Shooting a Christning for the first time - Any tips?

Chasing Myths

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A friend of the family saw some of my pictures at the weekend and seemed impressed, I then got a text yesterday asking me if I would shoot there sons Christning next month. I have to say I was a bit overwhelmed when she asked me (as I have been doubting myself lately), But then I sat down and thought about it, I have no experience at all in that situation. I am not going to charge anything (Incase I fluff it up:'()and I am going to do the prints as a present. I want to get the photos as good as possible.....so any tips would be great:thinking:

Many thanks in advance:thumbs:
 
we have done a few Christenings and the main advice i can offer is, chat to the priest before hand and make sure your not going to be shooting from places he doesnt want you to.

have a good lens with for indoors without having to use a flash as i know quite a few priests who do not like flashes going off during the ceremony.

check which group shots your friends want

Enjoy

simple stuff really but there shouldnt be much else to it.

some moments to look for are when the water is being poored over the babys head. when the godparents are lighting the candles.
 
i know quite a few priests who do not like flashes going off during the ceremony

There are quite a lot of churches that won't let you photograph inside full stop.
I was asked to do a christning a few months back and was restricted to taking the pictures outside the church.
Always best to double check first.
 
I did one and the night do was great !

As for the church, well the vicar / priest or whatever he was said.....

Don't use flash and don't move, other than that he was fine :(

Thank goodness for the 70-200 2.8 !
 
I have just photographed a Christening on Sunday last.
Great advice from julien, the only thing that I would add is make sure you have something to stand on (a stool, steps or something) because when the participants crowd around you need to be able to shoot over their heads.
Available light is a nightmare, I was shooting at iso1600 and it still wasn't enough.
Get to the venue beforehand and take a couple of exposures to check lighting levels and camera settings.
Without flash, movement of participants, blinking eyes and so on will give you problems so take lots and lots of pictures, I think I took about 300 inside the church so make sure you have charged battery, spare batteries for flash, spare memory card.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
really good advice about the stool...

and...

...don't drop the baby :)
 
Inside the church will no doubt be much like any typical church wedding in terms of the photographic challenge and the settings/approach you will need. Maybe it will help to check out some wedding threads and try to hunt down some photos and look at the EXIF data for them.

I fear you will struggle with the kit I see listed, especially if flash is banned. Ideally go and scout the location and see whether you can get satisfactory results, and what you need to do to get them. At my local church I need at least f/2.8, 800 ISO and 1/60 to get a decent ambient exposure with no flash. Here's an example taken with a point and shoot using the settings I just described. You will note that I was lucky that the christening party was well lit, where they were standing (note the mutiple shadows behind them), but look how dim the altar area is. Imagine if, instead of an f/2.8 lens to play with, I only had f/4 or slower.

20061126_185939_DPP.JPG


As your lenses are slower than f/2.8 (much slower if you zoom in) then you'll be looking at 1600 ISO and/or some very dodgy shutter speeds, with the likelyhood of camera shake and/or subject blur. Noise is easier to fix in post than blur so if you have to go to 1600 ISO then do it. Unless you can be certain that your subjects will remain motionless you should not let your shutter speed fall below 1/60 if you can avoid it.

You'll also want to make sure that odd bright patches like stained glass windows or candles in the background don't throw off your exposure, so you will probably be best off with manual exposure at something like 1600 ISO, f/4 and 1/60 for the indoor shots. Best to check it out in advance though, so you are comfortable with the settings, and the results.

p.s. shoot in raw so that you have the most flexibility to adjust white balance and even exposure, a little, without detriment to the IQ.
 
I fear you will struggle with the kit I see listed, especially if flash is banned. Ideally go and scout the location and see whether you can get satisfactory results, and what you need to do to get them

I just asked the wife if I could upgrade my kit:naughty: I will let you guess the awnser:'(:(

Thanks for the advice in the post though, really helpful:thumbs: I am hoping to get down to the venue the day before and take a few shots......try and work of sufficent settings etc. I am still in my first year of photgraphy so it is a bit daunting, but I guess everybody has to start somewhere:)

Once again thanks for all the help everybody. Anymore advice / Tips is much appreciated:thumbs:
 
Have you spoke to the vicar and asked if you would be allowed to take pictures at certain times? It's worth asking because some places are more strict than others.
 
Have you spoke to the vicar and asked if you would be allowed to take pictures at certain times? It's worth asking because some places are more strict than others.

Not yet mate, I only agreed to do it yesterday......I am hoping to get some more info over the next few days:thumbs:
 
if the missus changes her mind and lets you upgrade then i would recommend a 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 for this although i dont know what kit you have. heres a couple of pics i did using my canon EF 1.4 50mm

georgia-isabella-0019.jpg


georgia-isabella-0027.jpg


georgia-isabella-0013.jpg
 
My concern for your gear was due to the reputation for noise that Nikons (before the D300 and D3) have at very high ISOs, so I just quickly did a bit of research (I'm a Canon man so don't have first hand experience of Nikon high ISOs) and I reckon you'll be OK at 1600 ISO. Here are some example shots with a D40 at 1600....

http://www.pixel-peeper.com/cameras...one&exp_min=none&exp_max=none&res=3&digicam=0

Here's a specific example, shot at 1600 ISO, f/4 and 1/5". The full size original does look pretty rough and noisey, bu that cleans up well when not viewed at 100%. It's no 5D but it should get you printable shots.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cindytong/2063889389/sizes/l/.

So, you should be able to get some reasonable results at 1600 ISO. The next problem, though, is that at f/4 that picture needed 1/5" exposure.

Here's another one, this time at 1600 ISO, f/1.4 and 1/125. Great shutter speed, but look at the aperture! You'd be running at around 1/15 with your kit.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fermata_daily/1465619127/sizes/l/

Hopefully you will have better lighting, but you really might need to borrow a 50 f/1.8 and zoom with your feet. Still, it depends what the lighting is actuallly like at your venue.
 
I know it's leaving it late, but your other option may be to hire a lens off of StewartR just for the occasion. (www.lensesforhire.co.uk).

It doesn't look like Sunday is going to be particularly suny in most parts of the UK, so the ambient light may be a problem,

Good luck !

Steve
 
Hi carp addict, i would suggest a 50mm 1.8(can be got from kerso for bout £75 i think), it will really help if no flash allowed and not too expensive. i think you will also get quite a bit of use out of it afterwards as well, failing that, hiring a lens from stewartr would help.

how did you get on with speaking to the priest??
 
It's £80 at Jessops for collect in store. Knock off ~3% if you reserve online through Quidco and then go to pick it up.

There is a point to watch for with a 50mm lens - 75mm equivalent, factoring in the crop. If you have clear line of sight to your subjects then all well and good, but if you are elbow to elbow with thronging point and shoot snappers, with their 35mm equivalent wide angles, they will be able to move in closer, and probably will, and that will give you some lovely pictures of the backs of their heads. So you need to work out your angles and opportunities, and possibly stake your claim as the "offical" tog and ask people to move out of the way - or have a small step ladder handy.

One sneaky idea, depending on how dedicated you are to doing the best you can - if there is another christening on, some time before your event, see if you can sneak in and have a butchers at the whole setup - where people get stood, how the scenario unfolds etc.. That way you'll know the best vantage points and where to be when the going gets tough.

One more point on exposures - assuming a white or off white christening gown, I'm sure capturing the details of that will be every bit as important as the wedding dress on a bride. So whatever you do, do not blow out the gown. Like I said, shoot raw, and also make sure you check your histogram and look for blinkies (I assume the D40 has that feature).
 
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