gilbert_c1 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Hi there. My bro just had a baby today and I am about to go to the hospital tomorrow to take some shots of the little baby who made me an uncle. :) I am thinking about shooting Reala 100 negtive for better large prints, of course with a flash, or maybe I'll shoot ISO 800 without flash. Do you guys think flash is harmful for a newly- born baby's eyes or not? Thanks for your input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cham_saranasuriya Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Hi Gilbert, In general babies are a lot more sensitive to environmental exposures compared to adults. I would definitely avoid the flash especially in a new born. Obviously this depends on the strength of the flash and how close you are as well. Another option is to increase the backgoround lighting in the room if possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_gifford Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Flash is unlikely to be harmful in a medical sense, but it certainly is a cause of discomfort. Babies' eyes will be more sensitive to the barrage of photons, and since they're often WIDE open you also are more likely to encounter redeye. Babies look great in natural light. Try to arrange to take baby pics without flash. Window light is terrific. You, and your brother, and your sister-in-law, and the baby all will be delighted with the results. Pick your film to give you accetable shutter speeds in available light. Have fun being a new uncle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbert_c1 Posted October 26, 2003 Author Share Posted October 26, 2003 Thank you guys for your precious opinions! I just made a call and confirmed that flash is not allowed in the hospital and even worse, the baby is seperated in a protected glass-room. And family is only allowed to watch the baby outside the glass, so I will be watching my nephew with a glass in between. So things are not going like what I used to see in a movie, happy mother holding her newly-born baby, instead baby has to be in the isolated glass room. :p I'll shoot ISO800 film tomorrow and bring my bro his old digital camera, which has good image quality only at ISO100. I believe my bro will greatly improve his low-light handheld shooting technique in the upcoming week, LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 What you probably want to do anyway is not to point the flash straight at your human subjects. Use bounced flash towards the ceiling typically gives you more pleasing results and will also be easier on everybody's eyes, especially the baby's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I would shoot some T400CN or Portra 400BW ... no worries about fluorescent light casts, and excellent sharpness and fine grain for indoor shots with a fast lens (50/1.4). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas_greenberg Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I'm going to give a dissenting opinion here. A newborn's distance vision is not very good; they are oriented toward close-up objects, mainly (you can guess what those are). A camera flash is actually incredibly brief; it's not like the old flashbulbs. I think a few flash pictures would do absolutely no harm. Just don't go overboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas_greenberg Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Oh, I didn't read the post about flash "not being allowed in the hospital." I respect, of course, hospital regulations, but I find that regulation really, really curious, if you think about it. This would preclude most people's taking of pictures in the hospital, as few people are going to be able to deal otherwise with low-light situations. Most people carry p & s cameras and routinely use flash. What is it, a "security" regulation? I just checked my own photos of my sons when they were newly born and a few of them used flash. They can see fine today, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Stone Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Instead of asking this forum, I very strongly recommend that you ask the hospital, if you can't ask the doctor directly about using flash on a newborn. Do you know that there are no optical issues with the baby or anyone else that may be effected by your flash unit? It makes a lot more sense to err on the side of caution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_ Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 ...and you can wait until the babe and the new mom are in a room together. (Unless the hospital is in the 'rush mode' and everyone goes home quickly.) Once home, you can use window light (as suggested above) and still get some super shots of the newborn and mom (and your brother.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_ardinger Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Taking usual type of flash pictures is fine for a term infant. It's done all the time. Hospital regulations are whatever the hospital wants but some restriction on flash is at times made due to oxygen but not usually in patients room, halls, public areas. Privacy concerns and regulations are more evident in teh last few months and the hospital policy may have someting to do with that. Countless of parents and family mambers take their cameras into the room with the baby and mom. I doubt the baby will spend all it's time in the glass windowed nursery and usually any family members that the new parents want to visit are allowed (within reason, i.e. 100 loving relatives is a bit much). If it is an uncomplicated delivery the infant and it's mother will likely get released from the hospital within 48 hours then all the family can snap away. (these comments are based on US hospital experience). Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 In most cases the newborn is likely to be sleeping. A camera flash is really strong, and I wouldn't use it (even after they get out of the hospital). <p> I did some tests comparing a diffused gn 25 [m] flash at 2 m and a visual stimulator which is a flash unit used to test the visual system of a neonate. The camera flash with diffuser was <I>80 times stronger</I> than the stimulator. And the stimulator isn't pleasant to look at, either, and at times causes the baby to cry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_shihanian Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I think any type of photography is prohibited in most hospitals unless "your" baby is in a separate location, and not in the main nursery. So you may want to wait until the baby is in its mother's room. Much nicer, more intimate photo possibilities. All you'd get in the main nursery is a documentaion type of photo. A lot of hospitals use professionals in the nursery at night, then they try to sell you a package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_sereda Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Where's Robert (Lai) on this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Stone Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 "Where's Robert (Lai) on this one?" Exercising his god given NAS rights? Seriously, I wondered the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mskovacs Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 I've been through the whole baby experience twice now with my own kids. I stuck to B&W (my usual HP5+) for several reasons: (a) hospital lighting is normally attrocious. Think mixed incadescent, fluorescent, window etc (b) newborn babies don't often have the best skin tones. Being born is akin to going 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. Baby is usually battered, bruised, ruddy, then jaundiced. © archival stability. Store those real silver negs properly and they will last a LONG time. You can make prints that are also much more archival. (d) I can easily push to 1600 for low light conditions (e) flash can be a distraction to mother and the staff (relevant mostly during labour and delivery) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert_Lai Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Not much to add that you guys haven't already touched upon. No harm will come from flash, but the newborn's visual system is not yet fully developed. A small flash to you could be a big wallop to the child. Practically speaking, you may get one shot with the flash, but then by the second shot the child will start expressing their discomfort by wailing, and that's the end of pictures.<p>My suggestions:<p>Fast film in B&W (see Mike's response above),<p>Fast lens<p>Window light + hospital fluorsecent for lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugh_t Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Use your 28 F1.4 AFD with some Portra 400UC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbert_c1 Posted October 27, 2003 Author Share Posted October 27, 2003 OK I took the documentary approach using T400CN no flash since we can not take our little baby out the main nursery and there's an air-sealed two-layed glass blocking me out. Guess what, when I firstly saw the glass room the movie Jurassic Park flashed into my mind. The hospital made the main nursery like a showcase laboratory, LOL. Here's one of my snapshots. Thanks for all the inputs.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_gifford Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Well done, Gilbert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_tan Posted October 27, 2003 Share Posted October 27, 2003 Sorry this comes a little late. For my own baby pictures, I usually try to use available light. But if circumstances warrant the use of flash, I'd put on a piece of tissue paper over the flash head and bounce it off the wall or ceiling. Have fun taking those pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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