Does Flash Hurt Rabbit’s Eyes?

When one of my friends licked the photo of a Rabbit using a flashlight, the rabbit felt some kind of irritation. He is so afraid that the power from the flash might affect the Rabbit’s eyes. So, Does flash hurt Rabbit eyes?

Flash does affect adult and baby rabbits’ eyes. Rabbits’ eyes are so sensitive to the bright light. Sudden light like flash can disturb the rabbits and can hurt the eyes. If you are using the external flash continuously, slowly it will cause permanent damage to your rabbit’s eyes. 

Rabbits are not color-blind but their color perception is limited. The retinas of the bunny contain two light-sensitive lights. So, how long can you use a flash on their eyes? Let’s see more in detail.

Rabbits eyes sensitivity

The front of the eyes is called Uvea and the dark tissue contains blood. Rabbits’ eyes are located on the side and upper part of the head. They can see the almost 360-degree view. They can watch moments from the top and both sides. 

Rabbits do not have the same vision as humans have. They see best in dim light and rabbits are most active at dawn and dusk. Rabbits have poor vision up close and they tilt their head to the side to help them see in the better situations. 

So, this is the basic sight of the rabbits. Coming to the color vision of the rabbits, rods, and cones are the cells in photoreceptors. Rod cell has high visual sensitivity in low light situations. The rabbit retina has a much higher ratio of rods to cones than the human retina. A rabbit can see better than a human in low light conditions but with relatively poor resolution. 

Do Flash affect Rabbit’s Eyes?

It’s not bad to be concerned about a Flash bothering your bunny’s eyes, they are not harmed by it as well. A rabbit’s eyes are more acute and can see farther into the distance, eight times more sensitive to light than the humans. 

Rabbits are easily able to see with even just a small light source. Rabbits usually prefer low lighting, so LED and other lights wouldn’t naturally afford the best ambiance. Their eyes are sensitive and don’t really like more light.

The sudden change in the light or the sudden bright light on the eyes can disturb the bunny’s eyes. Even a human’s eyes can be tired with this external flash for a few seconds and as the rabbits are more sensitive, they get even more disturbance. The flash does not hurt the bunny’s eyes permanently.

One of my friends said that his bunny is fine and calm in behavior and after taking the pictures with the flash, the rabbit becomes vicious. The rabbit was not an adult at that time. 

So there could be the age reason behind that or he might use the flash in the close range. I took a lot of pictures with the flash in the evening and no rabbits are affected. I was conscious about the age of the rabbits. SO, I didn’t take the pictures of the young rabbits. 

The flash will be fine for the young rabbits too but you must take serious precautions while taking the pictures of the rabbit. I wrote an article on ‘Does flash hurt cat’s eyes?‘ where I discussed some important techniques to have a better picture without affecting the yes. You can read it or you can follow these steps for best rabbit photography with the flash.

How to take pictures of a rabbit at night?

Here is how you can take pictures of the rabbits in the nighttime using the flash but without hurting their eyes. Do not continuously take pictures of the baby rabbit because the camera sound can also hurt them. 

The sudden flash might shock the rabbits for a while and the eyes will be blurred for some time. But not all the rabbits have the same eyes and some of the rabbits have weak eyes. So, the eyes can be affected for some rabbits. 

Even when you didn’t see any rude behavior after using flash, you should not take the pictures continuously. If not now, you can see problems sooner. It is advisable to take the pictures only after some precautions. 

1 Put your Camera at the proper distance

You must know the perfect distance where you can use flash to take photos of the rabbits and the flash doesn’t hurt them. Yes, even in complete darkness, you can take pictures of the rabbit if your camera is at a certain distance.

Consider if you are too close to the rabbit, the flash and even the camera sound might disturb them. Generally, rabbits are not very friendly with cameras. It’s hard to take the perfect shots of the rabbits.

Close range is not at all recommended even while taking the pictures of the adult bunny. Now, the next thing is keeping your camera too far from the rabbit will wash out the rabbit’s skin color. 

You can take pictures of rabbits with the flash from 10 feet away. If you have a zoom lens, 10 feet wouldn’t be a problem for you. So, maintain the proper distance to save eye strain. And if you have to take some close photos without using the lens, here is what you can do.

Also coming to the height, keep the camera at your shoulder level and then move slowly towards the rabbit in close shots. When you are sure that you reached the rabbit at the proper distance with the camera on shoulder level, just slowly move the camera with light from left to right.

Sudden flash can frighten the rabbit so prepare your bunny so that you are going to take pictures of your rabbit with flash. 

2 Use flash reflectors

The direct light coming from the camera flash is very harsh to humans and animals. Some sensitive animals like rabbits, cats, and birds will be in sudden shock for a while. The picture output is also unflattering with the dark shadows. So for several reasons, bouncing the flash might be the solution. 

Flash diffusers remove the dark shadows that flash creates and the red-eye effect will be less. Here is one of the finest Flash diffusers on Amazon for a relatively cheap price. I wish I could get it but I already had an expensive Flash diffuser. The reflectors can be attached to the flash body. You can adjust the angle of the flash diffusers as well.

3 Prefer shooting in the Early Morning/Early nights

Yes, you can use flash in the early morning or just before sunset. Using the flash in the complete darkness makes a lot of difference compared to using in early nights. So, try to use the flash in early nights or you can use the flash under some lighting.

Conclusion

Flash does affect almost all the rabbits when used in complete darkness. Even human’s eyes cannot tolerate the sudden flash and some people use high-power external flashes that can be very dangerous to both young and adult rabbits.

If the flash is too powerful and used on baby rabbits, their eyes will be permanently affected. Conscious flash usage on eh adult rabbits can also damage the rabbit’s eyes gradually.

• Rabbits’ eyes are so sensitive that direct flash can irritate them. Usually, they are not friendly to the camera. 
• I have seen some people who use flash on the rabbits but the rabbits are calm sometimes. 

The effect on the rabbits might depend on various reasons like age, and the behavior of the rabbits. Maintaining proper distance and using some flash diffusers will be good options to take pictures of the rabbit. Closely watch your steps and maintain the camera at your shoulder level.

If you feel the rabbit is feeling uncomfortable, it could become violent anytime and can attack you. So, do not irritate the rabbit while taking the pictures.