Flash on kids


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rains

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May 1, 2005
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I got a Nikon D90 thinking that I don't have to use flash on my kids.

As it turned out, most of my pictures are taken indoor, under orange light. When I take pictures without flash, they look dark, or grainy, or blur (esp when I up the shutter).

Recently, I relented and used flash for a while, and the pictures are very sharp. I liked what I saw but I've read so much about not using flash on kids.

Is there a way to use flash but not hurt their eyes?

Is a flash reflector any good? I recently learnt about this white plastic thingy from a father who was using it, but the flash glare is still quite sharp I thought.

You probably can't believe it, but I used my hand to cover the flash, and 'ouch!'

In any case, when covered, the pics still turn out dark, like there is no flash.
 

You should have more worry of your kids watching tv and computer screen too often than taking photo with flash

Claim of flash damaging kid eyes is without any proven scientific and health ground basis
 

how old is your child?
 

My kids are 9 and 1.

I want to take pictures of them as frequently as possible, but using flash on a daily basis isn't exactly ideal. Even I myself don't fancy getting flash into my eyes when I have one picture taken probably once a year.

Hmm, so far, the input hasn't been very helpful.
 

I got a Nikon D90 thinking that I don't have to use flash on my kids.

As it turned out, most of my pictures are taken indoor, under orange light. When I take pictures without flash, they look dark, or grainy, or blur (esp when I up the shutter).

Recently, I relented and used flash for a while, and the pictures are very sharp. I liked what I saw but I've read so much about not using flash on kids.

Is there a way to use flash but not hurt their eyes?

Is a flash reflector any good? I recently learnt about this white plastic thingy from a father who was using it, but the flash glare is still quite sharp I thought.

You probably can't believe it, but I used my hand to cover the flash, and 'ouch!'

In any case, when covered, the pics still turn out dark, like there is no flash.

NEVER ever use flash on KIDS! They will blind them!
I heard of horror stories about a man with a camera who used a flash on his kids 2 times! and the kid went blind! Omg...

DONT EVER USE FLASH ON KIDS!
Wait for them to grow up. By 21, their eyes would have develop enough to take the flash. Put the flash to good use then.

Regards
 

Do you have kids, seriously? And you use flash on them on a daily basis, 10 - 20 shots each day? Or do you use a flash on yourself 10 to 20 times a day and have proved that it's highly comfortable having your eyes flashed at?

I never say that it'll blind my kids, like what some of you blindly jump to conclusion.

I merely ask if there's something to add on so that the flash is not so glaring.

I hesitated for months to ask this question becos I know there are people like you around ie. pass useless remarks, make assumptions, jump to conclusions.

Nobody forces you to reply to my thread if you don't have the answer.
 

You should have just google for flash diffusers. Besides the point, do u burst 20 shots with flash on your kids? Putting your hands in front of the flash hurts due to the heat but the heat don't really travel far enough to hurt your kids. You can always buy an external flash since you can bounce it and there is a lot more diffusers available for it.
 

Okay, 'flash diffuser'. If I'd known this term and what it is, I wouldn't classify myself as a newbie. I don't know how flash can bounce. I've read, but I don't want to go rush into buying something that will help me 'bounce' the flash - I'm sure if I ask the salesperson, he'll be able to explain to me what the thing that bounces the flash is and how it works - before I know if it still gives off harsh flash. I think I see some people having this mirror-like thing mounted on their flash, which I assumed is something to bounce the flash, but I didn't think it helps to reduce the flash.

It's not the heat. Of course I know the heat can't travel so far.

I don't want to sound offensive but you people sound like you've never had a photograph taken in your life. Either that or you must have your photographs taken so frequently you are oblivious to the discomfort of having flashes flashing into your eyes. Or maybe your highly-skilled photographers never use a flash.

I do take many pictures of my kids, especially the baby. I try not to do a direct flash at her eyes, but I do want pictures of her looking at my direction, which is why I'm trying to look for a way to photograph her with a flash, without the harsh light into her eyes.

I thought I could have some constructive input on flash photography that does not give out harsh light over here since this is a Newbie section. Looks like I need to have some solid knowledge on what I don't know first.
 

NEVER ever use flash on KIDS! They will blind them!
I heard of horror stories about a man with a camera who used a flash on his kids 2 times! and the kid went blind! Omg...

DONT EVER USE FLASH ON KIDS!
Wait for them to grow up. By 21, their eyes would have develop enough to take the flash. Put the flash to good use then.

Regards


Huh??? What is this that they get blinded by flash? Common' you must be joking right? This is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Going by what you say, my kids will be blind by now since I've been flashing on them at the moment they came out of their mum's tummy!

