PhotoRoy6@xxxxxxx wrote: : Karl, : : I had a nude model complain about the flash getting to her. Also when : I shot sports in the early 1970's the SI (Sport Illustrated ) photographers : put strobes in the rafters of the gymnasium to give themselves one more : stop of light for basket ball games. If you watch any of the later games of : the NCAA basketball tournament today on TV you see the TV flashes a lot in : the close fought games blanking out moments in the game. I also heard of : wedding guests at receptions standing close by a photographer not even in the : picture complaining about flash. But as Andy says if you want pictures of : the visible spectrum you need visible light so the blinding light is here to : stay.. A lot of lighting we experience in closed environments is at levels adequate or 'good enough' for us to see in. Although I have been in labs and venues where the lighting has been at daylight levels. At the college, I set one rooms lighting to daylight levels and it was funny to see the light spill from that room into the corridor which looked very dim in comparison, though no one had ever complained the place was dimly lit! There were no complaints about being blinded in that room, though half the lights had to be turned off if anyone wanted to see an LCD computer screen ;) I've also seen studios lit to daylight levels with triphosphor fluorescent lighting and again, no complaints about blinding lights.. it's the 'blinding' bit that gets me. Sure, in a dim environment a flash of a higher light level will dazzle and casue after images from the eyes dilation and inability to respond to the change quickly enough, but 'blinding' is a strong term! Think of the 'bliding light' produced by striking a match in a darkened room.. I've yet to have an non-human animal respond poorly to a flash, and generally animals are wary of strange or startling things. Setting up an IR triggered camera flash combination to photograph tiny wrens, I was able to sit back and watch them going about their business with the flash strobing away, again no negative responses or attempts to flee the situation. The light levels from electronic flashes are generally barely above daylight (if the photographer has a clue), if they exceed daylight at all - unless one considers staring at the source of the light (the tube) in which case yes, that's bright.. but as per my point, probably no brighter than catching a glimpse of sunlight sparkling on water - something generally described with fondness and not with horror .. even though the viewer would experience similar bedazzlement and temporary afterimages. I've recently seen in the media/movies a lot of refences to babies eyes and camera flashes and wonder where that all started? Do these parents keep there children hidden from the sun too? And a little on retinal damage from sunlight, http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/vision/Galileo.html Karl
