Baby's Baptism.... Oh help

[krm4zd]

Can you help me out? I'm shooting a baby's baptism. What camera settings do you suggest? I'd prefer the natural lighting but I'm considering renting a flash. I'd appreciate any tips. I'd really like to go to the church and check out the lighting. Think that would be ok? Any special shots I should get? So nervous!!! Have a Canon Rebel... nothing fancy

[BigFuzzy]

ugh, these are the "tell me how to shoot good photos" questions that are difficult to answer and get lots of people up in arms.
Why? Because it's very difficult for us to tell you anything without knowing more, like:
what lenses do you have?
Do you know how to shoot manual?
If I tell you to make sure you maintain at least 1/60th shutterspeed, do you know what I mean and can you do it?
Is there plenty of light in the venue?
Can you get your flash off camera, or will it only be on-camera
Can you bounce the flash anywhere like wall/ceiling?

yes, you should definitely go to the church and check out the lighting.

One thing I always tell people is to KNOW how to use flash (even if basic knowledge), that way you can choose whether or not you want to go "natural light" or not. You say "I'd prefer the natural lighting" but I'm assuming it's because you know nothing of flash. You should be prepared to use flash and know a bit on how so that you can choose to go natural light if conditions allow it. That way you're prepared.
And when I say know how to use flash, at the very least you ought to "know" how to use the Flash Compensation settings that are either on your flash or your camera body.

Otherwise, we're pretty much stuck with telling you to just go with Auto and let it take care of it for you because if you don't know any of the above, it's hard to learn it in a short period (unless you have lots of time, then I'd suggest going to strobist.com to learn about flash) and if you waste time trying to get it right during the shoot, you're likely to miss things or mess it up.

go to flickr.com and do a search on "baptism"... find photos you like and try to get those shots, plus you may find info on settings and gear used to give you an idea. There's got to be some images there (though I've not done a search) or just google "baptism photographer" tons to be found there.

We simply can't say, "sure, pop it into this mode and shoot away" because of all the factors we don't know that would affect what we say.

I hope I don't come across harsh, but it's difficult for us to answer the "how do I shoot good photos" sort of questions out of the blue. I hope you understand.

Good luck. And post some results in the critique so we can discuss how things went.

[Happy_Mummy]

Technique I can't help you with very much. I will say that lighting in churches I normally find too low to not use extra light from a flash, that said I do not have an slr, not sure how much your camera could improve the situation. I had two different kinds of photos. My Mum thinks flash is the devil, so had her turned off. My in-laws know nothing about cameras, so kept theirs in full auto. All my Mum's photos were blurred from movement and had ghosting from us moving. All my in-law's photos were sharper since the flash went off. My Mum had my camera (which was on auto and the flash went off) which came out with the nicest pics, unfortunately my Mum thought the camera wasn't on (she bumped a button turning the screen off) so she didn't take many with it.

Coming from a Mum of three, the photos I cherished the most from my kids' baptisms were ones that captured the day. My advice would be to be there with the parents for the description of the order of events/what will happen, then you can make sure that you are getting the pics of each "step" of the baptism. All churches are a bit different in how they do each step. At ours we stood up at the front with our child and the god parents while the deacon or father spoke, then moved to the font when they did the oil and water, then went back to the front to stand for the rest. At my niece's baptism the parents were seated on the end of the pew and godparents were not needed throughout the ceremony and were asked not to stay close for any of it. Both were catholic ceremonies, I guess each church as their won way of doing things. The photos that I really liked having were pics of my hubby and I with the baby and god parents standing up at the front - especially moments that stood out. Vanessa slept through the ceremony, so seeing her sleeping was sweet. Cassie on the other hand nursed or screamed through the entire thing. Honestly one of my favourite pictures is the godparents in the photo and my hubby and I. I was holding her and she was stiff as a board with a red face and you can tell that she is screaming. That was that day... I also like the shots of the deacon or father pouring the water over the child's head and holding the child up after. Other shots that were important to me were getting a photo with hubby and I with the baptized child and the god parents. And another photo of the child with dh and I with the grandparents. I also liked having a family photo from the day of just our family which included older siblings. All that said, the one that I have on my wall is a photo of each child in their baptism outfit with hubby and I. I will try to post them. It is a close up of the parents with the baby's head at about chest height and we got most of their baptismal gown in. The only photo actually taken on the day was my third child's baptism. It was too busy and chaotic on the actual day for my first two to get it done, so we actually went back another time to do it so that we could be outside for nicer lighting. We just made sure we were wearing the same clothes and jewellery! Martin's baptism was in December and was -15 outside, so we wound up with a nice photo of the three of us, so his is slightly different. By the end of the baptism kids are typically grumpy and tired, so if you want nice family pics I would plan to get to the church early to do them before the service rather than after.

Sorry this was so long, but I hope it helps to figure out what to get photos of.