Shooting a church choir

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Donki

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Ian
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Ok, so was at church on Sunday night, my friend has just graduated as a minister and they were having a service for him, haven't been to church in ages so got to see a few old faces. The church organist came up, who is freindly with my mother and started talking to me about photography and so on then asked me if I would take a few shots of the choir together. I said I would be happy to but that I really hadn't done much work like that. I mostly do landscapes a few portraits of friends and family and like doing wedding candids purely as a hobby.

So a little advice from some of the pros on here would be good. There is about 10-15 in the choir so not very big. I would say they will want the pictures done in the church which I am already seeing problems with as its a tight floor space and it has very little natural light which is my biggest concern.

My thinking on the setup will be camera on tripod, ISO dependant on the lighting situation probably around 400, aperture prioity dialed in at 8 - 12 and my flash (difused) on camera for some fill.

Am I along the right lines here? I am more of a try it and see than a planner but would like to be somewhat professional in what I am doing.

Another thing, its a pretty old school church so I would say they will be wanting the standard men at the back, ladies at the front lined up in height but I would liek to try something a little different and get a few shots. The church does have a balconey so was thinking of utilising it for a shot from above, anyone any more creative ideas. Also could I narrow down the DOF to make the choir really pop out or does that not really work for these kind of shots?

Again all advice welcome.

My usable kit is 40D, Canon 10-22, Tamron 28-75mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8 and Canon 430EXII.
 
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actually had a read this time!
sounds like a tricky gig, I think some flash would be handy and then be careful with your lens choice, maybe the middle of the 10-22 lens. the reason being is that any curvature on the verticals will be really obvious in a church.
can you use off camera flash? cables or remote?
also any depth of field would have to be done head on to the choir unless you have half of them out of field.
I would setup 2-3 flashes and remote if you have the option or kit you can borrow.
Also the high angle usual balcony shots are good for groups if you want something a little different.
is it possible to practise with a few people or friends first? to check out the lighting and what is possible?
I find with things like this that is it difficult to get an even spread of light across the whole subject area..
 
Hi Ian, I had a shoot for a local rugby club and about 40 people turned up and when it was time for the photograph they started lining up in the usual way, but obviously this was going to be difficult to get them all in. So what I did was took them outside on the pitch and set them up in a triangle then went up onto the clubhouse balcony and bingo! one photo which came out really well, with everyone looking up at the camera there were no faces blocked out by the person in front.
 
DizMatt said:
actually had a read this time!
sounds like a tricky gig, I think some flash would be handy and then be careful with your lens choice, maybe the middle of the 10-22 lens. the reason being is that any curvature on the verticals will be really obvious in a church.
can you use off camera flash? cables or remote?
also any depth of field would have to be done head on to the choir unless you have half of them out of field.
I would setup 2-3 flashes and remote if you have the option or kit you can borrow.
Also the high angle usual balcony shots are good for groups if you want something a little different.
is it possible to practise with a few people or friends first? to check out the lighting and what is possible?
I find with things like this that is it difficult to get an even spread of light across the whole subject area..
Click to expand...


Thanks for the advice I do have a remote trigger but only one flash I am afraid, I was playing around with it last night and find it difficult to set manually to get the right fill, I will continue to experiment. whats the best way to find the right settings? This is always something I have wanted to get into so this seems like a good time to start. the curch only usually has a guy with a P&S so would like to get them some good results. I may get a few people together this week and head over to have a good look around, its been 6 years since I was in the church since Sunday night lol.

If I was taking the standard group shot not be ok with an on camera flash, I would say it will be 2 rows of 6-7 people.

As for the lens, the 10-22 can be a little distored at 10-15 but light room can make a pretty good job of correcting, if I was using it i would be trying for 16mm upwards.
 
AFC said:
Hi Ian, I had a shoot for a local rugby club and about 40 people turned up and when it was time for the photograph they started lining up in the usual way, but obviously this was going to be difficult to get them all in. So what I did was took them outside on the pitch and set them up in a triangle then went up onto the clubhouse balcony and bingo! one photo which came out really well, with everyone looking up at the camera there were no faces blocked out by the person in front.
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking too, the church is pretty compact and the only free space really is in front of the choir section with 3 balconeys on either side to pick from. What sort of angle where you at 45degrees? Shallower? Steeper?

Cheers Martin
 
Errr, thats a good question Ian...:lol: erm, I suppose I was between 45 and 90 degrees, never really thought of it.
 
I will give it a go, fire off a few and see what they look like, just want to do well as I could possibly asked to do other stuff in the chuirch which would be good practice. I usually have no problem chatting away to folk and stuff but put a camera in my hand and start asking people to go her and there and I suddenly feel really awkward.
 
A good thread this Ian :)

Without seeing the Church, without seeing the light on the day (as light in Churches can vary massively) it's difficult to pencil out an exact set of actions.

But, if it were me -

I would certainly consider getting the group outside and use the Church as a backdrop. This will give identity to the group i.e X Choir in front of X Church.

If you have to do the shot inside, then keep things simple. You may not even have to use OCF - see if you can bounce the flash. Obviously in many Churches this is not a possibility, but worth a try. If using OCF, I would do it on axis (but above your head) to avoid any unwanted shadows. With group shots, keep things simple - you can get creative once you've nailed a safe shot :) Have you got any light modifiers?

As well as the group shot, I'd be tempted to get some isolated shots of individual members using narrow DOF. As a member of the audience I had little room for creativity, but all of the following were shot at f2.8.

Hope it goes well.

Dav
 
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Cheers dave, loving the images in your link, they are candid looking ones I like taking myself your DOF is superb! I will be doing the shoot after one of thier practices so could nip across early and get a few, hoping they end up like urs!

To be honest the church though old with wooden pews has quite large windows and walls are white so may not be as bad, I will see if I can get therethis week on my own and plan what I want to do first.

Light modifiers, I have the little plastic diffuser that came with the flash :) and also the trusty piece of white card for throwing the light forward. I would liek to keep the pictures as natural as possible. Flash theroy and practice is one of my weakest points but hopefully through little jobs like this I will get to grips with it.

Yeah totally agree with the nailing the "school class photo look" nailed first which I think should besimple enough with OCF and aperture stopped down. Then will try a few more things.

Whats the largest aperture I dare use for 2 rows of people? I know this is dependant on focal lengh but I shouldnt think I will be over 30mm?

Also dav you got any good tips for setting up the OCF, im guessing this is simple a manual setting for the conditions?

Thansk everyone so far.
 
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I'm no expert in lighting groups like this (though I have dabbled before), but from what I've read....

I belive the basic approach is to meter for ambient, and the control flash to suit..

Your aperture will be the limiting factor, followed by trying to keep the shutter speed sensible and the ISO below silly numbers.
And then do some test shots to work out the power of the flash.

The choir shouldn't mind too much if you spend a couple of minutes firing half a dozen test shots, so long as you warn them first!
 
Personally I'd get down the church and practice when nobody is around if possible. that'll take the heat out of the day.*

On the day, you'll know the min aperture to get all in focus, keep the shutter at about 1/125th. Dial in the min ISo and let the flash do the work if on camera using ttl. *If you are using ocf and don't have ttl, then adjust flash accordingly.*

Good luck.

Dav
 
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