Church interiors.

ab2012

ab2012

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Wanting to take photos of inside of churches and my local cathedral.Never done it before.Any suggestions for a lens? Is a tripod essential for what would almost always be low-light?(don't have a tripod)
 
tripod and a cable release :) You can get a remote on ebay for about £4, works great. Stop down, sometimes bracket, sometimes use flash. Think about what time of day you're going to shoot at and where the sun will be.
 
In churches the protocol is to request permission and make a donation.

In cathedrals it's usually necessary to by a photographic permit.

I know this is not what you were asking but it is a necessary part of church photography.

For kit, as previously mentioned, plus a wide angle can come in handy.

D in W
 
As long as you can keep the camera steady during the exposure you don't need a tripod.

Bean bag or similar for a low shot. Mini tripod depending on type of camera, lens.

Wedge yourself against something solid?

Best pics would be low iso, but they are likely to be long. Snapshot/black n white pics crank the iso up to 1600 ish (or as high as you want to go).

Wide angle gives a nice view, 50 or 100mm (macro) for details.
 
I like to use a fisheye for such places (churches, cathedrals, castles, old prisons), And I almost always do HDRs
 
ab2012 said:
Wanting to take photos of inside of churches and my local cathedral.Never done it before.Any suggestions for a lens? Is a tripod essential for what would almost always be low-light?(don't have a tripod)
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Not sure where you are in Cambs.. the two cathedrals in the area that I know the best are Ely and Peterborough. My preferred set-up for interior shots is a 10-20 lens, tripod and remote shutter. Light levels are low, so unless you can hand-hold for 1 second (or longer) or you have a camera with excellent image quality at high ISOs, I'd consider a tripod essential.

Ely Cathedral - excellent cathedral for photography, one of my favourite locations. You do need to pay to enter (about £5 from memory), make sure you ask for the gift aid ticket - that way you get a 12-month pass for the same price as a day ticket. Pay £2 at the gift shop for a tripod day-permit. Best time of year is Autumn on a sunny morning or afternoon when the light is coming sideways through the windows.

Peterborough Cathedral - free entry, no tripod restrictions, no permit required. Not a good location for me, the modern trends to intrude into the scene too much. The smaller church by the fountains on Cathderal Square is much more interesting.

I prefer HDR for church/cathedral interiors.. it's a personal preference. The dynamic range of cathedral interiors has a very high dynamic range, and to get the architectural details and the colours of the stained glass is very difficult without a technique that combines multiple exposures.
 
You don't always need a tripod or a permit! These are all hand held - EXIF intact.

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Peterborough Cathedral is my local, so to speak.I was in there last week and a guy had his camera set up on a tripod.He was using a remote shutter.He wasn't the most friendly of people when I asked him what lens he was using.
Like the handheld shots and all the advice.
Any recommendations for a cheapish but decent tripod?I thought 10-20 for lens.But, as I haven't got one at pres, would the 18-55 IS be any good. I'm also interested in church listings of those fallen in the wars.Bit morbid perhaps.
 
My shots were taken with a 17-35mm - depends what you want and the size of the building.
You don't get cheap decent tripods in my opinion!
 
I;ve only the kit IS lens with my 50D.In future would be looking for a landscape (10-20?) and 44-250.
 
ab2012 said:
I;ve only the kit IS lens with my 50D.In future would be looking for a landscape (10-20?) and 44-250.
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Go for the EFS 10-22 if you can afford it, it's a cracking lens. I picked up a used but mint copy for just over £400 at Aperture.
 
If you fancy shooting handheld go for Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 - there should be enough light to get a very decent shot. If you are going for production quality I am afraid ISO 100 and the tripod are a must.
 
daugirdas said:
If you are going for production quality I am afraid ISO 100 and the tripod are a must.
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Only with the body the OP has. With a D3/D3s higher ISOs are fine.;)
 
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It is definitely worth a trip to York Minster. The authorities are photographer friendly. You need to buy a permit but well worth the money. A lot of cathedrals do not allow photography. The last time I was in London I went to Westminster Abbey, the entrance fee was £15 and photography was banned. The excuse was that they sold postcards and so copy rite may be infringed. I walk off and photographed Westminster Cathedral instead.
 
Gloucester Cathedral has no problem with photographers or tripods. Just make a small donation on the way in.

Ive been there 3-4 times in the last 6 months.
 
At Peterborough Cathedral you have to pay to take photos.Last week was the case, at any rate :)
 
Dave in Wales said:
In churches the protocol is to request permission and make a donation.

In cathedrals it's usually necessary to by a photographic permit.
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I guess this really varies from place to place as I've never been asked to make a donation or acquire a permit. Some places do explicitly forbid photography, although that very rarely stops people - in San Marco's Basilica in Venice, for example, there are signs everywhere prohibiting photography but everyone shoots anyway, and no-one does anything about it. I guess the most polite thing would be to ask.

I would personally refuse to make a donation though; if that was asked, I'd simply leave.
 
onona said:
I would personally refuse to make a donation though; if that was asked, I'd simply leave.
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Why's that! :shrug:

I would much rather make a donation than be forced to pay. I always feel it's a bit naughty to charge to enter a church, but I accept they will have costs to consider so I'm more than happy to do my bit & donate.
 
onona said:
Because I refuse to give money to a religious organisation. I don't really think that's a good topic for discussion here though.
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I'm going to rise to it :D

I am completely anti religion but always give generously in churches, not because I support "The Church" but because it is an important part of our country's history and therefore should be preserved. Also they are generally beautiful buildings and if you want to be able to take pictures of them in the future they need money for maintenance - all donated money goes to repairing the roof (or whatever) so that Mr and Mrs Heathen can get married somewhere pretty, not to fund religion.
 
You cant get much more anti religion than me, but churches are beautiful buildings that beggar belief how they were built and the craftmanship in them and deserve to be kept in a good state of repair.
If that means paying a few quid when I visit, then so be it.
I draw the line when they start trying to preach though!
 
If I knew for a fact that the money would only be used for the upkeep of the building, I'd have no problem donating. But I don't know that, so I don't. I can't really deal with the cognitive dissonance of contributing to funding an ideology that I fundamentally disagree with.

I give plenty of money to other worthy causes though, so I don't feel too bad about it ;-)
 
Nawty said:
I'm going to rise to it :D

I am completely anti religion but always give generously in churches, not because I support "The Church" but because it is an important part of our country's history and therefore should be preserved. Also they are generally beautiful buildings and if you want to be able to take pictures of them in the future they need money for maintenance - all donated money goes to repairing the roof (or whatever) so that Mr and Mrs Heathen can get married somewhere pretty, not to fund religion.
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:plusone:
Yep, if no-one pays the place will fall apart, would prefer donations though,but thats just me.
 
onona said:
If I knew for a fact that the money would only be used for the upkeep of the building, I'd have no problem donating. But I don't know that, so I don't. I can't really deal with the cognitive dissonance of contributing to funding an ideology that I fundamentally disagree with.

I give plenty of money to other worthy causes though, so I don't feel too bad about it ;-)
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If they are a well run Church,they usually have a chart to say how much has been raised towards the upkeep.:thumbs:
 
Blimey, what have I started?I go away a few hours..
Come on, post a few of your photos saying what lenses you used etc.
I'm sure we all agree about the beauty of the architecture of churches, and even have our favourites.
 
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