Seriously, if you are mongering hearsays then I think there're better places to do this on the Net. The TS is asking specific questions on how to best difuse the light from flashes...
 

Do you have kids, seriously? And you use flash on them on a daily basis, 10 - 20 shots each day? Or do you use a flash on yourself 10 to 20 times a day and have proved that it's highly comfortable having your eyes flashed at?

I never say that it'll blind my kids, like what some of you blindly jump to conclusion.

I merely ask if there's something to add on so that the flash is not so glaring.

I hesitated for months to ask this question becos I know there are people like you around ie. pass useless remarks, make assumptions, jump to conclusions.

Nobody forces you to reply to my thread if you don't have the answer.

Hihi,
Sorry. Got my info from the same sites where you read about 'I've read so much about not using flash on kids".

Must have been a unreliable website.

Apologies. Do ignore my post then..

Regards
 

Huh??? What is this that they get blinded by flash? Common' you must be joking right? This is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Going by what you say, my kids will be blind by now since I've been flashing on them at the moment they came out of their mum's tummy!

Seriously, if you are mongering hearsays then I think there're better places to do this on the Net. The TS is asking specific questions on how to best difuse the light from flashes...

Maybe your flash not powerful enough? But nevermind, many websites are filled with unreliable information and hearsays. Who's to say who's information is more reliable than anyone elses.

We are just sharing what we know or believe we think are correct...arent we?

Regards
 

To rains:

I've been shooting my kids photo for a while already, and my eldest girl cringes everytime I use flash. That's because my doctor says she's sensitive to bright light, which is true because she feels very uncomfortable even in the bright sunlight. But my youngest one (now 2 y/o) is OK with flash and is very happy to have her pictures taken with or without flash. So it all depends on their eyes' sensitivity.

There's a few things you can do (but I'm not a Nikon person to give specific camera advice):
1. If you're using the pop-up flash, then can try to wrap/place a thin tissue paper on it.
2. Adjust for flash compensation to reduce the power of the flash in the camera (not sure if D90 has this)
3. Get an external flash with tiltable head so that you can shoot the flash up the ceiling so that the light will be diffused when reflected downwards
4. Adjust to lower the power output (flash intensity) if you are using an external flash unit.

Or simply, the answer will be taking picture without flash, but with available light (i.e. the classical approach). With a big window, you can easily shoot at ISO400 without losing details due to noise.
 

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I got a Nikon D90 thinking that I don't have to use flash on my kids.

As it turned out, most of my pictures are taken indoor, under orange light. When I take pictures without flash, they look dark, or grainy, or blur (esp when I up the shutter).

Recently, I relented and used flash for a while, and the pictures are very sharp. I liked what I saw but I've read so much about not using flash on kids.

Is there a way to use flash but not hurt their eyes?

Is a flash reflector any good? I recently learnt about this white plastic thingy from a father who was using it, but the flash glare is still quite sharp I thought.

You probably can't believe it, but I used my hand to cover the flash, and 'ouch!'

In any case, when covered, the pics still turn out dark, like there is no flash.

r u using kit lens... why not u get the fastest lens and try...
 

Okay, 'flash diffuser'. If I'd known this term and what it is, I wouldn't classify myself as a newbie. I don't know how flash can bounce. I've read, but I don't want to go rush into buying something that will help me 'bounce' the flash - I'm sure if I ask the salesperson, he'll be able to explain to me what the thing that bounces the flash is and how it works - before I know if it still gives off harsh flash. I think I see some people having this mirror-like thing mounted on their flash, which I assumed is something to bounce the flash, but I didn't think it helps to reduce the flash.

Now that you have the correct term you can feed the Search engine here or Google. Should give you plenty of hits and reading them will give you an idea about it. In addition, use terms like 'bounce card', 'flash diffuser' to get more ideas. Never ask sales persons, they are paid to sell you something, not to give you a quick lesson in flash essentials.

I don't want to sound offensive but you people sound like you've never had a photograph taken in your life. Either that or you must have your photographs taken so frequently you are oblivious to the discomfort of having flashes flashing into your eyes. Or maybe your highly-skilled photographers never use a flash.
Personally I dislike it when somebody points a tiny PnS at me. This tiny flash point is really a PITA, but I don't have any issues with a bounced or diffused flash. You can literally feel the difference.

I do take many pictures of my kids, especially the baby. I try not to do a direct flash at her eyes, but I do want pictures of her looking at my direction, which is why I'm trying to look for a way to photograph her with a flash, without the harsh light into her eyes.
I thought I could have some constructive input on flash photography that does not give out harsh light over here since this is a Newbie section. Looks like I need to have some solid knowledge on what I don't know first.

