Shooting Church Stained Glass HELP!!!

Gladiator

Senior Member
Hello all,

Next month I will be shooting some stained glass in a cathedral including some in areas not usually opened to the public. I have no idea what weather we'll have and what light i'll have shinning through those glasses.

Will be using a D700 and 28-70mm /3.5-4.5D and a 70-300mm 4.5/5.6mm VR and of course a tripod.

If any of you have had some experience shooting stained glass, what set-up should i start with? Do i need to tinker with EV, what metering should i use (spot, center weighted, etc), should i meter off a dark or light color glass (if spot)...

That particular time i will concentrate on the windows not including the rest of the cathedral unless i see an awesome ray of light beaming down...

Thanks in advance.
Ronald
 
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Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
:-( Not sure i wanna go that route unless really necessary.

I understand but the problem will be the great difference between in interior and the light from the windows. If you'll be allowed to use a tripod, it will be relatively simple. And you don't have to use HDR to be over dramatic.
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
I understand but the problem will be the great difference between in interior and the light from the windows. If you'll be allowed to use a tripod, it will be relatively simple

I completely agree with Eduard. Below is a shot of a church window which I processed in HDR because I wanted trees outside and the beautiful blue wall inside. Even if you think you don't want to do hdr, shoot (auto bracket) as if you would. I strongly believe in NEVER limiting your options. Let me know if you want to see the non-hdr photos of this window and I'll post them someplace else. . . don't want to bore anybody.

_DSC0049_50_51_52_53_tonemapped.jpg
 

jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
I shot a lot of church windows when I was in Rome and Paris. Unfortunately I didn't have a tripod with me, but some of them came out fairly good. Here's one of Sainte-Chapelle:
DSC_0076%20copy.jpg

ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/20 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Focal Length: 10mm

Two things I would've done differently - Tripod and RAW mode (RAW because I would've liked to adjust them more without distortion)
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
Gladiator, I agree with Eduard and Helene. This style of shooting is a great opportunity for HDR. I would do most of the shooting bracketed. Three shots, one under, one normal, and one over. That way you have the option of doing an HDR. I would use center weighted metering and expose for the windows. I think you will find the 28-70mm lens will give you the best shots. Tripod mounted I would use an ISO of 200, f/11, Aperture Priority, one stop bracketed, with cable release. The f/11 should give you optimal depth of field. If you have time and tripod mounted I would get some shots using a CPL filter. That should make the colors in the windows really pop. I would also shoot some of the brackets with a two stop difference.

Helene, very good HDR of that window.
 

Gladiator

Senior Member
Gladiator, I agree with Eduard and Helene. This style of shooting is a great opportunity for HDR. I would do most of the shooting bracketed. Three shots, one under, one normal, and one over. That way you have the option of doing an HDR. I would use center weighted metering and expose for the windows. I think you will find the 28-70mm lens will give you the best shots. Tripod mounted I would use an ISO of 200, f/11, Aperture Priority, one stop bracketed, with cable release. The f/11 should give you optimal depth of field. If you have time and tripod mounted I would get some shots using a CPL filter. That should make the colors in the windows really pop. I would also shoot some of the brackets with a two stop difference.

Helene, very good HDR of that window.
Thank all!!!

Oh i'm in no way against HDR, i just don't know how to do it... the bracketing is probably the easier part, and if i read correctly, if i use a polarizing filter i bracket with 2 stops difference and without filter only 1 stop difference right?? Also is lightroom 3 a program i can create HDRs with? I do have Photoshop but it's not installed and i'm not too familar with it.

When you create an HDR and merge all 3 shots (is the result still a RAW or is it a JPEG), do you then post process the result as you would a RAW file in Lightroom 3?

I'm glad i have a weeks before doing this so i can practice a bit. Oh and Helene, yes i would love to see the non HDR copy of that picture, thanks.

One last thing, should i lock the mirror up at all or since i'm in a controlled environement it would be overkill?
 
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ohkphoto

Snow White
i would love to see the non HDR copy of that picture

The photos I used are in my blog.

Lightroom requires a plug-in for the software you use for HDR. If you have CS5 installed (and I think LR will point automatically to it in the "edit in"), you simply select the 5 photos (in LR) you want to combine, go to "edit in" and you'll see a selection for "merge to HDR" and then you tweak it to your liking. I don't like the photoshop process as much as I like Photomatix.
What is always so cool with lightroom is that the process is non-destructive. Your original raw files remain untouched. HDR program creates a new file from the images (with photomatix it's a TIFF)

This is about as close as you will get to that magical moment in the old darkroom when the photo appears! The only way to learn it is to simply jump in and do it.

NIK Software has just released their HDR software which I plan to check out (since I love all of their other products. I know you can download it for a 15 day trial and actually have a finished product that you can use (I think Photomatix trials leave a watermark on their demo files)

I immediately bracket my photos for HDR when I shoot landscapes or any other situations where there is broad range of tonal values.

There are others on the forum who are really masters at HDR (Eduard, Anthony) and I'm sure they can explain or demo it better.

As you can see from the photos in my blog, the hdr process really made the photo.

Best Regards
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
There are others on the forum who are really masters at HDR (Eduard, Anthony) and I'm sure they can explain or demo it better.

I didn't mean to leave anybody out in the "HDR master" remark. I need to mention Joseph in there, too, and he always does an exceptional job of explaining processes in detail. There may be others also. Those are just the ones whose photos I've seen lately, and I'm most familiar with.
 
NIK Software has just released their HDR software which I plan to check out (since I love all of their other products. I know you can download it for a 15 day trial and actually have a finished product that you can use (I think Photomatix trials leave a watermark on their demo files)

On that note, use NIKFORUMS as a coupon code when you check out, and you'll get 15% off the cost. :)
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
Gladiator, if your interested in working with HDR now is a good time to start learning it. Unfortunately I can't help you a lot unless you are using Aperture 3. However in general both Lightroom 3 and Aperture 3 both work very similar. If you are using either one of these programs then I would suggest you get the plug-in Photomatix. The instructions will walk you through it's use. I think you will find it a lot easier than you think. If you are using any other PP program you will need the full Photomatix Pro program. Photomatix Pro can handle Nikon NEF RAW files. The resulting HDR can be post processed just like any other photo. In fact I don't use the Photomatix adjustments. I bring the HDR back into Aperture and use those PP adjustments.

Your Nikon will do the bracketing for you with three shots. You can do more than three for a HDR but for now I would stick to the basic three the camera will do for you. Look up the procedure for bracketing in the users manual. Once you have done it several times you will have it down pat. Using a CPL does not change the bracketing exposure. For most of my HDR shots I use a one stop bracket, with or without a CPL. There is an easier way to make an extender exposure with your Nikon than locking up the mirror. Nikon has an exposure delay mode built in just for extended exposures. It will allow the mirror to pull up and then about one second latter the shutter will release. You just have to remember to turn that feature off after using it or the shutter delay will drive you crazy when trying to take normal shots latter on. Hope this helps. If you would please complete your profile with your camera, lens and any other equipment you are using.

PS: The exposure delay mode is d9 in your custom settings menu, see page 302 of the users manual.
 
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