Hello everyone!
I am new to this forum, I am a novice photographer, I bought few weeks ago my first DSLR camera, I will be shooting a baptism for a cousin. My question is: what settings should I use?
P, A or M.
I have been practising but for some reason my pictures are either too dark or out of focus, if I increase the ISO to 800 then they become very noisy.
I would really appreciate any advise from the pros!!
Thanks again.
Leo
my equipment is:
Canon 40D
Tamron 17-55 mm
Canon Speedlite 580 EX
A baptism is a very important sacrament for the parents. - get yourself a 50mm f1.8 lens for speed.
Consult with the priest or minister beforehand as to what the protocols are for the baptism. Proceed accordingly and then enjoy the meal afterwards. This can be quite tasty.
If your using the flash I'm not sure why you'd set the iso to 800. I have a 40 and really would consider 800 iso noisy. It's rather nice actually.
Shoot in manual, set expo to 0, dial in the 580 to ETTL and iso at 400. I'm imagining at a baptism you'll have plenty incandescent/florescent lighting so that no one is to slip. Your shutter speed with probably be a 60-200. Practice.
I'm not trying to discourage you, but rather encourage you to learn and practice a lot in the next few weeks. The more you shoot, the more you'll learn. Practice shooting anything and everything, both indoors and out. If the weather is nice you might want some outside photos afterwards (which brings another set of challenges).
Shoot on RAW so you'll have a little more leeway with processing the photos. What image program are you using and do you have any experience yet with processing?
fln538 wrote:
My question is: what settings should I use? P, A or M.
I have been practising but for some reason my pictures are either too dark or out of focus, if I increase the ISO to 800 then they become very noisy.
I would really appreciate any advise from the pros!!
Thanks again.
Leo
The settings you should use are the ones that are right for the given lighting scenario and/or your intended result. The know which settings those are, is to understand how to set your exposure
Too Dark:
not enough light. open aperture or low shutter or raise iso or add flash.
Out of Focus
could be shutter speed too slow (camera shake), shutter speed too slow (subject movement), mis-focus or subject movement.
Too Noisy:
iso set to high for given conditions and/or underexposed. Higher iso's *are* noisier, don't go there unless you know that you have too. Don't under-expose too much because brightening the image will raise the noise level.
Your 800 ISO images shouldn't be all that noisy unless your settings are off and you're having to push your exposure in post. Watch your histogram and expose as right of center as you can without blowing highlights and you should be ok. 800 is a good choice for indoors and runs you less risk of getting that 'shot in a dark cave' look
As Linda suggested, shoot RAW.
I would steer away from using P for E-TTL. Use M, as shallow an aperture as you can get away with to maximise the light that gets in, and as low a shutter speed as is appropriate to freeze the action and for your focal length. 1 over focal length is generally a minimum. IS lenses can let you go lower but you run a risk of motion blur in moving objects like the priest's or the baby's hands/head etc. I suggest the highest reasonable ISO (800) and the lowest reasonable Aperture/Shutter settings so as to use the most natural light and the least amount of flash.
The advice of getting a 50 1.8 is good, or even a 1.4 if you can afford it. It's a fine lens and the 2 extra stops over your 2.8 (I assume you meant the Tamron 17-50 not 17-55) will make a world of difference. Do keep two things in mind though - those low focal lengths on close objects make for a paper-thin depth of field. If your object is moving you run a decent risk of having it be out of focus. Also, a 50mm may require you to get quite close to the action. Check with the priest and make sure it's OK for you to be a few feet away blasting away with a flash For that matter, double check that the church allows flash photography. If they don't, a fast lens and a high ISO are your only hope. If you can't get close because of church restrictions, an 85 1.8 is another possibility - there may be a local store that will let you rent one for the day of the event.
If the ceiling is really high, and/or dark, you probably don't want to bounce the flash. This may be contributing to your dark images. Also, since you probably don't have a flash bracket, you might want to avoid vertical shots or you'll get nasty sideways shadows. You can always crop to vertical in post.
Get an itinerary of the event beforehand and plan your shots and where you can stand to get a clear line of sight to the baby, and to the faces of those involved in the ceremony. This will likely involve asking the priest where you are allowed to stand. Best to find out in advance and save yourself the embarrassment of having the priest stop the ceremony to tell you to get off the heck out of the sanctuary.
-R
Thanks to all for your kind advises, I need to print all this info and read it carefully.
Unfortunately I can't afford a faster lens right now.
I will go to the church first and ask what I can and can't do.
Thanks again.
Leo
A wise old photographer once told me that if he has to hand a DSLR to someone not familiar with photography and expect halfway decent results indoors, here's the settings to use:
M mode
1/125
f5.6
ISO 400
Flash on ETTL set at 45 degrees w/stofen diffuser
FEC set to +2/3 (w/Canon)
This is pretty much a decent all round setting for indoor shots. It won't produce stunning images generally, but it should give you a high percentage of well-lit, in focus pictures with low noise.
p.1 #10 · Advise about taking pictures in a church
Mcarr thanks so much for your wise old advise!
I've just tried those settings and wow what a difference!
I think I am going to take a very nice pictures at the church!!
p.1 #11 · Advise about taking pictures in a church
When you get comfortable with those settings, try setting the aperture to f2.8, keeping the other settings. You're depth of field will be narrower, so you'll have to be more precise in focusing, but you'll produce a more pleasing background blur, and your flash will not need as much power to do it's job.
Apr 15, 2008 at 08:12 AM
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p.1 #12 · Advise about taking pictures in a church
Hi Leo,
Do you realize the faster lens that Red suggested (a Canon 50mm f/1.8 MKII) only costs $75? On your 40D it will also be a nice portrait lens and nice for this situation. A question I have, however is whether this is an infant baptism or the baptism of a teenager/adult. These are very different events in terms of what you will need photographically. Infant baptisms are often done near the front of the congregation and just getting a seat in the front row can get you good access and you can use a wider angle lens. The 50mm would be great for this type of baptism. For this type of baptism make sure you get some good posed shots both before and after the service with parents and grandparents. Also keep in mind that almost all babies will start to cry/scream when the water is sprinkled/poured on their heads. So try to get several shots before the water is sprinkled.
Adult baptisms (or teenagers) are often carried out back a ways from the congregation (they need to have space for a pretty big tub in which full grown people get submerged). With this type of baptism a longer lens would probably be what you would want. A Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS would really be the ticket in most churches. Would you consider renting one for this event? It would make a huge difference for being able to get the shots you would want. Also with this type of baptism also talk to the person being baptized and how the feel about the totally wet look and let this guide your shooting. I hope this helps.
p.1 #13 · Advise about taking pictures in a church
Buy a tripod or at least a monopod to hold the camers still. 800 iso should produce nice images...it does for me. Even 1200 or 1600 ISO is better than out of focus images and when exposed corect the noise is not bad. When printed most will not even notice it. I think a lot of your noise issue is from under exposure.
