smb@ulysses.UUCP (07/31/83)
My brother's wife is about to give birth, and my brother would like to take some pictures of the process. I assume that delivery rooms are well-lit enough that film speed won't be a problem, but what about color balance? Should he use daylight film? Any special filters? He doesn't want the pictures to be "off-color"... --Steve
silver@csu-cs.UUCP (08/04/83)
1: Film speed IS a problem. If it is bright enough to use anything
less than 400 ASA, and perhaps even then, you will, as Leboyer says,
"bring the infant into the world not blind, but blinded." Observe it
closely soon after birth and you may notice it squinting. If you
are kind, you will plan ahead for darkness.
2: The answer is, don't use the right filter; use the right room. Go
to a hospital with an ABC (Alternate Birthing Center) room that has
a window complete with adjustable blinds, and you can photograph a
dark, quiet, natural birth by natural light.
Sorry if I sound like a militant. After photographing the birth of my
daughter last May I was sold on the above advice.
Alan Silverstein, Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Systems Division, Colorado
ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcla!ajs, 303-226-3800 x3053, N 40 31'31" W 105 00'43"mark@cbosgd.UUCP (08/05/83)
The answer is, don't use the right filter; use the right room. Go to a hospital with an ABC (Alternate Birthing Center) room that has a window complete with adjustable blinds, and you can photograph a dark, quiet, natural birth by natural light. Often you don't HAVE a choice of hospitals. Once you've picked your doctor, you're probably stuck with the hospital that doctor has admitting privs. to. Most hospitals these days have birthing rooms (which are what you'd find at an ABC) - you can ask for them and hopefully get one. (If they are all full, or you're a high risk case, you're stuck with the usual labor/delivery/recovery arrangement.) Birthing rooms are certainly a win, but there aren't enough of them to go around yet. Also, the minute you make plans for photographing the whole thing by natural light, your baby will be born at 4 AM. Mark