Christening this sunday

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Paul
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Hi

Im informally shooting my nephews christening this sunday and I'm just looking for a few pointers as to whats "normal" or "expected" from christening photos. As this is a family thing, there is no pressure on me but i'd like to use it as a learning curve and do the best I can so any pointers will be appreciated.

I've never shot in a church before so i realise im going to have to play with the ISO, and then try to balance the aperture/shutter speed for correct exposure. I will have my flashgun too if I get a chance to use it.

Can anyone give any advice on the best White Balance setting to go for in a church ?

Also, are formals outside of the church normal for a christening, or should I just be shooting candids as and when people get there hands on the baby?

Many thanks.
 
Not sure if im allowed/supposed to bump this, but if anyone has any christening experience they can pass on i'd appreciate it.
 
No advice for you, but ill be keeping an eye out for responses! :thumbs: have a free bump on me!
 
Have a look at these:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=178361&highlight=christening

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=174386&highlight=christening

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=151656&highlight=christening

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=68591&highlight=christening

There's also quite a few example photos if you do a search on people&portraits forum

I'd shoot RAW, then worry about white balance afterwards. It really does depend on the lighting and if you're not confident chosing when you're there then I'd personally stick with auto.

I've often done formals - around the font afterwards, then outside. Speak to the vicar before using a flash, many won't allow it.

Good luck & hope this helps
 
Speak to the vicar first as mostv wont allow shots during the actual baptism but are usually happy to pose for set up shots afterwards,in addition why not treat it like a wedding and get there early to get shots of people arriving as well
 
I love looking back at my Christening pictures from 30 ish years ago and its fun comparing hair styles, fashion and seeing people who are no longer with us. I'd certainly echo CaptPenguins advice of shooting people as they arrive to get a "record of attendance", especially in case they leave early.

I wish you a good day and a helpful vicar!
 
Thanks for the responses and Ruth, those links are really useful.

Hopefully i'll post some of the shots from the day for C&C.
 
Hi Paul,
I took some photos of my Grandsons Christening in Bridgwater a couple of years ago.
I echo the advice above and would add the following...Churches are dark places so you need to get there before the event (say 1/2hr ish) and take some readings with your camera and lens to get the speed up. I was shooting at Iso 1600 with an f4 lens and getting speeds of 1/30sec ish. Discuss with the Vicar where you can stand and in my case I needed to stand on something (pew, box, stepladder) to shoot down into the crowd.
No flash was used but I got annoyed at people using their cameraphone with a flash which seemed to be ok ....go figure.
The formals are the usual, parents, godparents, Vicar with family or whatever the parents want really but ours was really rushed at the end as the Vicar had to rush to another do!
Shoot loads of shots, take spare batteries, Memory cards and check your equipment before you go (camera settings, batteries charged, filter clean).
Whitebalance I left on auto and could adjust the Raw photo afterwards.
As it's a family do, just prepare well then relax and get plenty of interesting shots. Good luck and I look forward to your posting of the results.
HTH
 
mbscad said:
Hi Paul,
I took some photos of my Grandsons Christening in Bridgwater a couple of years ago.
I echo the advice above and would add the following...Churches are dark places so you need to get there before the event (say 1/2hr ish) and take some readings with your camera and lens to get the speed up. I was shooting at Iso 1600 with an f4 lens and getting speeds of 1/30sec ish. Discuss with the Vicar where you can stand and in my case I needed to stand on something (pew, box, stepladder) to shoot down into the crowd.
No flash was used but I got annoyed at people using their cameraphone with a flash which seemed to be ok ....go figure.
The formals are the usual, parents, godparents, Vicar with family or whatever the parents want really but ours was really rushed at the end as the Vicar had to rush to another do!
Shoot loads of shots, take spare batteries, Memory cards and check your equipment before you go (camera settings, batteries charged, filter clean).
Whitebalance I left on auto and could adjust the Raw photo afterwards.
As it's a family do, just prepare well then relax and get plenty of interesting shots. Good luck and I look forward to your posting of the results.
HTH
Click to expand...


Thanks, thats really useful.

One thing I am slightly worried about is the shallow depth of field i'll get if I shoot at 1.8 to combat the low light. Is there anything I can do about this or do i just have to choose between shallow DOF or grainy High ISO ?
 
I did one in December. I'd echo most of the comments above.

- talk to the verger/vicar and get their agreement as to when you can photograph. I was lucky, we were the only Christening and so I had a pretty much green light especially when I told her I wouldn't be using flash

- Set the ISO to whatever it needs to be to take nice sharp images. You can work with noise. You can't work with camera shaken images

- Pick and choose the moments you shoot to be those when activities are happening so as not to be distracting with the shutter noise. I shot when the two young boys volunteered to go up and fill the font with the holy water and also when the water was being poured on the head of the baby.

- grab some shots after the ceremony of all the god parents, parents, baby and vicar in the nice setting of the church. Take some individual shots of each of the god parents with the baby (include their partners if you want - I did)

- obviously at the celebration bash afterward you can get some great photos of people chatting, laughing, holding baby, etc.

If you're interested in the kind of shots I took you can view them here

Good luck and have fun! :)
 
Some good advice above in this thread. Not too much left for me to say really and I have done a christening and have 2 over the next 2 weeks.

My advice would definately be to speak with the vicar to see where you can stand. Chances are you will be allowed more freedom at a christening than you would at a wedding.

Oh and the comment about no flash yet half of the family will pull out their camera phones with their torch like flashes to constantly on is so very annoying.

You will need a high iso and the fastest glass possible as the church is likely to be dim. On the wider shots you may struggle to get a decent shutter speed unless you have a fast prime that is c30mm on a full frame equivalent. Don't try and worry too much about shallow depth of field, it may be a nightmare but the large apertures will get you the shutter speeds you need.

The photo's from LJR above are excellent by the way!
 
CaptainPenguin said:
Speak to the vicar first as mostv wont allow shots during the actual baptism but are usually happy to pose for set up shots afterwards,in addition why not treat it like a wedding and get there early to get shots of people arriving as well
Click to expand...

make sure you get one with the vicar in it...;)
 
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