Camera Settings for Indoor Portraits in the Church

<p>Hello,<br>

I am in need of some help with my camera settings for portraits in a church or indoor location. I mainly do portraits in my studio and am very happy with my studio light results. I have 2 Promaster Studio lights that I position on the sides with shoot through umbrellas and I also have a giant soft box as my focal light. I set my Canon 5D Mark II to Manual Mode 1/100, F/5, ISO 100 and WB to Flash. Then I just adjust the power of my lighting as needed.<br>

Then when I go to a church setting I try to do everything the same, but it's either way too dark or way too bright and I just spend too much time adjusting everything. Do you recommend getting a light meter? How do these work and what do you recommend getting?<br>

Thank you so much for the help!!<br>

Tara</p>

<p>You managed to do well in your studio without flash meter, by simply experimenting and "<em>adjust the power of my lighting as needed</em>." This worked well is static environment where people are usually not moving.<br>

For a church, where people usually move around, and requirements for lighting change faster, you will definitely need a flash light meter. Make sure that the time between measurement and the picture taken is short, that is the place does not get crowded or deserted, as that may require more/less light. Possibly there are other reasons for the changing environment?</p>

<p>In the studio you're usually lighting only with flash. Out of the studio you need to learn to work with the ambient and be able to balance your flash exposure. There are many potential problems and experience will help you to recognize them and know what you can do about it. </p>

<p>With digital I wouldn't bother with a light meter. In the end you'll probably just check your screen and then adjust. Assuming you know how changes in aperture and shutter speed affect the flash and ambient exposures, probably you just need to practice. You don't need a church, just go outside. You don't even need people, you can just take pictures of things, and try in all kinds of light. One thing that can help you to get faster is to know before hand what power setting your lights need to be at... which can be easier if you keep them the same distance from the subject most of the time. If you use a main and a fill you should know the relative power settings of both lights.</p>

<p>One thing that threw me when I was starting was when the ambient exposure on the subject was brighter than the background, yet I thought I wanted to use flash to light the subject. I didn't think much about what was going on with the ambient, I just wanted to set up my lights and go at it. Sometimes this doesn't work. In this case you either need a background light, or you need to flag the ambient light from the subject, then add flash (not practical most times). This could be a problem you are having in the church. Now I look more for good ambient light and only add flash or reflectors when I need them (often). But the better the light is to start with the better off you are.</p>

<p>Subject exposure determined by flash.</p>

<p>Ambient exposure determined by shutter speed.</p>

<p>Basic stuff in ambient and flash combination of light sources.</p>

<p>Sorry if that is condescending, but it's basic information. Learn it and excell!</p>