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How to do church wedding without flash?

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Hazecity

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I will be offering my service for a friend with my still-quite-new D70. With one condition, no flash in the church. I would very much appreciate any suggestions and advice from all you experts.

I am planning to:

shot in RAW, since I have 2 GB card, plus a portable HD.

I only have the kit-lense, so no choice.

Use auto-ISO, since I don't know the lighting condition and I may not have time to keep changing the settings. I hope it won't go up to ISO-1600 since it is in the afternoon. Hate the grains.

Use mainly Shutter priority and keep a shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/200

Will switch to Aperture priority when I need to focus on the couple and blur the background. Auto-ISO should still be in effect, right?

Will use continuous shooting mode, to ensure I capture THE moment.

Thanks in advance.
--
[email protected]
 
Hazecity said:
I will be offering my service for a friend with my still-quite-new
D70. With one condition, no flash in the church. I would very much
appreciate any suggestions and advice from all you experts.

I am planning to:

shot in RAW, since I have 2 GB card, plus a portable HD.

I only have the kit-lense, so no choice.

Use auto-ISO, since I don't know the lighting condition and I may
not have time to keep changing the settings. I hope it won't go up
to ISO-1600 since it is in the afternoon. Hate the grains.

Use mainly Shutter priority and keep a shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/200

Will switch to Aperture priority when I need to focus on the couple
and blur the background. Auto-ISO should still be in effect, right?

Will use continuous shooting mode, to ensure I capture THE moment.

Thanks in advance.
--
[email protected]
Click to expand...
I'm no expert but I'd consider setting ISO in camera at around 800-1200. It's a compromise. 1600 may not give great results. Hope others will comment.
 
The Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens would be a much better choice in the low-light conditions.

A tripod or monopod would also help for slower speeds.

Gary
Hazecity said:
I will be offering my service for a friend with my still-quite-new
D70. With one condition, no flash in the church. I would very much
appreciate any suggestions and advice from all you experts.

I am planning to:

shot in RAW, since I have 2 GB card, plus a portable HD.

I only have the kit-lense, so no choice.

Use auto-ISO, since I don't know the lighting condition and I may
not have time to keep changing the settings. I hope it won't go up
to ISO-1600 since it is in the afternoon. Hate the grains.

Use mainly Shutter priority and keep a shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/200

Will switch to Aperture priority when I need to focus on the couple
and blur the background. Auto-ISO should still be in effect, right?

Will use continuous shooting mode, to ensure I capture THE moment.

Thanks in advance.
--
[email protected]
Click to expand...
--

G-Man
 
I think you have a tall mountain to climb without faster glass. Watch your WB settings in PP to give the pictures an even look from one to the next.

Keep in mind also that you are going to forced to shoot at the bottom end of your lens's quality because of the aperture issue.

Take a backup camera of some kind just in case the worst happens.
Hazecity said:
I will be offering my service for a friend with my still-quite-new
D70. With one condition, no flash in the church. I would very much
appreciate any suggestions and advice from all you experts.

I am planning to:

shot in RAW, since I have 2 GB card, plus a portable HD.

I only have the kit-lense, so no choice.

Use auto-ISO, since I don't know the lighting condition and I may
not have time to keep changing the settings. I hope it won't go up
to ISO-1600 since it is in the afternoon. Hate the grains.

Use mainly Shutter priority and keep a shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/200

Will switch to Aperture priority when I need to focus on the couple
and blur the background. Auto-ISO should still be in effect, right?

Will use continuous shooting mode, to ensure I capture THE moment.

Thanks in advance.
--
[email protected]
Click to expand...
 
Wow, 7.7 faster. That's really worth the investment. $100 USD? It's a fixed lense, so I won't be able to zoom in, right? This may be a concern...

The church has a rule that no flash photography allowed.
nikosalpha said:
Why not to use the internal flash?
Gary Foreman said:
The Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens would be a much better choice in the
low-light conditions.

A tripod or monopod would also help for slower speeds.

Gary
Click to expand...
--
http://nikosalpha.fotopic.net
http://nikosalpha.deviantart.com
Click to expand...
--
[email protected]
 
I agree with Gary, on both counts. The kit lens is going to be too slow for most church lighting. I wouldn't worry about having to open up the aperature on the kit lens for narrow depth of field, you are likely to be shooting wide open all of the time to get any kind of reasonable shutter speed.

Since your shutter speed is going to be slow, the tripod or monopod will really help.

Regarding the ISO speed, your choice is going to be grain or blurred pictures from camera and subject movement. One thing I have seen done is convert the high ISO pictures to black & white. The gain seems to less of a problem that way.

Lastly you can pray for a bright, sunny day (assuming a daytime wedding) so you have the maximum light. If I were you, I would try to get into the church a few days ahead to experiment with some test shots.

