3-month-old Baby Left BLIND by Telephone Camera'due south Flash

Imagine existence a newborn photographer or even a proud parent and seeing this headline in your news feed.

A babe is left blind in ane middle after a family friend forgot to turn off the flash while taking a close-upwardly photograph. – Daily Mail

Terminal week, Daily Mail service published a translated article stating that a three-month-old Chinese baby boy was rendered blind in i eye due to a flash from a cell telephone.  The report claims that a family friend was taking pictures of the baby while holding the phone merely 10 inches away from the kid.  The family reportedly noticed something was wrong with their infant's vision presently after the photograph was taken.  They took the babe to the hospital where they merits that the doctor told them the impairment was irreversible.

BlindBabyFlash

The Net Fervor

I observe myself cringing when something goes viral before it's even been fact-checked.  Viral news tends to stir controversy and draw lines in the sand where opposing parties take joy in spending hours debating their side.  Generally speaking, I find it amusing when people become so riled upwards over hot topics in the news as it most oft does not directly touch on me personally or professionally.  However, with ane of my specialties being newborn and child photography, information technology was leap to come beyond my news feed multiple times and grab my attending.  What shocked me the almost was how many of my colleagues barbarous prey to this being a plausible reality.

Being the skeptic on this, I joked immediately that this story would be disproved on Snopes earlier long.  Meanwhile, my news feed continued to update me with postings in several of the groups I belong to, ranging from moms to newborn photography groups.  It was a hot topic and was re-shared for a couple of days straight, eliciting the same arguments over and once again.  Expectant and experienced mothers alike argued over whether or not their babies could be harmed by a flash.  Photographers argued their preferences to natural lite photography, and some went as far as to concord with the commodity, claiming that this was why they never use artificial calorie-free due to its "harmful nature."

My Thoughts

Somehow, I managed to go along my opinions to myself when this turned from a story most a child becoming bullheaded to a platform for photographers to smugly say, "This is why we only shoot natural light!"  Knowing in the depths of my core that it was incommunicable that this child became blind from a camera's wink, and that some were using this as an excuse to justify never learning bogus light, infuriated me.

Permit me clarify at present that my acrimony wasn't over whether someone prefers natural or artificial light but instead was ignited past people perpetuating this hoax as a justification of their professional choices to abstain from using other lighting solutions. Every time a lensman wrote on their personal Twitter account or Facebook wall, "This is why we only use natural light at our studio," along with a link to the original article, information technology furthered the irrational widespread fearfulness. Not to mention, information technology put an unnecessary black cloud over photographers who elect to use artificial lighting in their studios.

BabyStockShimmeringLights
Shimmering Lights Photography

Yahoo Parenting ran a fact-based news story including an interview with Dr. Alex Levin, Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Ocular Genetics at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.  He told Yahoo Parenting, "If this story were true, there would exist lots of blind babies out there," and went on to call the reported events "inconceivable."  To see more of Dr. Levin's interview, view it here.

Decision

It's not my job to tell people whether they should employ this or that brand of camera, Photoshop or Lightroom, natural or bogus light.  These are personal preferences, and I take respect for each person choosing what is right for their business.  It is my hope that every photographer pushes themselves past their comfort zone to try new things and finds what works best for them.  Rest assured, though, it's perfectly prophylactic to use studio lights and flash when photographing babies