Help from birth photographers!

[Contemporary Clicks]

Hello everyone!

I am going to be shooting my first birth either tonight or tomorrow and I really need some help and feedback from any birth photographers! I will be doing this shoot free for a friend. So hopefully not too much pressure!

I will be using my nifty fifty lens on my Nikon D90 and also I have an sb800 flash. My questions are below:

1. Can I use a flash with a diffuser in the delivery room bouncing off of the ceiling when a newborn is born?

2. Can I use a bounce flash around a newborn at all?

3. How do you deal with lighting difficulties if you cannot use a flash?

Finally, do you have any tips or tricks? Any advice or help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Hayley.

[Abel]

moving to Photo Tips section...

this section is for posting photos ONLY.

[Contemporary Clicks]

Thanks Abel! It's been a while since I've posted here!

[Fireball]

First of all, do you have permission to take photos in the birthing room? Many hospitals don't allow it anymore because of liability issues.

Ask the mother what she does/does not want pics of too. Maybe take the photos from her perspective as to be more modest?

If allowed, your nifty fifty should do well wide open without a flash because there's usually lots of bright light during the birth or even a bright window nearby. If no bright light, I think you would be fine bouncing the light (with no diffuser) off the ceiling if it's white or not too high.

If you can't use a flash at all, then up your ISO. Many times I "mask" the noise by changing the photos to b&w which always look beautiful for newborn photos anyway. Plus it hides alot of the yucky fluids coming out with the baby.

I'm not an expert by any means so I'm sure others will have much more advice. Good luck!

[Contemporary Clicks]

Thanks for the feedback Charrie!

I think what I'm really asking is, is it a good idea to use bounce flash around a newborn? Will it hurt the baby?

[Rson]

Using flash during a birth is a good way to piss off the doctor and black-ball everyone.

There should be ample light from the light that comes from the ceiling.

No offence, but have you considered passing on this one?

[Contemporary Clicks]

That's what I'm thinking Rich. That's why I said I was using the 50. But, after the docs are done my question still remains; can I use bounce flash around a newborn baby?

This is for a friend. Not a paid shoot...

[kenw]

Using the flash around the baby is a medical question, not for us here, but even so I would never consider using it just for artistic sake. After my grandson was born, we went in to meet him and the room was very dim. The 50/1.4 did just fine and I would venture that the 1.8 would do just as well. The pic linked here was 1600 iso, 1/160s and f2.8 as shot. You'll be fine, but forget the flash.
He's Baaaaack....(and still long-winded)

[Rson]

You can bounce a flash and not hurt the kid....trust me that you won't do anything to the kids.

As far as the birth, ask the doctor first, stand at the head of the patient opposite the monitor. Make sure you test the exposure with some test images and lock the camera in. a 50mm set should be fine. Remember that there is going to be some serious spot light action going on.

[LadyShutterBug]

you shouldn't need flash with a 1.4 lens. think about it: there needs to be enough light for the docs to see what they're doing. unless it's an alternative birthing center or something, there will be overhead flourescents and there may or may not be other movable lighting.

this is plenty of light for you to shoot without a flash (which would drive me up the freaking wall if i were the doc or the mom, although i'm sure the docs encounter this kind of thing frequently).

shoot a few test shots once you're in there, and adjust your ISO accordingly. i would suggest opening it up wide to 1.4, and getting WB set early so you don't have odd skin colors.

[RosyT]

Pretty good advice guys x