Wedding Shoot with NoFlash Allowed

[mlhostetter]

I am in a world of trouble here can someone help me out>? I have been

reading threads like crazy but my biggest question is this. I am

Shooting( no way out of this one) a wedding in a beautiful catholic

church. No flash allowed during the ceremony.

 

I have gone to the church to take light readings but I can never find

it empty at the time of day the wedding will take place, in order to

get accurate readings. The church has lovely Stain glass sindows all

around. Exteremely high vaulted ceilings, but the light looks very

dim none the less.

 

I have an AF Canon Rebel 2000, and my old standby's, the Minolta X-

370, X-5, and 700.. I have enough lenses for these to choke a horse,

but i do not know what the right combination would be with no

flash ... I have heard that the NPH and NC are great, but with no

flash>????

 

I am lookin for a miracle here. Can you give me some general

guidelines to follow. for correct exposure and film selection?

 

Thanks to you all,

Marylou

[wim_van_velzen]

Hi Marylou,

<p>

In such circumstances, I would use Fuji superia 1600 rated at 1000 (this way, the lab can make the colours more neutral, while at 1600 they remain very yellow). A good 50mm prime would give you enough freedom to make pictures handheld.<br />

A camera with telephoto lens, on tripod and aimed on the couple, would be great too.

<p>

When there is much light outside, you could use Fuji NPZ (@500) for less grain.

<p>

I myself never use flash light in a church, because it tends to kill the atmosphere.

<p>

Just be sure to inform the couple that the prints will be a bit more grainy - and that that is a sign of real art ;-)

<p>

Success!

<p>

<a href="http://www.fotografiewimvanvelzen.nl">Wim</a>

[art_haykin]

When I ceased to be a generalist and got heavily into forensic and medical work, I naturally had many wealthy attorneys and physicians as clients. The wife of a wealthy attorney asked that I shoot her daughter's pending wedding. I tried to beg off, but she insisted. I told her that I'd stopped doing weddings, but that I'd bring along a colleague who specialized, and that I'd be right there. She relented. I checked out the church and the officiating priest, as I'd had problems before with Catholic weddings, where, in one case, I was told "This is a holy mass, and I don't want to see or hear you during the ceremony." I then went to the parents of the bride, who had a "little talk" with the head honcho, and I shot the wedding, with flash, no less. It seems the parents were generous contributors to the coffers. Money talks, BS walks. Still, IF there's enough natural light, the above advice may well serve you, but make it well understood that the album will NOT look like many they may have seen. Good luck.

[gary_watson]

None of this really helps us much. Do you have any fast prime lenses(e.g., f1.8 or faster)? Something like a 50/1.8 or 85-100/1.8-2 with fast film and a monopod would make it happen. Slow, variable aperture zooms won't cut it. Fuji NPZ or even Superia 800 rated at 500-640 are about the best C-41 materials for this sort of lighting. Tell us more?

[steve_levine]

I will assume you know what you are doing and have shot weddings before?All most all "no flash" churches allow flash lit re-enactments after the ceremony,you might ask the Priest or Deacon.The best available light film is Fuji NPZ 800.With fast glass & NPZ weddings can be shot "available light",in very low light situations.I normally do both if there is a no flash policy.Most no flash churches will aloww you to shoot all but the religous ceremony.I normally shoot the processional up to bride be giving away.Also I start flashng again at 1st kiss.Talk to the bride ,and the ppl at church ahead of time,this will work out,good luck.

[kevin_kolosky]

I cannot count the number of weddings I did where there was no flash allowed during the ceremony by the professional photographer, which was me. Suffice it to say, everyone else in the place usually took out their trusty instamatic and used flash.

 

Anyway, my gear was Hasselblad, on a tripod of course, with a 150 lens and Kodaks fastest Portra Film, which I think was 1000 speed.

 

No matter what church I was working in, I generally set the shutter speed for 1/4 second, and left the aperture at 4.5 and took pictures.

If it was really really dark, I would go to 1/2 second. As long as you work on a tripod you will get some decent stuff. You will have to stay towards the back of the church (although I usually snuck up the aisles for the ring exchange and also for the the unity candle lighting where I would slap on a star filter real quick. Then, right before the wedding was about to end I would put the flash back on and get up close for the "You may Kiss the Bride" and use a flash for that shot. NObody ever said anything on that.

 

Good luck.

 

Kevin

[rick_gray]

Marylou, The following is obvious but have you spoken directly with the priest who will be performing the ceremony? I recently did a wedding where I was told the same as you in advance. Upon meeting with the priest, he reinforced that flash was not permitted except for the "official" photographer and made this known to the congregation before the commencement of the service. I assured him (and the bride and groom) that I would be discreet which I was and took but a few shots - with tripod and zoom and everyone seemed happy with this and the results. Some good suggestions in the above posts. Good luck.

[huey_stevens]

MaryLou

 

I am a professional Wedding Photographer in the greater Dallas, TX area. ALL Churches here are quite strict about flash during the CEREMONY ONLY!

 

1. I use exclusively Fuji NPH 400 rated at ISO 320 for all color. Kodak T400CN rated at ISO 400 for B&W, HOWEVER I have been reading good reviews of Kodak PORTRA 400 and Ilford XP? Super.

 

 

1. I have been allowed to use flash except for the ceremony itself, i.e. once the bride reaches the groom. Nevermind that EVERYONE in the audience has their one time cheapy with flash working. You would think they would brief the patrons as well, but instead they brief you on when not to use the flash.

