Photo tips for churches
 

I'm looking forward to a return trip to Italy where I was fascinated by the opulence of the great churches and cathedrals. Last time, my pics were ok but it's hard with low lighting. Any tips? Tripods really aren't practical.

In the old, pre-digital days we used high speed film to compensate for low light when flash was not permitted. On your digital camera there may be a setting for such conditions - check your user's guide.

Without the use of manual functions I find that simply turning off the flash and finding a place to lean my camera against (pillar, wall or top of chair) to keep it absolutely still turns out pretty good photos. This is inferior to adjusting the settings manually, but this is a simple way to get decent photos with an auto point and shoot.

A few tips
1) If you have not already purchased, buy a camera with the widest angle lens at the short end, for example 28-65mm, will be better than 35-80mm. Not sure what the digital equivalents are , but if you go to a half decent camera shop they will know the difference.


2) If using the camera handheld you have 3 choices to improve the sharpness of the image 1) brace your arms to steady the camera or place the camera on a solid surface like a pew;even lean against a post for portrait style shots 2) use the IS (image stabilisation) function on your camera to steady the image 3) increase the ISO setting on the camera, this will increase the shutter speed when the camera is set to aperture priority mode, and increase the images sharpness. Note- a wide angle image is easier to steady then an image taken at the long end of the zoom range.
A combination of the 3 points above may be required, depending on camera settings and available light.

A little practice with the flash turned off inside your house before your trip should improve your images.

Another point to keep in mind; increasing the ISO setting on your camera will increase noise levels, and the image wil start to appear grainy at higher settings. The quality of the image at higher ISO settings is different for each camera , so make sure you check the quality of your images at the higher iso settings prior to your trip.

navgator, you seem like a photography afficionado. may i ask you a question re: choice of 32mm films. when would you use 100 speed vs 200 or 400 speed films (let's just assume they're all priced the same)? what camera do you use when you're travelling? thanks !

Get a Fujifilm digital compact F30, F31fd or F40fd. They take great indoor pictures without flash, with up to ISO 1600 speed with little noise. I've taken many great shots inside churches if there's enough light to see with naked eyes.

If you're still using film for travel, 400 is a good "compromise" ISO that's fast enough for some indoor shots while not too grainy. If you know you'll be taking a lot of interior shots on your trip, then maybe 800.

1600 film are usually too grainy.

Or you can get two cameras, or learn how to change films mid-roll. Or shoot whole roll inside a church, then change film and shot slower film outside.

Many new Fuji cameras have excellent low-light high-ISO performance. But they also don't have IS.

If one's only taking static interior shots, then IS is as effective as high ISO. But high-ISO is much better if you need to take action/movement shots in the dark, as the high ISO setting allows you to use a faster shutter speed to capture the movements.

Different take, different purpose. Of course, if Fuji will put IS on their compact cameras, they'd be a killer.

I should have said a faster shutter speed will allow one to "stop" the movement.

No flash photography.

My trick with my digital camera is to use the self timer in low light settings.
I find that hard as I try to hold still, just depressing the shutter shakes the camera.
If I use the self timer (mine gives the option for a 3 or 10 second delay) and then hold still, I get a better photo.

rkkwan,
thanks for your detailed reply. yes, i still use my 35mm camera on occasion. i agree, the 400 ISO is good compromise. re: changing films midroll, how do you do that? thanks for your reply !

Has anybody tried the Panasonic Lumix with the Leica lens and Image Stabilization? I've just started trying to read up on this digital camera.

I have been using a
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07 since last fall and find it very good in bright lighting conditions,but lees so in low light.The image stabilization only works up to ISO 200 and if you bump up the ISO setting to anything over 400 image quality noticeably deteriorates.

What it does have that is nice is a 28mm wide angle lens.Good for those tight interior shots.

I have now replaced this camera with a Cannon SD 800IS which also has a 28mm lens but does a much better job than the Panasonic in low light conditions.

Here are some shots from my trip to Germany/Austria taken last December.They were almost all taken with the Panasonic FX07

http://tinyurl.com/2jbe9t

My husband is very steady and takes pretty good photos our digital in low light situations (often with the help of holding the camera against a pillar, wall, bridge, bench, etc.).

However I find that I can improve the quality of these photos in Photoshop after I return from the trip. I've learned to never delete what I think might be a bad photo until I've had the chance to try all the tricks in Photoshop to make it better.

