How to best use speedlight in church?

Hi Everyone,

I have my brother's wedding coming and he asked me to be a second photographer. Thus, I would like ask people that professionally shoot weddings, how do you use flash in church. I have a Nissin speedlight i622. I normally bounce it off ceiling/walls when shooting indoors or couple it with homemade soft-box (20x15 cm) when shooting outdoors. So, I think I will not have problems at wedding reception or when I do their photoshoot outside. But how about church, bouncing off does not seem a good idea as all surfaces are far away? Do you just use an extra diffuser on your speedlight and point light toward the couple? I know my Nissin comes with folding diffuser and a white card. I could probably get some bouncing effect using this card. I am just curious what are your best ways to do this? I am not even sure if I will be allowed to use my speedlight there, but if I am I would like to take a few shots with it. I realize there are probably numerous threads about that, but I would just like to know your quick tricks if you want to share and have time..

Cheers, Lukasz

Your first step is to find out if the church permits flash photography.

If you don't get a response quickly, you just repost????

sokol8 said:

I realize there are probably numerous threads about that, but I would just like to know your quick tricks if you want to share and have time.

Click to expand...

Looks like you don't have the time to do the research, and don't even know if you can use a flash, but you'd like us to type up an answer.

I should have waited for the post, you are right, I did not read rules before that it make take some time before publishing and thought it was rejected. Most probably I will be able to use a flash in church, and you are right again, I do not unfortunately have time to do research on that. I just I thought some of you may want to share quick thoughts/tips with me, or share a web link that clearly addresses that question without going extensively into all aspects of wedding photography. I did not mean to be rude or expect you do the work for me. I just figured one valuable tip/sentence can save me hours of reading that I do not have. Perhaps it was not a best idea. Thanks anyway, Lukasz.

FYI, every situation is different and without knowledge of the church layout, lighting, and permissions, it is impossible to recommend the "best" photographic setup.

Please keep in mind that you are in a sacred place that requires respect. Meet with the minister in charge and find out the rules first. Some allow flash, others restrict where I can stand, and I've been flatly denied to take pictures during the ceremony. (You can always ask the minister if you can recreate the ceremony later.)

Once you've done your homework, then make your plans. Simple is always the best approach in this situation. Btw, have you asked your brother and his fiancé what kind of pictures they want?

It is hard to go wrong with a Gary Fong type diffuser.

Good points, but the wedding is back in Poland and I live in US now. I do not think I will have a time for preparations like that. There will be a professional photographer so I do not need to stress out In church, I just want to do a few 'good' shots so they can enjoy it (along with a few shots from reception and few shots of the couple having fun in open air) before they receive photographer's work. I have not bad low light camera and a couple of fast lenses, but I think I could always use flash in church for couple of times for better results - the last thing I want to do is to bother people or photographer Thanks for your interest.

Thanks a lot, I will definitely look into that!

I personally refrain from shooting in a church out of respect and so not to be annoying. ( I don't want to be the guy that causes the preacher to stop the ceremony to give a sermon about respect in the church!). If you feel you really must do it, make sure your camera is quiet. The slam of a mirror is pretty loud and also ruins the video guy's audio… which in turn ruins the video for the couple.

A flash modifier like the Gary Fong is probably useless in a large church because the ceilings will be too high to effectively spread the light for a soft effect. Unless you're close, flash is going to be ugly so you might want to forget about using it. Shoot using the ambient light. If you have to jack up your ISO until you introduce chroma noise…. do it and convert your pictures to B&W in post.

Most importantly, you are a guest of the couple and they want you to celebrate the occasion with them… don't feel obliged to be the back up photographer. A few extra pictures will be nice so there is no need to go overboard and take hundreds of photos. Please put your camera down often to enjoy the food, wine, and dance!

So have they hired a pro to be the "first photographer"? If so you need to be sure the pro does not want you in the way.

I have been at weddings where the couple asked several people to show up with their cameras, and no one knew who should take charge.

At others there was a pro, and I always ask permission and generally only get shots that the pro would not get...at the reception, etc.

I have been at weddings where the pro point blank requested no other photography, and I can understand why for several reasons.

And whether the church is ok with flash, does the pro want your flash going off at the same time as his/hers and messing up the exposure.

And remember, you are a family member...you should get to have some fun also.

whvick

Some of the newer cameras can be set to pretty high ISO's and still get good images. What camera are you taking and what lenses. If you use a 50mm f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.4 it will be a lot easier than a sloooooow zoom.

I am going to use Nikon D5100 with samayng 85mm 1.4 and nikon 35mm 1.8g so it is not a bed set-up for low light I think. Anyway, after reading valuable inputs on this thread I decided to not use flash at all and just take a few shots without it. Thanks for your input.

Nicely written, I think I will do just that. Thanks.