You have one of the greater photographic challenges, a very important event, impossible to restage if the shots do not come out well, moving subjects, low light and a resistriction against adding an artifical light source. It really doesn't get much more difficult! Good luck, U hope it works out well for you.
Fred
Gary Foreman said:
A tripod or monopod would also help for slower speeds.

Gary
Hazecity said:
I will be offering my service for a friend with my still-quite-new
D70. With one condition, no flash in the church. I would very much
appreciate any suggestions and advice from all you experts.

I am planning to:

shot in RAW, since I have 2 GB card, plus a portable HD.

I only have the kit-lense, so no choice.

Use auto-ISO, since I don't know the lighting condition and I may
not have time to keep changing the settings. I hope it won't go up
to ISO-1600 since it is in the afternoon. Hate the grains.

Use mainly Shutter priority and keep a shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/200

Will switch to Aperture priority when I need to focus on the couple
and blur the background. Auto-ISO should still be in effect, right?

Will use continuous shooting mode, to ensure I capture THE moment.

Thanks in advance.
--
[email protected]
Click to expand...
--

G-Man
Click to expand...
 
Errrr, sorry, what's "PP"? If I do a custom WB once before the whole thing I will be save, no?

Could you elaborate why am I "forced to shoot at the bottom end of your lens's quality because of the aperture issue"?

BTW, thanks for the suggestions.
Troy Williams said:
I think you have a tall mountain to climb without faster glass.
Watch your WB settings in PP to give the pictures an even look from
one to the next.

Keep in mind also that you are going to forced to shoot at the
bottom end of your lens's quality because of the aperture issue.

Take a backup camera of some kind just in case the worst happens.
Click to expand...
 
I think he means this:
Hazecity said:
Watch your WB settings in Post Processing to give the pictures an even look from one to the next.
Click to expand...
Hazecity said:
Could you elaborate why am I "forced to shoot at the bottom end of
your lens's quality because of the aperture issue"?

BTW, thanks for the suggestions.
Troy Williams said:
I think you have a tall mountain to climb without faster glass.
Watch your WB settings in PP to give the pictures an even look from
one to the next.

Keep in mind also that you are going to forced to shoot at the
bottom end of your lens's quality because of the aperture issue.

Take a backup camera of some kind just in case the worst happens.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
http://pics.paulspage.org
Nikon Dee-Seventy & Canon Gee-Three
 
there is an easy way to zoom with a fixed length lens. take a few steps forward to zoom in and a few steps back to zoom out :-)
Hazecity said:
The church has a rule that no flash photography allowed.
nikosalpha said:
Why not to use the internal flash?
Gary Foreman said:
The Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens would be a much better choice in the
low-light conditions.

A tripod or monopod would also help for slower speeds.

Gary
Click to expand...
--
http://nikosalpha.fotopic.net
http://nikosalpha.deviantart.com
Click to expand...
--
[email protected]
Click to expand...
 
In your place, I would go to the church well in advance of the wedding date, and take all manner of shots to see what you are really up against. I also find that the product "WhiBal" can be quite useful for setting WB.
--
ệyệs
 
Oh I see. Now I understand why Troy said about not maximising the Kit-lense quality. Thanks.

In that case, I think I might as well stick to Aperture Priority and use the largest 2.8 with a 800 ISO and let the camera decide the shutter speed.

Forgot to mentioned that there will be another photographer doing film. And I don't get paid. This sets the expectation some what...

I will bring a monopod.
Fredphototn said:
Since your shutter speed is going to be slow, the tripod or monopod
will really help.

Regarding the ISO speed, your choice is going to be grain or
blurred pictures from camera and subject movement. One thing I
have seen done is convert the high ISO pictures to black & white.
The gain seems to less of a problem that way.

Lastly you can pray for a bright, sunny day (assuming a daytime
wedding) so you have the maximum light. If I were you, I would try
to get into the church a few days ahead to experiment with some
test shots.

You have one of the greater photographic challenges, a very
important event, impossible to restage if the shots do not come out
well, moving subjects, low light and a resistriction against adding
an artifical light source. It really doesn't get much more
difficult! Good luck, U hope it works out well for you.
Fred
Gary Foreman said:
A tripod or monopod would also help for slower speeds.

Gary
Hazecity said:
I will be offering my service for a friend with my still-quite-new
D70. With one condition, no flash in the church. I would very much
appreciate any suggestions and advice from all you experts.

I am planning to:

shot in RAW, since I have 2 GB card, plus a portable HD.

I only have the kit-lense, so no choice.

Use auto-ISO, since I don't know the lighting condition and I may
not have time to keep changing the settings. I hope it won't go up
to ISO-1600 since it is in the afternoon. Hate the grains.