I'm sure there are other photo editing programs that could also help with this problem.

There are lots of stuff one can fix in post-processing, including exposure and noise. But in general, it's very hard or impossible to fix shake.

Exposure is especially easy if one's shooting in RAW format.

In difficult situation, I always always review - zooming in - the picture immediately after shooting. If there's shake, reshoot. If still not good, bump up the shutter speed, even if it may result in an underexposed picture.

I do the same as Kristina. I use the self timer function to eliminate the camera shake that results from you pressing down the button. I thought of the idea last year and a friend poo-poohed it but I tried some samples with and without the timer anyway. It's not perfect but it definitely helped. I've also stabilized the camera on my husband's head. It's pretty hard ;-:

Or if all else fails, give a little money to the church and take some of their postcards with spectacular interior shots.

And don't forget that in many Italian churches - Rome in particular - there are coin-operated spot lights on many of the famous art works. They usually take €0.5 coins - make a huge difference! ;)

I will def try the self-timer idea on my P&S. I have a digital SLR, but I just hate to wag it because of its size.

Hi P,

>Last time, my pics were ok but it's hard with low lighting. Any tips? <

What's your camera?

((I))

anaheimwoman, which camera do you have? I haven't had much to do with compact film cameras for about 6 yrs now,but at the time, most were recommending the use of 400 speed film anyway. 100 speed has the finest grain, and the colors are a little more punchy. The grain in 400 speed film these days is not noticable on 6 by 4 prints and you would struggle to notice the difference on larger prints. I have a 12 by 18 inch print from 400 film hanging in my house, which looks great, so I would recommend using 400 film for your whole trip. I did this on a trip in 2001 using an slr camera. It really isn't worth the trouble trying to change films midroll etc
As a point of interest, most camera's have a midroll rewind button. the only catch is the film tab is wound fully back into the film (some slr camera's have a function allowing the film end to be left exposed enabling easy reinsurtion back into the camera.)
You can get a 'film leader puller' to retrieve the end, but personally do not think it is worth the trouble.
Just to make a comparison, the grain on a compact digital camera set at iso 400 is alot more than a print using 400 speed film for two reasons
1) the image capture chip in most compact camera's is only 66% the size of the 35mm film, and therefore the image needs to be enlarged an extra 33% to obtain the same size print as 35 mm film. SLR digital camera's have a larger image capture chip and therefore respective prints also have less noise
2)the image capture chip is rated at the lowest iso setting of the camera. therefore if 100 iso is the lowest setting, the camera is actually under exposing the image at higher ISO settings, and using internal software to remove noise from the image. or reducing the number of pixels to achieve the same.
ISO 400 film is designed and manufactured as a 400 speed film and therefore quality is very good in comparison.
For 6 by 4 prints I doubt you would notice any difference between a film or digital image.
Another advantage of sticking with the 400 film is extending your cameras flash range when used.Personally do not recommend this for interiors and as you would know, alot of buildings don't allow flash anyway; but for other situations , it may come in handy.

I own a canon 30d digital slr camera. A bit of a pain to carry around ,but produces great images, particularly if you have a knowledge of its capabilities.

rkkwan makes a good point about sharpening images in photoshop or any other image editing program. It is very hard to sharpen an image which is blurred as a result of movement during image capture, and really is not a compromise to obtaining a clear sharp image out of the camera.Some people say, digital imaging and editing programs have made photography easy, but go out shooting with a pro for a day and you will still see it is an artform requiring alot of practice.

As you have mentioned Ira, it would be nice to know which camera patiboo owns!

Some info about carrying film through airports

http://www.ecophotoexplorers.com/filmtravel.asp

Thanks all, especially Navgator and LoveJoy (for sharing beautiful Germany pics). I justs bought a Canon Es IS, a "bridge" camera - manual controls but not a full DSLR. Good tip about keeping settings at ISO 400 and self-timer.

I thought the ISO 400 recommendation was for film??

The self timer is a good trick.

I usually stabilize the camera on a pew if necessary.

The other thing to watch out for is the windows - you can end up with back light issues if shooting towards a window, so I find that compensating is helpful.

Nice thing about digital camera is that you can switch ISO on the fly, or you can have it left on AUTO on many cameras. That's one of the main benefits over film cameras.

I switch ISO all the time with my dSLR.