turn if off! :D:p
canon 400D users go to custom function 5! :)
 
I mentioned this to my sister in law last night. She didn't mind and I was taking pictures of family all night. She trusts that I may know what I am talking about. How wrong she might be ;) :/
 
direct flash is most likely OK for babies, but it will not lead to very nice pictures. Soften it and bounce it off something will give much more pleasing results, personally, I like available light for baby pics....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom