shooting inside a church

[EmmaA]

hi, im just wondering if anyone has any tips for shooting inside a church. what settings generally work best for the lower light? i realise there are alot of factors that determine what settings you use on your camera, but just somewhere to start while im practising would be handy. thanks guys.

[RichardTaylor]

These may help


Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: -1 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

and



Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

Set your camera to ISO 400 (in reasonable lighting) or ISO 1600 in poor lighting. See what it suggests (If you have a P mode), shoot, check the histogram & adjust your exposure as needed. Bracketing may help.

A wide angle lens helps a lot and possibly a tripod if you don't have an image stabilised lens. Both pics above were shot hand held. If you want the windows not to be overexposed you may need to use HDR or merged exposures.

[private]

The ISO really depends on if you have full frame or crop. I guess the question I have, is what camera do you have and what lenses do you have and do you have a budget to get another lens?

[bhursey]

Depends on allot of things... Normally you want to be able to use flash if you can. Ask the bride and the preacher. If not your are gonna have issues even with a 1.8 lens. Then you run into dof issues. You want to keep the shutter speed at least over 1/80 . I know I shoot a wedding this past Saturday.

This weekend the church that I shot in had about a 50+ foot roof was not all white. Then it had 2 rows of like 3x3 windows running down each side. I had to shoot with a 580EX II with a gary fong light sphere with the top removed so it would bounce off the roof. I was at +3 f stops on the flash at about f 4-6.3 800 iso 1/80 to 1/100 shutter speed. With my 85mm 1.8 I was shooting at 400 iso f 2.2 1/80 without flash.

So really you need to go the day before and practice if possible to find out what settings work. I went to the rehearsal and practice and im glad I did because I shot at 1/60 and lets just say every one was blurred. :/

My friend took a picture of me during the wedding might as well post it see the light sphere on top of my flash...

PS: Yes I know my shirt was un tucked could not help it..

[scootermcq]

I gave up on trying to bounce off ceilings and walls.... always seem to be 5 miles away and brown....

I made a couple of these:

DIY Reflector-Diffuser

They work great, I usually set my camera to ISO 800, around f5.6 and 1/60th and leave the flash on TTL about +1 rear curtain sync. I gell the flash to match the ambiant light and have great success with this approach. It also follows the kiss approach, so I am not swinging my head all over the place looking for something to bounce off off and twisting my flash head back and forth. With this set-up on a strobo-frame I almost never have to touch my flash.....

Interestingly enough, people love the diffuser and ask where they can buy them etc and it cost me about 5 bucks to make them.

[EmmaA]

thanks heaps everyone for your infomation, I now have some sort of starting point.

My camera is a a canon EOS400D, I have 3 lenses a 50mm, a 18-55mm and a 75-300mm. planing on going to get a tripod today as im doing a night photography class this week.

Definately will go and have a practice first. Love that I stumbled across this website, it is a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. Thanks alot

[private]

You might have a bit of a challenge with the two kit lenses that you have - the 50mm will be your friend. Of course, I say this not knowing how much natural lighting the church has - hopefully flash (not pop-up) will be allowed.

Your camera - the Rebel XTI (in the states) is not that great when you push the ISO above 400 (least in my experience).

[lynweber]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

I gave up on trying to bounce off ceilings and walls.... always seem to be 5 miles away and brown....

I made a couple of these:

DIY Reflector-Diffuser

.

How do you make one? So you basically leave your flash in the upright position the whole time, sorry if there is a more technical term. This achieves good flash and fill light most of the time? I have ran into the problem where a lot of my reception places are made of wood which doesn't really bounce light very well.

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by lynweber

How do you make one? So you basically leave your flash in the upright position the whole time, sorry if there is a more technical term. This achieves good flash and fill light most of the time? I have ran into the problem where a lot of my reception places are made of wood which doesn't really bounce light very well.

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you.... did not notice the post.

I pretty much followed the directions on the link. I used 3m spray glue to adhere the two layers of foam and cut out to their template. Then yes, the flash is always pointing straight up. You can see the diffuser on my flash in the Avatar.

This picture kinda shows what I am talking about with this church being round (alter in the center), 30 foot ceilings and all brown wood. If I was trying to rely on bounce, I would go insane. You should also notice that there isn't any flash flare on the glass on the candles.