Church Lighting

[lisamillerphotos]

Just summarizing what I perused through in the forum....in a wedding at the church with no flash....

I am using a Nikon D80 (18-55mm f/3.5 - f/5.6) and a D3000 (55-200 mm f4-f5.6). I have SB600 and SB800 for the reception and outdoor shots but likely in the church NO FLASH.

So, here is what I will summarize from what I have read from all of you....
1. Bump up the ISO to 800-ish
2. Highest f-stop (lowest #)
3. Use the Aperture Setting

What about using the P setting? Do I need a tripod/monopod? Any other tips, thoughts? How can I control the shutter speed being quick enough if I do not use the tripod to avoid blur?

Thanks ahead of time!

[zona5101]

You could use your "P" setting but you will probably want to always be at your maximum aperture so why not set it? You will be fortunate if the church has enough ambient light even with iso 800. A tripod would be good if you can deal with it's unweildly nature. And in this application, the tripod is there to help stop your blur, it won't make any difference on your subject's movement.
It would be great if you could get into the church a day or more ahead of time when the lighting will be the same as the ceremony. See what your meter is telling you, take a few test shots. Check your sight lines and visualize your tasks. Perhaps you will find a spot where you can set up one of your cameras on a tripod ahead of time and leave it there...then during the ceremony you only need to descreetly walk to it, take some exposures, and walk away back to your handheld camera. Without fill light be very aware of light coming through windows including stained glass. You'll need to compensate for the backlighting... Good luck and have fun.

[Chip]

Lisa - I've gone through this myself. Shooting indoors without a flash isn't easy, and gear does make a difference. And the more available light, the better. So, if the church has lots of windows, if it's a sunny day, if the wedding isn't at night, etc - all these things will make your life easier.

I'd stay with aperture mode. That way, if you set your ISO at 800 (or higher), then the shutter speed will be as fast as possible under those circumstances.

Keep the lens as wide open as possible, an remember that zooming in will close down your aperture and cause you to lose light.

Does the D3000 have a CMOS sensor? If so, you should be able to get good results with ISO of 1600 and maybe even 3200. The extra stop or two could be quite valuable.

Also, be careful about a narrow depth of field. So, for example, if you're photographing a row of people form an angle, then you'll likely have a hard time getting the whole row in focus. Better to shoot from straight on if possible.

Any chance you can borrow or rent a fast prime or a fast(er) zoom?

Finally, at least in my church, we have many different light sources: sun, sun through stained glass, tungsten, florescent, and areas where all these blend together. If your church is similar, for this reason alone (and in case you underexpose some photos), shooting in RAW might be a very good safety net for your photos of the ceremony.

Good luck.