Best camera settings for inside of a church?
October 18, 2010 by refl
Filed under Church stained
I am only an amateur photographer and a friend wants me to take some pictures in the church of her wedding. It is at 7:00 p.m. and the church has a lot of stain glass. Should I use a flash? What settings could I set my camera on and leave it. Thanks.
It is probably best to avoid flash as this can be intrusive and distracting to other people.
Simplest approach would be to set camera to “auto” switch off flash and hold the camera as steady as possible.
The very best setting for you would be OFF. If you want to KEEP your friend as a friend, tell her you are too inexperienced to do this.
Search “weddings” and “first weddings” and “wedding settings” in the seach box on this forum. This type of question gets asked a lot and in the great majority of cases you will find it is recommended you do NOT try to shoot a wedding when you do not even know enough about photography or your camera to have to be asking what “settings” to use.
There is NO “best setting” and most definitely not one you can “leave the camera on”.
Hopefully she is having a REAL photographer to take her wedding photos. If she is expecting YOU to do it, then I just gave you the best advice you could possibly be given. Take and heed it, or go ahead with doing the wedding and find out the hard way that you will be in over your head.
steve
WOW ! That is like asking how to be pro mechanic in one paragraph or less… OK here it goes.
I’m assuming you are using a digital SLR. Yes, use a flash.
Set the flash to BOUNCE (pointed to the ceiling at 60 to 70 degree)
Set the ISO to 800
Set the camera on P (program)
hold your breath.
I admit those are not the BEST setting, but it will “work” for most cases. I’ve found ISO 800 on DSLR to be good enough – much better than P&S at iso 800. And again these are not the BEST, but the safest – so at least you can GET the image.
Good Luck…
I would really prefer a doctor do my surgery or a pilot to fly my jet.
The proper response here is, “I am enchanted that you asked, however, I think it would be better for you to hire a Pro. I do not have the experience needed for such an important event.”
Firstly, check with the vicar/priest.
A lot do not allow flash in churches especially not during a service.
(some don’t even allow photography during the service)
Without knowing more about what light there may be in the church then it is more or less impossible to answer.
If you are not allowed flash then you will probably need a high iso (film speed) to get a usable shutter speed 1/60 or above.
It is often a trade off between noise and movement blur.
I hope they have a pro taking shots as well because tbh if you are having to ask this question then you are not going to be able to get much for them in the way of memorable shots.
Wedding photography is a skill which can only be learnt through experience.
w
no flash as it glares, and find a spot that doesn’t get glare off the windows or the lights, go here and read their tips, also look at your local photographers sites to get idesa for posing too good luck. http://wwwz.websearch.verizon.net/search?qd=do%20it%20yourself%20wedding&om=u&of=3DjW&rn=PlWEuG2ZGhQQWAe&rg=&qid=qs%3D06oENya4ZGJbLUjbOZ6u4aMZ-iQ2l2toR9eGJ7hQF4vTHy9CIE8kJN1O590_BlChEUVWewqWRA5_OwNEN_v8hPCX5LFuzZaiBj5L-zcbP7DyvkoLaHu9KUckPLoIN7KaEboQKsW9NscAuxx9vrx3eudYc21MMYq_u6SQiyveQHiqKuZhkbeBSLQ0kqzwypsfr-PrJ7WJ0Rd1IogvdOd-v7hZw30NLlPFUbG4YWoPyV-mdrogYA0dam6Z9iICVaBr00eChQTOP_LZ3BYPpHvYjcWTuhQen3Q-zr6xMWyjBNwrX0FYhuAhcOmIdwaao.%2CYT0xO0w9RG8gSVQgWW91cnNlbGYgV2VkZGluZztSPTE7Uz1NIw..
your not the main photographer are you?
if your not just play around till you get a good histogram
if your the main shooter be honest with your friendand yourself and them your not up to it
I am a professional and I do not do weddings. It is a pain.
You have not indicated film or digital, which can be quite different in technique. Additionally, there is no complete uniformity in the layout of each church. Windows can usually be avoided from most photos, but the next situation is that most older churches use dark woodwork. Some of the newer churches have plenty of white walls and ceilings. Not too great for the backround of the photos.
One of the major problems you run into with the after wedding PIX within the church is the 20 or more wedding guest who have no regard for the Official Wedding Photographer. Just as you finally get the newly weds plus the rest of the wedding party and parents, you will have a handful of those guest zapping flash PIX and moving riight into your field of view. It gets almost like the mob of photographers hounding a movie star.
If you want a real treat, try doing video!
What kind of camera do you use?