 

2. I ALWAYS use a tripod at this time, cable release and BLUE FILTER to counteract the yellow tungsten light. There is some debate on the BLUE FILTER as some Wedding Photog's like the warmth the tungsten provides on film. IF you use NEW FUJI NPH 400, you will not need a BLUE FILTER as a special layer in the film is there to block the tungsten effect. During Ceremony use lens WIDE OPEN - APERTURE PRIORITY, without BLUE FILTER I get 1/10 - 1/30 sec exposures. WITH BLUE FILTER (- 1.6 f stop) I get 1/15 - 1/4 sec exposures. There will be some blur, I wait for couple and priest to stand still and CLICK!

 

3. I have been able to use my flash for the processional and recessional, i.e. all bridal party members entering, and leaving the sanctuary.

 

4. I have been able to use my flash for ALL the alter return shots.

 

So in short the only time I have NOT been able to use the flash is when the bride reaches the groom with daddy, which officially starts the ceremony. Ceremony is ended when Priest pronounces the couple as man and wife, kiss and turn to face audience. Besides, everyone else will be using their cameras with flash at this point, so I doubt the church would single you out.

 

If you are confused I would clarify all this with the bridal coordinator OR the church lady the catholic church will provide to ensure all goes smoothly. They would be able to indicate to you the precise moments that you can, and can not use flash. Most likely you will not be able to use the flash DURING THE CEREMONY ONLY. I would be very surprised IF the church stated rules otherwise.

 

Hope this helps - Hugh

[jim_strutz]

The use of flash seems to vary with location and denomination. Around here (Anchorage) a lot of churches don't object to flash at all, but some do. In any case, I never use flash for the time between the processional until the kiss. To me, it's too intrusive. It is for this brief period in time that God decreed the necessity of NPZ. (Always shot at something less than 800 ISO.)

 

Use a couple of reasonably fast lenses and a tripod if the lighting is to dim for a monopod.

[Jerry_]

Bracket, bracket, and bracket your exposures. Then (have fun) explain to the bride-and-groom that any dark shadows under the eyes are the result of 'no flash' during the ceremoney. You need a good tripod and, did I mention, bracket your exposures. Fuji Press 800 or Superia 800 should be a good choice of film. There is no way to figure in advance the day's outdoor lighting situation, or the effect the bride's white dress will have on your camera's meter: bracket your exposures.

[James G. Dainis]

Bracketing is always a good idea. But, during the ceremony one may want about four or five shots. With bracketing that brings it up to about 12 or 15 shots or more. All that clack, clack, clack of the camera may be more disturbing than any flash.

[Jerry_]

...the 'clack' is only bad if you are up close and personal.

 

 

 

Use a 80-200mm f2.8 lens and a tripod -- you can shoot from the rear of the church (or from the choir loft) and no one seems to mind. The choir loft is also pretty good for a wide-angle view of the interior if you have time to swap a lens or two.

[think27]

I actually prefer shooting weddings with no flash! I use a zoom lens (2.8) and if you can borrow or rent an IS (image stalblized) lens - all the better~! Rarely do I shoot in the same church twice... In fact, there are only two that I have worked in more than once and those are both in Old Town, Alexanria (VA). Because when you work the DC Metro area there are sooo many churches!!! <p>What do I do? I always bring Kodak 800 (warmer than Fuji) and Kodak 3200 which I rate at 1600 if I can.. I check out the light just minutes before the ceremony and make my decision based on how dark/bright the church is. Sometimes it has been so dark that I had to use the 3200 rated at 3200. I warn the couple ahead of time that the church images may be grainy if the church is very dark...I also show them examples. But - most of them (as do I) love the old/grainy look. There are times I'm shooting 800 at 15th or 30th of a second at 2.8. The depth of field is not a problem because I'm shooting with a zoom from a distance. I use my body as a tripod (Tripods are too cumbersome and I like to run (with rubbersoled shoes) up to the balcony or to one side and than the other of the outside isles) -- or the rail of the balcony for a longer exposure. There are churches that are light enough to shoot at F4 or 5.6 at 60th. I just don't use flash. And as for the color film, I love the warm glow and coloration of tungsten lit weddings.

[john_shriver]

I was at a society wedding in Philadelphia recently. High Episcopal. No flash at the wedding. The audience was sophisticated enough to "get it" about flash. In fact, there were only two other persons who took any pictures besides the photographer, me (Olympus XA) and my half-brother (very small camcorder). (I suppose we were "off base" doing even that, but we were both very unobtrusive.)

 

The photographer had a bevy of fast Nikon primes, which is what an event like this requires. 50/1.2, 85/1.4, 135/2.0, etc. He used both film bodies (Fuji Pro film, either NPH or NPZ) and digital bodies. The digital shots show some suffering in the shadows from the low light. He was running them at a higher ASA than his film.

 

Rent some fast primes for your EOS, if you don't have them. Leave the zooms home. Bring NPH and NPZ, and see what you need once you get there. (Nice as the Minoltas are, you're not going to be able to rent any glass for them.)

 

I presume that the AF camera can focus well in low light? If not you're in a pickle...

 

I was having a very hard time focusing my Olympus XA at this wedding, exposures were about 1/30 at f/2.8 at ASA 400. I'm sure I'd have gotten better results with my Canon RF camera (faster lens, also quiet), but it's more obtrusive (larger and shiny). The whole event really wasn't about taking pictures, anyways...