Photographing inside a church

taff63

taff63

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mark
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I've been asked to take a couple of photos at my mates wedding on sat BUT I'm allowed to take photos of the ceremony and while saying their vows but not allowed to use any flash I'll be shooting in raw so could I up the exposure for lighting and remedy it later in Photoshop only lighting in church is a big stained glass window down by the alter so help and advice really needed .

Mark
 
Have you got any f/2.8 or faster lenses?
 
Ideal a 70-200mm f2.8 for the job, but something similar should do.
 
If there is a professional photographing the wedding make sure you don't get in the way. If there is not, take a tripod and if it has one (i shoot canon) set the camera to silent mode to keep the noise down. open the lens wide and set the iso high. Try and get some shot without the window as it will be easier to expose for. The light in every church is different so its hard to say exactly what to do
 
Don't be afraid to up the ISO, noise you can fix in PP (or convert to B&W and call it "arty" :lol: ) but there's nothing you can do for dark and blurry shots ;)
 
try and get inside any church before the day and see how you go.
 
snigg said:
try and get inside any church before the day and see how you go.
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^^^ This. And shooting Raw is not a get out of jail free card for an exposure disaster. It helps, but that's all.
 
taff63 said:
I have a 55/200 1.4-5.6g whatever that means lol also a 50mm 1;1.8d both nikon as with the d300 no official photographer as they are on a tight budget just asking family and friends to take photos
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In poor light, the 50mm f1.8 will be your best bet. If possible, try and be one of the first into the church so you can work out which row to sit in to frame the couple properly.

The 55-200mm (1:4-5.6, not 1.4-5.6 - big difference!) will need a much higher ISO, especially with no flash.

Where possible, lean on or against something to help you steady yourself. Neither lenses have vibration reduction, so if you're using the 50mm f1.8, you don't want your shutter speed dropping below 1/50th if you can help it.
 
This is what I would do.

Use the 50mm only. The 55-200 will really struggle in a typical church so I wouldn't even think about it.

The D300 has a pretty good auto ISO system and I would use it for exactly this sort of thing.

Set auto iso for base iso 200, maximum 3200 and min shutter speed of 1/90 (I wouldn't go any lower seeing as you will be photographing people and they move!).

Use aperture priority at f1.8 and let the camera do the rest. If it looks like you're underexposing dial in a touch of positive exposure compensation or vice versa if you're over exposing, though on balance over exposing a little isn't the worst scenario with regards to noise as long as you don't over do it.
 
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