Birth photography

<p>I had an awesome opportunity to photograph a birth on Saturday! This was the coolest experience I have ever had in my photography career! I have never witnessed a birth other than the 5 I delivered! It was such a miracle! Click <a href="

to see slideshow.</p>

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<p>Laura - wow! I love the choice of B&W - it lends a softness here that works wonders. My wife and I are expecting our first - and I've been thinking a lot about shooting the birth - but as the Dad - not sure I'll actually be able to - but maybe get my father-in-law to lend a hand. Trying to figure out what lens I would use, and how bad the lighting will be. I love the picture of Landon on the scale. Was that the 50mm 1.8? Were you able to do the whole shoot without flash? Its not like the hospital is going to let me poke around the maternity ward with a grey card ahead of time.</p>

<p>Thank you Jonathon. I mainly used my 50 1.8 through the whole time. I slapped my kit lens (18-55 mm) on for a few. I did the whole birth with no flash. I did bounce my flash from the ceiling for a few after pictures of family coming in to see him. You need to show your wife. I have snap shots that my hubby and mom took for one of my 5 kids, but I wish I had it for all. I went with black and white because of the blood. No one wants to look at all that bright red during a miracle like this. Congrats on your first baby! Where do you live? I am in the Abilene, TX area and would love to photograph another birth. If you are not in this area, you might want to see if there are photographers in your area that do this, or might be interested in doing this. This was my 1st one, so I did it for free.</p>

<p>Hey Laura - thanks for getting back to me. We live in Boston but have a soft spot for Texas. I already showed my wife your work :-) When I told her I wanted to shoot the birth - she was very opposed. In part, it was a privacy thing - she didn't want photos that were too intimate. And the other was the blood. Your shots were candid and intimate but maintained a line that she loved. Agreed about the bright red blood toned down in B&W in this case, but a lot of it has to do with how you composed the shots. If I was to tweak anything - to play around with one, maybe two shots, I might experiment in post to add some extra grain. As we get closer, I'll look for local photogs who might do this kind of work, or consider giving it a shot. In the meantime, my cat just "volunteered" to be a practice model.<br>

Again, congrats on what I think is a fantastic first effort! </p>

<p>thank you jonathon</p>

<p>Laura, first welcome to PN, I hope you will enjoy the experience.<br /> I understand your excitement, it is one of the most beautiful experiences in human life, see, let alone photo it, and more exciting than all , is pass it on your own body and life.<br /> Being a supervisor in a maternity hospital for many years, I'm familiar with all the sides of childbirth and photographed it too. I hope you will not mind that I will show you my result of it as well.</p>

<p><a href="../photodb/folder?folder_id=334905">http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=334905</a><br>

It was a first childbirth, I have recieved a written permission, and concentrated on the mother's face.</p>

<p>Thank you for sharing that with me! I love your pics! Birth is a miracle! I have given birth 5 times and I am still so amazed at the whole thing!</p>

<p>@Jonathon, I haven't taken photos of a birth, but speaking as someone who has given birth, I think it would be tough to take pictures *while* your wife if giving birth, but easy to do it a few minutes later. My husband took some (unremarkable, point-and-shoot) pictures of me right after I gave birth. <br>

You could certainly get a shot like what Laura shared (beautiful, btw, Laura). As for lighting and gray cards, you'll have hours in that room (unless it's a C-section, which changes everything). You can fiddle with the camera in between fetching ice chips and rubbing your wife's back.</p>