Use mainly Shutter priority and keep a shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/200

Will switch to Aperture priority when I need to focus on the couple
and blur the background. Auto-ISO should still be in effect, right?

Will use continuous shooting mode, to ensure I capture THE moment.

Thanks in advance.
--
[email protected]
Click to expand...
--

G-Man
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
[email protected]
 
I guess you meant what does PP mean, right?

PP stands for post processing. You need some software like Nikon Capture or/and Photoshop to PP you pics later.

Sure you can set your whitebalance, but if you shoot in RAW (NEF) you can correct your WB later by using PP progs.

You could always try to rent a lens for one day. That way you can rent a fast and sweet lens for your friends church wedding.

I would advice to shoot in A priority instead of S priority. Be aware of the vignetting (sp?)/ light fall off when you shoot wide open with the kit lens. Yup, agree on using monopod.

Good luck.
When will the shoot be?

Dennis
 
Sorry, PP = Post processing.

As far as what I ment about the lens quality thing...generally a lens is not the sharpest at it's widest (largest) aperture. Most lenses don't start hitting their peak until you get a few stops away from that point. I have to assume that even at ISO 800 you will be very lucky to get 1/200 at your widest aperture for the particular lens you are using. In all probablity you will be zoomed in some and that means your starting aperture is going to be probably 4.5-5.6. Not a good starting point.
Hazecity said:
Could you elaborate why am I "forced to shoot at the bottom end of
your lens's quality because of the aperture issue"?

BTW, thanks for the suggestions.
Troy Williams said:
I think you have a tall mountain to climb without faster glass.
Watch your WB settings in PP to give the pictures an even look from
one to the next.

Keep in mind also that you are going to forced to shoot at the
bottom end of your lens's quality because of the aperture issue.

Take a backup camera of some kind just in case the worst happens.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
As some others have suggested, I'd rush out and buy the 50mm f/1.8. It's probably going to be a wider angle than you would like for this purpose (meaning you will have to do some cropping), but letting in a couple extra stops of light is going to help a BUNCH. Also, this lens will dramatically improve the focus speed and accuracy for low to moderate light levels.

Charge your battery and format your compact flash card the night before. Pack your camera bag the night before. You don't want to be rushing around the day of the wedding wondering whether you have forgotten anything.

Next, I'd set the camera on aperture priority and choose a value of f/2.8. By this f/stop the 50mm is providing exceptional image quality. It's still just a touch soft at f/2, so this should be a good compromise.

I would turn on the Auto ISO feature and set a minimum shutter speed of at least 1/60s. There isn't any really fast action in a wedding, so you should get pretty good results with this shutter speed as long as your hand holding technique is pretty decent. I certainly wouldn't want to drop below 1/60s. I might even consider half a stop or a full stop faster than that (depending on how dim the light really is). Then, let the camera adjust ISO for proper exposure.

Next, I'd bring a gray card (or at least a white sheet of paper) and manually set the white balance when you get to the church.

This should give you good image quality with a minimum of noise. The only problem you are going to have is that the 50mm may seem a little wide depending on where you are seated. This way you won't have to worry about anything except composing, focusing, and shooting during the ceremony itself.
  • Jared
nikosalpha said:
You said that you have a lot of space with you so another thing you
could do is shoo RAW underexposed and then PP it! Not the most
proffesional way but ok!

--
http://nikosalpha.fotopic.net
http://nikosalpha.deviantart.com
Click to expand...
--
  • Jared Willson
http://resolutionphotography.com
 
agree with Jared!

50mm f1.8 great lens. Shot high school jazz band and choir with this in a dark auditorium from the front row, I spot metered faces, great pics

get as close as you can, shooting without flash you should not be a big distraction. aperture priority 2-2.8, auto iso
maybe try to bracket some exposures?
can you get within 20 feet or so?
Jared_Willson said:
Jared_Willson said:
Next, I'd set the camera on aperture priority and choose a value of
Click to expand...
f/2.8. By this f/stop the 50mm is providing exceptional image
quality. It's still just a touch soft at f/2, so this should be a
good compromise.

I would turn on the Auto ISO feature and set a minimum shutter
speed of at least 1/60s. There isn't any really fast action in a
wedding, so you should get pretty good results with this shutter
speed as long as your hand holding technique is pretty decent. I
certainly wouldn't want to drop below 1/60s. I might even consider
half a stop or a full stop faster than that (depending on how dim
the light really is). Then, let the camera adjust ISO for proper
exposure.

Next, I'd bring a gray card (or at least a white sheet of paper)
and manually set the white balance when you get to the church.

This should give you good image quality with a minimum of noise.
The only problem you are going to have is that the 50mm may seem a
little wide depending on where you are seated. This way you won't
have to worry about anything except composing, focusing, and
shooting during the ceremony itself.
  • Jared
Click to expand...
 
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