So… You’re a photographer and everyone at your church knows it. They approach you one day and ask if you’ll consider doing photos for a special service such as Christmas, Easter, July 4th, etc. in addition to other events surrounding those holidays. Anybody can take snapshots. So instead of giving them the typical things one would see in almost any service, be creative. Do something people will remember. Stand out. The best part is, it’s not difficult. Taking great and creative photos at church events won’t happen by accident. You have to be intentional.
Here are several things to keep in mind…
1. Be Prepared
You could have attended 104 weekend services in a row but attending a service is far different than being in the middle of a service attempting to get good images. Did you check what lighting would be like? Did you reserve a couple of seats up front for yourself? Do people know you’re going to be getting a camera close to them? Do you know the order of service? All of these details are critical to being able to do what you want effectively.
2. Church, Equipment, and You
At my church, we do a live drive through nativity for 3 nights during Christmas and then we have 4 Christmas Eve services. When the idea came up to create images for those events and activities in between, I knew I would need a serious wide angle lens and a fast telephoto because I would be shooting with very low light.
I was able to secure an 11-16mm f2.8 wide angle and a 70-200mm f2.8 telephoto to do what I needed. That’s about $2200 worth of glass. We got it for around $200. How? By renting. Renting photo equipment is less expensive than you think. Check out both lensrentals.com and borrowlenses.com
3. Capture Emotion
Photos of people looking disinterested make for uninteresting photos.
4. Look for Editorial Content
If your church does something that serves the community or something else “big”, then make sure you capture something a local newspaper could use in a story.
The image to the right captured elements of both the living nativity but also the people viewing it to get a sense of what it is like.
5. Go Wide!
Make sure you get your hands on a wide angle lens.
It can help in many ways. When taking some photos of the band during a rehearsal, I was getting typical boring shots of the drummer who was in a corner behind plexiglass.
Then I had an idea. I put the wide angle lens on, and simply reached over the plexiglass sound wall and grabbed the following image.
The wide angle also allowed me to capture the outside of our church in twilight.
6. Be Ready for Anything
When I was getting some images of the animals in the nativity, most ignored me and were happy to chew on stuff around them.
One of them however, got very nosy and got mere inches from my lens. Kids of course, loved this image.
Most of all, have fun!
Share your tips (or thoughts) on taking great and creative photos at church events.
David Holzemer says
These are great tips.. thought I’d add a couple more..
During the actual performance… DON”T USE A FLASH …. If you got to flash.. shoot a dress rehearsal.
Be the person in all Black. The reason stage people ware black is so the audience is less drawn to them and stay focused on the performance. A White tee-shirt is a Huge No No 🙂
If you can change the ISO on your camera, don’t be afraid to crank it up to like 800 – 1600.. that with the good glass you rented will make a big difference.
Brian Alexander says
Great tips..sometimes it’s hard to balance between when is a good time to take pictures during a service, like in the middle of a really intense moment of worship, verses when the preacher is just up there talking. Thanks for the tips.
JayCaruso says
Yeah I’ve struggled with that too early on. I thought my Pastor would not want to hear the shutter when he paused during speaking and found that most times they won’t notice unlike with a flash. It’s nice because if you only shoot when they’re speaking is usually when you’re capturing them with their mouths wide open or some other silly face.
David Holzemer says
Couple other idea’s… Use that zoom lens from the middle or back of the church if your worried about interrupting the sermon. That keeps any shutter noise down and the only one’s you’ll annoy will be the congregation … and they have to love you..right 🙂
Also there is usually a moment that happen as your pastor is preaching where there is a pause or the height of the action.. that’s where you shoot continuous shots .. and if you’ve been at your church long, you know your pastors mannerism and you know when he’s going to pause for a point to sink in, etc.. You just have to trust yourself a little… so find your spot and compose your shot and wait.. as soon as that pause in the action hits.. fire-away.. I’ll bet you do better then you think you would
Kyle Reed says
What camera do you use Jay?
JayCaruso says
Nikon D80.
PhillipGibb says
yeah, great tips.
How do you deal with low light? My church has this love affair with making the room as dark as a movie theater and using coloured light for stage illumination (not just effect). leaving either the need for a flash of extremely slow shutter speed.
JayCaruso says
Phil, I feel you bro. That image of my worship pastor and the choir looks bright but in our church, we don’t have an elaborate lighting setup so it’s pretty dim overall. The solution is:
1. High ISO. Newer cameras can deal with it better. The choir shot above was probably done at 1600 ISO but I probably used an f-stop of about 2.8 or better just to be able to get a fast enough shutter speed.
2. Fast lenses. Primes are your best bet as they can go to 1.8, 1.4 and even 1.2 — 1.4 and 1.2 are WAY expensive, but if renting is an option, go for it.
3. Better camera body. The Nikon D700 and D3 can easily shoot ISO 3200 and look great as well as go up to ISO 6400 and still look good. It’s insane.
Check out this guy’s concert photos. He shoots with a Nikon D3 and most of the time is shooting ISO 3200. Of course, expense is an issue. The D700 costs about $2500 USD and the Nikon D3s costs about $5000. The Nikon D3 costs $7000.
Marcus Williamson says
That’s a good word. All of it
Andy Darnell says
Gonna try to do a photo shoot this Sunday. If only there was a photographer, possibly from the Atlantic coast in Florida. who happened to be on vacation in the Atlanta area that could come over and do it.