Not using direct flash is (apart from all pseudo-medical hearsay) just the better way of managing light. Who wants to look like a reindeer 100ms before kissing the car? Bouncing and diffusing the flash light will create a light that is much more pleasing not only for the person in front of the cam but also for the viewer later. It gives you the possibility to control the light and create more natural looking light conditions. The possibilities with onboard flash are a bit limited, an external flash is better here.
Something to read: http://strobist.blogspot.com/
 

will flash light harm babies eye??? ..............here we go again..

short answer: it is fine to use flash on baby..

I shoot kids and babies for living, of course must know what is ok and what is not, beside, I need to educate many concern parents

here is another article I found lately...
Will Flash Damage Babies’ Sensitive Young Eyes?
 

still not convince??

I guess every one know who is Anne Geddes, below is video of behind the scene of one of her many baby shoot, she is using a gigantic studio strobe, shooting with view camera, if you know what is view camera is, you should know usually we will shoot around f16 or smaller f stop on view camera, so roughly how much power per pop on the studio strobe?

[vid]fQTRo25ETY4[/vid]
 

As usual, when there is concern about health issues, there is natural concern (and probably some measure of anxiety).

I would do more research and speak with relevant medical professionals who have either studied the topic, or have access to studies and findings.

Meanwhile, besides the article by a Harvard (?) doctor linked by O Sifu before, one could do a search on the net:

According to Dr. Arun K. Mishra, Ophthalmic Surgeon, flash bursts don’t do any damage to adults or babies. He says, “We even take electro-diagnostic tests for retinal function with flashes.”

I then ran across this article on NatureScapes.net written by a veterinarian and a doctor. Feel free to read it yourself, but I’ll give you the meat of it. It states that intense, concentrated beams of high intensity light are needed for long durations to damage the eyes. It’s kind of like the sun through the magnifying glass when you were a kid. That dried leaf sits happily on the sunny sidewalk, but as soon as you start concentrating the sunlight on it using a magnifying glass, that leaf isn’t so happy any more. POOF! Lord Of The Flame!

Flash bursts are extremely short and the light is diffuse rather than highly focused so they don’t pose any danger. This article also sheds more details on the retina test in the quote above and states that the test is many times brighter than a camera flash and is positioned just centimeters from the eye.

As I did more research I found more of the same. Lots of information backing up the claim that strobes are perfectly safe, and nothing showing that they are harmful.

So, what’s my conclusion?

Strobes and flashes are perfectly safe for babies. Of course I’m no M.D. (that’s my brother’s job) and you shouldn’t blindly take my word for it, although it would be nice to have this sort of power over so many people…

So what do you think? Think I’m full of it? Don’t care? Even in the face of medical evidence, are you still afraid of the unknown? Let me know your opinions in the comments.



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



http://photo.net/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/00FsfZ



http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00JlBZ



Anyways, harsh, direct flash is usually not a good idea for so many reasons.

Large diffused flash, indirect bounce flash is far less irritating and produces much nicer looking photos. :)

Note: there is a difference between irritation and damage.
 

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Okay, 'flash diffuser'. If I'd known this term and what it is, I wouldn't classify myself as a newbie. I don't know how flash can bounce. I've read, but I don't want to go rush into buying something that will help me 'bounce' the flash - I'm sure if I ask the salesperson, he'll be able to explain to me what the thing that bounces the flash is and how it works - before I know if it still gives off harsh flash. I think I see some people having this mirror-like thing mounted on their flash, which I assumed is something to bounce the flash, but I didn't think it helps to reduce the flash.

Here's something more specific for you to google : Difference between external flash and on-board flash. How to diffuse light.
On your user manual : Look for how to reduce flash power.


It's not the heat. Of course I know the heat can't travel so far.

If its not the heat that causes the pain then what does??? Do enlighten me here.

I don't want to sound offensive but you people sound like you've never had a photograph taken in your life. Either that or you must have your photographs taken so frequently you are oblivious to the discomfort of having flashes flashing into your eyes. Or maybe your highly-skilled photographers never use a flash.

You have just directed this sarcastic remark to all those who have bothered to reply, give suggestions and generally just trying to help you. In what way do you not sound offensive? ( Please don't reply me on this)

I do take many pictures of my kids, especially the baby. I try not to do a direct flash at her eyes, but I do want pictures of her looking at my direction, which is why I'm trying to look for a way to photograph her with a flash, without the harsh light into her eyes.

I thought I could have some constructive input on flash photography that does not give out harsh light over here since this is a Newbie section. Looks like I need to have some solid knowledge on what I don't know first.

The members have spoken. If you think non have given anything constructive, close the thread.
 

How about positioning them next to windows, to me, soft natural light produces better looking picutures? To give another obvious suggestion, take outdoor photos, scenery better also.
 

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