Photographing in chruches?

Slime101

Slime101

Slime101

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Photographing in churches?

I've got to do the photos at my sisters wedding, its not exactly my normal subject matter and i'm struggling with the church part!

I took some test shots the other day and she came out fine, but the background was black, there is nothing to bounce the flash off ceiling wise so i had to point it directly, but then i get exposed person and black background.

Please can someone help me out, how do i get round this?
 
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Not sure if you can do this with the Nikon but try setting up a second curtain flash (instead of first) and use a longer exposure and tripod.

In first curtain the shutter opens and the flash fires then the shutter closes. This is what you have at the moment.

In second curtain the shutter opens then just before it closes the flash fires lighting only what is close to the camera. This might expose the background better especially if you use a longer exposure.
 
Cant use a wider aperature for various reasons (DOF, might be max anyway depending on lens i use on the day!)

Long exposures arent ideal, that means tripod in church which is awkward, and also people move when standing and i dont want blurry people!!

I'll try the higher ISO tho, altho wont that screw with the flash exposure?
 
Not quite sure how Nikon's work, but I assume that they have some sort of TTL metering that will take account of the ISO etc. When the pre-flash fires, the camera establishes the exposure from that and adjusts as appropriate
 
I'll try out the rear curtain flash, it can do it easily as i'm using the SB-800 on a D200 :)

(The SB-800 gets used for once, tis rare with my normal subjects!)
 
AdWright said:
Not quite sure how Nikon's work, but I assume that they have some sort of TTL metering that will take account of the ISO etc. When the pre-flash fires, the camera establishes the exposure from that and adjusts as appropriate
Click to expand...

Suffice to say that Nikons latest TTL system is even more advanced (and confusing) than Canons so it should work.

Thanks for the advice so far :)
 
I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that changing to rear curtain synch won't make any difference in this situation. It *should* only make a difference when the subject is moving during the time that the shutter is open. I'd go with what AdWright said: larger appature, high iso, and as slow a shutter as you can manage.
 
Golden Ape said:
I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that changing to rear curtain synch won't make any difference in this situation. It *should* only make a difference when the subject is moving during the time that the shutter is open. I'd go with what AdWright said: larger appature, high iso, and as slow a shutter as you can manage.
Click to expand...

As the subject is standing, they will be moving during a 1/15th type shutter length, and so rear curtain will work to freeze them at the end of the exposure.
 
it would probably be best done with a couple of flash groups (2x SB600/800 controlled by the built in flash. use one for slow rear curtain sync and one for fill in. you'd also need a tripod. it's tough though, I've done a few weddings and they're a pain to get right. It's also difficult to get enough time to set everything up.

all that's ideal situation though, i suspect you'll get by with the SB800 and rear curtain sync with a decent length exposure. i wouldn't mount the SB800 on the hotshoe though, probably best off to one side!

good luck
 
I've only got the one SB800 so i cant use groups, as i only use it about once a year it would eb a recipe for disaster too!!!

If i was to remove it from the hotshoe, how would i fire it, and where do you suggest i put it?
 
as far as firing it remotely goes, you can use the pop up flash on the D200 as a commander. You need to set the flash mode on the D200 to commander, and you probably need to set the flash to remote mode, too. You do with the SB-600, at least.
 
correct, the D200 built in flash can be used as a commander with the SB800 set to remote. professional wedding photographers tend to use a flash bracket (i don't know what it's actually called) which is essentially an arm that fits on the tripod socket and holds the flash about a foot to the side of the camera. I'd just find an assistant and get them to hold it. I'd experiement with what works first to get an idea of what end result you'll get
 
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