Final Project: The Eyes of a Babe

As a new dad I have been finding out many new things about my baby, one of which I believe goes wonderfully with my photography class. Is has been the common belief for a while now that a baby cannot see much at all, but new research has found that is not the case...

A baby's eyes are very mature right from birth. They have the ability to see as close up as their own hands, and even as far as the horizon. It is the brain that has to be able to mature, make sense of how to control the eye, and process the image. Much like the photographer that can maybe take a good picture, but has to learn how to develop and make sense of the image he/she captures.

At 2 months old, the contrast the a baby can see is only .03% worse than an adults, so they can see (almost) all the shades of grey that we can.

A newborn baby has 20/120 vision, that's like being able to see the big "E" on the eye chart. By 8 months old a baby can see at 20/30, almost as good as us.

While black on white is the easiest thing for a newborn to see, it is not all they can see. Sometimes they want some color in their world.

Babies can not make out different shades of a color, but they can definitely make out different colors. They usually will not be lulled by a certain color, but be attracted by the brightness, the darkness, or the contrast of an object against its surroundings

Ever notice your baby go cross eyed? This is called Double Exposure, just like in our photography class. They have not quite developed their ability to focus on an object, and if they focus too hard, they develop good depth perception at 3 - 5 months.

A newborn will see and perceive the things that stand out, like a hairline or edge of the face, but can not necessarily make out the details.

By 4 - 5 months they can recognize you from anyone else!