Many caring parents would want to save the memories of their beloved child in various formats – pictures, videos, records. However, the most widespread – is still photography.
You have cameras everywhere now: your cellphones, laptops, malls, streets. But as the issue concerns the photography of your child – it’s normal, that you take interest in such a question:
“Is it harmful to take pictures of my baby, using flash?”
It happens that the amateur photographer running about with the camera doesn’t even think of its harm. For such a situation there is always a person with the expert opinion (the granny, the uncle, the neighbor, etc.) who will drop a hint of doubt: “are you sure, that it is not harmful?”, or will declare quite definitely: “not at any price it is possible to take pictures of the baby with a flash”.
So, most important question:
IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE PHOTOS OF A BABY USING A FLASHLIGHT?
Answer:
A BABY OF ANY AGE CAN BE PHOTOGRAPHED WITH THE USE OF A FLASHLIGHT WITHOUT ANY RESTRICTIONS.
If the subject is exhausted and the answer is satisfying, you can finish reading, snatch the camera and run to take pictures.
For the curious people and for those who want to know for certain, wherefrom this version of the answer reveals, we declare that for today there is no scientific research which proves that using a flashlight causes any frustration of health and any problems with an organ of vision in particular.
I must admit, that in all situations when the doctor says “it is possible”, surely there will be a parent who will make an experiment to disprove these words. Generally, if the doctors say that bananas may cause allergies, there will be one, who’d feed the child with bananas for 3 days to prove that the doctor was mistaken.
The situation with a flashlight t is almost similar: you may always turn off the light and start taking the pictures of the child with a flash every three seconds in the full darkness. And when the child will burst into tears, the whole world would know “the obvious fact” that “these doctors understand nothing in children’s health”.
Taking this into consideration, I have to tell something about the use of the flash in taking pictures of the baby. It has nothing to do with an eye retina, sticks, and flasks, not about the spectral analysis of radiation of modern flashlights – all these things are interesting either for especially clever people or for especially inquisitive.
I mean the phenomena that many people have experienced repeatedly. It is obvious that a rare person takes pleasure from a flashlight. It is also obvious that:
- The more dark is the room, the less pleasant the flash is (an advice — use other light sources together with flash);
- The closer the flashlight is to the face, the more unpleasant it is (an advice — observe a distance);
- The more often flash is used, the more it irritates (an advice — know when to stop);
- It is especially unpleasant when the flash and the direction of a look coincide (an advice — use when it is technically possible, the reflected light).
Parents have taken into account this evidence: mothers and fathers don’t like to take pictures of their crying children, therefore in a situation when flash has scared the baby, the photo session, as a rule, automatically stops to calm everyone down.
Actually, the safety of a flashlight is subject to constant and vivid discussions during the “mother’s parties”. Both popular magazines and Internet forums actively find out an existence/lack of any harm.
From my point of view, exclusively professional photographic studios are interested in the distribution of these photo horror stories. Everyone wants to have a beautiful memory of childhood, and the more people will be convinced of the harm of the flashlight, the more people will come where the professional studio light and the master photographer are.
The truth looks like that: flash isn’t harmful, enjoy taking pictures but don’t forget about qualitative professional photos of your child.
Born in Belarus, 1985, a pedagogue and family psychologist, mother. Taking part in procedures of social adaptation of the foster children in new families. Since 2015 is a chief editor of the motherhow.com project, selecting the best and up-to-date material for those, who are planning, expecting, and already having babies.