No Flash Allowed inside the Church

I am photographing a wedding in two weeks. This past weekend we

checked out the location with the bride and groom. The wedding

coordinator makes it very clear that no flash is allowed during the

ceremony, and the photographer must remain at the back of the church,

behind the last row, the entire time.

 

I took the attached image from where I am going to be with my Nikon

D100 and a 12-24mm DX lens at 12mm, so the depth may be somewhat

exaggerated. Nevertheless, I am going to be pretty far from the altar,

and there are no side windows near the front such that the altar is

pretty dark. I tried out my 80-200mm/f2.8 zoom, and it worked pretty

well in the 150-200mm range. However, even at ISO 800, we are talking

about 1/40 sec at f2.8. A tripod is a must in this case.<div></div>

yikes, that sucks. you would think standing next to the door at the far left would be ok. maybe it's time to buy the new nikon 200/2 lens! wait, on second thought, it might not have hit the market yet. g'luck!

The problem is that without any fill flash, the overhead lighting is creating bright spots and shadows on the bride and groom's faces, as shown in this image. Depending on where they happen to stand and where the overhead light is, it can be a pretty serious problem.

 

Do you have any suggestions? I am afraid that we'll have to reenact certain parts of the wedding afterwards so that I can re-shoot them with a flash.<div></div>

With the equipment that you have mentioned, you have little choice but to do an altar

return with flash after the ceremony.

 

I routinely work in churches like the same restrictions but I use a 70-200 VR lens that

allows me to shoot handheld at 1/30th of a second and still pickup detail shots like the

exchange of the rings and the first kiss. Tripods are a major no-no as they will

significantly slow you down and you will trip up late-arriving guests at the wedding.

 

You are right about bright lights on the roof -- these unwanted highlights are usually

cleaned up in PS as part of standard retouching.

Join the club Cheung. Flash is rarely allowed during the ceremony. That church you'll be

shooting at is small compared to some I've had to shoot at... also from the rear. And your

church is more brightly lit than most... some are like caves. Your biggest problem will be

the widows directly behind the couple. You will have to meter for them and let the

windows go as they may.

 

Here are a few suggestions based on similar situations: Check where the sun is at the time

of the ceremony to see how intense the light will be behind them, you might get lucky and

it won't be that contrasty. Bring a small step ladder, a relatively tall tripod, and a cable

release. The ladder will get you up above the guests, and the tripod/cable release will

allow pretty sharp images even using shutter speeds as low as 1/15 (as long as you time

your shots carefully during lulls in movement). Use a lower contrast film like

Portra 400NC or the Fuji equivalent. Your F-100 and 80-200/2.8 will get the job done,

and even using 2.8 at that distance will present few problems with DOF. Best of luck.

This wedding will begin at 1:30pm, which was also the time of day when the above images were shot. In other words, the sun will be pretty much directly above the church and certainly won't be behind those windows in front. However, we are in California where it is sunny with blue sky every day during the summer; it will be bright outside.

 

Those windows are a bit of a problem, but as long as I can spot meter the B&G, I am not too concerned about it. I'll mainly be shooting digital such that I can check the result immediately. Fortunately, I am also a wildlife photographer and have several long lenses to choose from. They can be handy in this case.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

Actually I think this church would be great to shoot in. I love the low ceiling and it's painted white!!! The ceremony shots are going to be hard as will the procession. I dont know why preachers feel they have to hit the photographer so hard, but it'll really upset you when your in the back and uncle joe is up front flashing away during the whole ceremony. I've heard that B/W will show much better in non flash church shots because color always has those orange/yellow casts to the pics. You may luck up and have some nice sun through the side windows that bounces off the white ceiling, or you may end up with all the light coming through the stained glass which will be a nightmare. Were those shots taken at the same time during the day that the wedding is going to take place? Reinacting really isnt bad because in the end all the shots will be special. Just slap on the zoom and try to get the' you may kiss the bride' picture, everything else can honestly be staged.<div></div>

If you can set up your tripod just to the left (or right) of the main aisle and behind the last pew, you'll be fine for the ceremony shots and you won't have to worry about being in the way if any latecomers come in shouting "Elaine!!! Elaine!!!"

 

Apologies to folks who don't get the Dustin Hoffmann reference.

 

I'll be in a similar situation at the end of the month. Fortunately in my case the "clients" are family and their photography budget is zero, and they understand that the pictures I take may be worth only what they budgeted. I get to stay in the family as long as I get a shot of father walking bride down the aisle. Anything else is icing on the cake.

 

If the ceremony shots are slightly soft (from slow shutter speed) and slightly grainy (from fast film ) that can be seen as a feature, not a bug, yes? Dreamy images for a dreamlike moment of grace and peace.

 

Be well,

Actually that church looks brighter than some churches I've had to shoot in with no flash. I don't mind the warm orange tungsten look and when I show couples shots with and without flash they also seem to like the warm color. Like many here -- I rarely use flash anyway... I see the hot spots and one thing I'm thinking is that perhaps his head was shiny which exaggerated the problem? I'd see him before the ceremony and bring some blotting tissue to get rid of excess oils. <p>Black and white 3200 rated at 800 is one thing I'd try and I can hand hold my Image Stablized 70-200 2.8 lens at a 40th at 2.8. When I was younger - I'd even hand hold my 80-200 2.8 Tamron with no problem... ;-) I also find a tripod to be a major drawback -- but -- since you have to stay way back anyway and not move around - it might be wise if you are unsure of stability. I'd shoot and hope for the best and zoom like crazy... Sure you can bring them back but I think those tend to be stiff and staged looking.. There is nothing like the true emotion of the moment.

