New Church study #1 High-Key diffuse? (108k)

Canon Fan · Jan 31, 2006

Recently I have decided to asign myself a church study to get a better understanding and technique for shooting and editing upcoming wedding shoots this year. I have researched a TON of high end "fine art" wedding photogs and have a feel for the style I would like to accomplish. This one is not without it's problems I am sure but I think it is the best of the bunch from the last two days of shuffling through my test shots from last friday and first stab(s) at this kind of editing.

I guess with this particular photo I am looking mainly for pointers on the toning and color. What do you think?

Arch · Jan 31, 2006

I really like the effect you've gone for here and i think its good for an interior church shot. However my only concearns would be the effect the exposure would have if there were people in the shot, which as it is a wedding your focusing on there probably would be. The seating area for example is very dark, so that may cause a problem in a wedding situation. Its good to get the atmosphere of the venue which you have done well here, but at the price of dark shadows on peoples faces?

Dawn Roberts · Jan 31, 2006

Beautiful location, that's for sure. Next time, is it possible for you to take a model in white? Having a "bride" actually there is going to change things quite a bit.

Alexandra · Jan 31, 2006

imo, the windows are a tad bit too blown out for my taste.
but i do love the colors and the rest of the pic. i think you've done a nice job on this one

Eightball Walker · Jan 31, 2006

The colors are great and I love the way they play out on the walls, the windows do seem a bit blown out though... As for dark seating, if you were just going for this one shot to get the feel of the entire wedding it would be great, with the focus on no one person but all the people in the church. Basically I think it would look awesome packed with people for a wedding except for the blown out windows.

Tsimiri · Jan 31, 2006

Nice pic, the ceiling is fantastic! Nice work.

-Fiona

hazelwestphoto · Jan 31, 2006

What lens were you using?

Canon Fan · Feb 1, 2006

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I spotted the windows as a problem pretty early on although I ended up leaving them the way they are in this rendition because I personally liked the (probably overuse) of diffusion. I think the window blow-outs were exaggerated largely due to the fact that I did the diffusion on the Luminance channel only and didn't limit the highlights. I'll be doing this one over again Im sure (I aready have a few others of this image).

Hardware/image info~

Canon EOS 10D
Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 APO HSM (shot at 12mm- 19mm equiv)
ISO-800 1/10 (handheld) .jpg, LG, FINE

Post info~
NR with Neat Image PRO+
About 10% perspective correction in PS2
Diffuse Glow (LAB color on Luminace Channel only)

PS- For those in the know, yes I have since learned easier ways to do this type of diffuse without having to switch to LAB color:blushing: Ahh the process of learning

markc · Feb 1, 2006

I wouldn't mind having either blown out windows or dark seat, but both doesn't work well for me. There isn't much here with a medium exposure for my eye to work with. The extra softness emphasizes this. I like composition. Having a person or two would be my preference also.

markc · Feb 2, 2006

Now that my monitor is displaying correctly...

Okay, now I see that the walls are actually exposed well. One thing I realize now is that my eyes are drawn up by the brightness, but at least the altar also has a pull. I think this might work well when you have people in there.

Canon Fan · Feb 7, 2006

Thanks Marc that is the premise. I did want to explore the toning and exposure possibilities of shooting different church settings before the wedding season fully kicks off but realized that they will really only be test photo's that are no where near perfect until I actually have people in the frame. So until then this is as close as I can get

but, it should help me to better understand where I need to be when the time comes.

With this one I really was going for overall mood and figured there would be no true focal point to it because of the lack of people. Also the main lights were turned off on this day so that accounts for some of the darkness over the seats. I have been inside this curch when they are on and they seem to add 3/4 to 1 f/stop on the seats which should be enough to bring a shot like this to completion?

ShutteredEye · Feb 7, 2006

I like the pull of the windows to the upper part of the image. The point of this kind of shot is to document the church, not necessarily the bride and groom. A wide shot like this goes a long way to capture the over all feeling of the ceremony, sort of a "In this place" type feeling. Obviously you want the bride and groom to be discernable, and it would be nice to catch the crowd in the pews, but I think this type of shot is to emphasize their venue. And I think it does a great job of that. It's a beautiful church, with awesome high ceilings and windows, and that comes across wonderfully.

The windows being blown don't bother me at all. In fact they add an ethereal feel to the church which is a good thing IMO.

Langs · Feb 20, 2006

not to bring the thread down.. but im a huge game person and that picture looks like some of the future ideas with the high lighting within games possibly with new technology... i like the picture alot besides the gaming point!