Does anyone use strobe lighting for newborns and young babies? If so, how do you position the lights in relation to the infant? Are the light/s pointed directly at the baby? Have you had any problems using strobes? I mainly use natural light (filtered window) or bounced flash, but I really like the crisp finish of strobe lighting. I am a bit hesitant to try this form of lighting on babies as I am not sure how the babies might react - if the bright flash might be too much for them and they won't settle.
I have used large soft boxes without any issues with newborns. I position the light as I would with any other subject above and either right or left of the camera.
I prefer larger light sources for babies. They have great skin, and softer light is more "innocent" in expression as well. The hard part with using strobes is that they are unpredictable in movement, so unless they are confined to one spot its hard to keep the lighting consistent.
From what our doctor told us 8 years ago when our first was born....Newborns cant see the flash. I asked if it would mess their eyes up even though they can not see it and she had said no because the eyes are still developing.
I am NO doctor, this is just what I was told. I use flash a lot on newborns-teens. I have never had a issue. I keep my lighting high and large on newborns. I have NEVER had a strobe bother a newborn or toddler. I have had a 85L on my 5d3 scare them(toddlers) bc they could see the red light from focal point though lol
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'll try out a strobe next session. A few people have mentioned using "large" light sources/softboxes. What size (approximately) is large?
I generally use natural light, but lately I have been using more flash because I tend to shoot later in the day and sometimes in darker houses. It will not hurt the babies, but do things like bounce flash or use indirect flash.
The first 4 here were shot with the big soft box 90 degrees to the babies head (pointed at the top of the babies head)....the last one (head in hands) was natural light...the one in pink at the top is a bounced speedlight off the ceiling: http://sfphotographyblog.ca/archives/924
J.walker wrote:
From what our doctor told us 8 years ago when our first was born....Newborns cant see the flash. I asked if it would mess their eyes up even though they can not see it and she had said no because the eyes are still developing.
I am NO doctor, this is just what I was told. I use flash a lot on newborns-teens. I have never had a issue. I keep my lighting high and large on newborns. I have NEVER had a strobe bother a newborn or toddler. I have had a 85L on my 5d3 scare them(toddlers) bc they could see the red light from focal point though lol...Show more →
I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and this is completely untrue - although a common misconception among pediatricians for some reason. Babies absolutely CAN see the flash - they see light, movement and colors quite well. At birth, the acuity is not great - somewhere around 20/400 (that's the big 'E' on the chart), but all that means is that things are blurry - not that they can't see.
She was correct that it will not harm their eyes any more than anybody else's. You don't want to continuously shine a bright light in anyone's eye, but the strobes will not hurt.
Some babies may get startled by the flash, some may not - just depends on the baby. Some will blink, some won't - just like adults.
Hi Shane, absolutely beautiful images and thank you for the information on light positioning and options. Beagledog3 - the information you provided on baby reactions to strobe flash is very useful, and comforting. Thank you for your time in posting.