Oh, I see you are shooting digital. Make sure you shoot in RAW format for these shots and

it's okay to slightly underexpose when using digital. Then when using the RAW developer,

you can drop the contrast a bit, brighten the image, correct the white point and add back a

little saturation... maybe even keep the windows.

 

E-mail me if you need further advice on these shots. Shun, anything I can do to assist I

would be most happy to help. Again, best of luck.

 

Here's one inside a "cave" of a church, with purple stain glass casting a "dead skin" pallor

on the subjects as well as tinting the white dress. I isolated the window, corrected the

remainder of the image. The dress was made perfectly white by selecting color range >

eye droppering the white and desaturating all the foreign color out of it.<div></div>

I wasn't able to find a question in the original post, so I am not sure what kind of feedback you are looking for. 1/40th on a tripod at 200mm will be fine. I woudln't go over 800 or 1000iso.

Sorry, I found the question later.

 

Do your best during the ceremoney. Rules are Rules, and you will be ok. If time allows, I would stage some shots after the ceremoney with some soft fill.

Any takers? The aunts, uncles, and guests won't know (or care) about the "no flash" rule.

 

 

 

You need a tripod, some good 800 Fuji film and a f2.8 tele lens.

Re-enacting is the answer unless they have a videographer who can get permission to light the altar. On one or two occasions, I've had videographers who lit the altar with soft, diffused tungsten lights and it worked out well, but that has been rare. Be glad you haven't been banned altogether from taking even one frame during the ceremony--some Presbyterian churches do this.

I've been banned totally from many churches, and once I wasn't even allowed to take non-flash photos outdoors! All Mormon Temple ceremonies do not allow any kind of photography or re-enactments inside the temple at all. I've done about four of those, and we just skipped ceremony photography. The church or officient makes the rules. In many wedding events we just must skip the ceremony photos altogether, or do the best we can under the circumstances.

 

On the other end, I was once required by the priest and the couple to stand right next to the priest on the altar platform so I could get a good flash photo of each sponsor handing their gift to the couple. I was very uncomfortable with that.

 

film question:

 

In Shun's kind of situation, what Type of pro film would you suggest to minimize contrast and glare? Shun is using digital, but, if it were film, what would you suggest?

Thanks again for all the answers.

 

Both Mary and Marc are nice enough to provide suggestions through e-mail as well. Mary suggested ISO 3200 B&W Kodak film and ISO 800 Kodak print film. I of course still have various film bodies with a 35mm/f1.4 lens plus Contax medium format. I guess I'll shoot some film in additional to digital.

 

Yes, there will be a videographer, who happens to be my wife. Video cameras perform very well under low light, and it will be the action and sound in the video that attract viewers' attention. So lighting is hardly her concern at all.

 

Well, at least the videographer should be cooperative. :-)

I don't shoot digital, but why would high speed film be a better solution than using higher ISO digital settings like 800 or 1600 and a noise reducer program? You could shoot during the ceremony AND re-enact highlights, because shooting film won't help the quality of the light on the altar (spotlights, harsh shadows, etc.). Maybe black and white will look less bad because it seems to handle contrasts better. Just wondering.

Another option:

 

What about using an unattended rig w/remote capture. Not sure about Nikon but you can tether a Canon DSLR to a PC and have it fire shots every thirty seconds. Use a wide angle and prefocus to the alter...open it up a couple of stops to get a better DOF.

William, your idea has good technical merit, but there is one problem with it: In most churches and temples, the wedding ceremony is considered a worship service, and not a theatrical event. There are exceptions, of course. The church and temple personnel don't want a lot of photographers running around, remote tripods set up, or other distractions. In the 1960's I was a minister in a church, and I can appreciate that point of view. During the ceremony, photography must be low-profile.

Moreover, people hire wedding photographers because we (are supposed to, at least) know when to shoot, camera angle, exposure, focal length, etc. etc. The human creativity cannot be replaced by a machine that automatically shoots at some fix intervals.

While I'll still shoot mainly digital, Mary Ball suggested the "amateur" Kodak MAX 800 film. I shot a roll during a company luncheon last Friday, and I am quite happy with the result. The grain looks fine, fine enough, anyway.

Here is an altar shot from the actual wedding. I used a combination of digital SLR (Nikon D100) set at ISO 800 shooting RAW and Kodak Max 800 as well as Fuji NPZ film, both also at ISO 800. Here is a digital image; my film hasn't been develop yet. They ended up switching on some of the stage lights so that it was a lot brighter during the actual wedding.

 

Thanks again for everybody's help.<div></div>

thankyou for asking this question because i have been having the same concerns about lighting but dose any one know how not to loose the groom in all that shadow.

<p>Anymore, shooting a digital camera at ISO 800 or 1000 is no big deal, you might pick up a slight noise, but Noise Ninja in Photoshop should clear it right up. <br>

Something I have done in the past and gotten away with - Most churches restrictions on photographers are meant to avoid disrupting the ceremony. I often ask the wedding coordinator if I can place a camera on the altar - far to the side and out of the way, if it just sits there with no operator. We can even put flowers in front of it if need be.<br>

I get about 50% agreement on this. If I do, I place a Nikon D90 behind some flowers on the altar, with the lens unobstructed, obviously. I point it directly at where I know the bride and groom will stand during the ceremony, and set my focus to manual and focus on an assistant standing in the same spot.<br>

I usually shoot RAW, and set me camera at 1/60 at f4 with ISO 1000. <br>

During the ceremony, I get an assistant to use a Nikon remote, and just fire the camera (no flash) remotely from the back of the room.<br>

After the ceremony, when everyone is filing out, I just slip in and retrieve the camera.<br>

The bride and groom are shocked, and can't believe we got the shots from that angle.</p>