birdman12 Loc: Pinopolis, SC

Even though my hobby and interest is bird photography, my Methodist church has me do the photographing each year for their one week repairing local rundown houses Salkehatchie project. For 5 or 6 days, I have to go to 4 or 5 houses each day to photograph the progress of the work showing the people doing the work. I edit and turn in each day's photographs about 4PM the same day so that they can show them to the volunteer workers that night. The pictures are placed in a brochure at the end of the week for each volunteer to take home with them and a copy of the pictures are carried back to the home churches that provided the volunteers. The volunteers include adults as well as many youths. My church manages the repairs, provides sleeping facilities, provides the meals, etc. each year for the project.

I don't have time to think of settings or changing them when I am taking pictures. I have to grab what I can while they are doing the work. The workers are in and out of the houses as well as over and under them. I will be using my Canon 7D mk. II, with an EFS 18-135 mm lens and a Canon Speedlite 430EX II. I plan to just turn the speedlite off when I feel that I have enought light and back on when I need it.

To make this as simple as possible and have the best pictures in this situation, what would you suggest for settings starting with the mode setting? Do I use Auto, Program, Manual, etc.? ISO auto? Drive setting? Other advice? I have been doing a lot of studying on this but still don't feel that I have a good answer. I appreciate very much you suggestions and help. Thanks.

fotoman150

Put the camera in manual. Keep your ISO low like 100 or 200. If you want more dramatic shots keep your f stop low 4.0-5.6 for that lens. Then guess at the shutter speed and do a test shot. Check the histogram and adjust. Then just keep shooting and adjusting the shutter speed. Only raise the ISO if you get into low light. You may have to shoot in ISO 400 for that lens. Only use flash if you have to. Maybe if you want to fill in shadows if the sun is shining. Your shots will look better if you don’t use harsh flash directly on the subject.

Having the camera in auto will get the job done but will make your shots look snap shotty. They probably won’t care but they will ooh and ahh more if you control the camera yourself. You have time to change the settings. Don’t be lazy. Take creative control.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

Back in June, I found myself in a similar situation. My nephew asked me to photograph his graduation and commissioning into the Air Force. I had shot weddings long, long ago but since going digital in that last eight months, I have been focused on birds, landscape, architecture, etc. I found that using Program mode, AI Servo, and auto ISO gave me the freedom to swap out lenses as needed. I also used back-button focus rather than the half-press shutter for focusing. With Program you can override the aperture or shutter speed as you wish. I also used a flash as needed, with a diffuser, for those "portrait" shots where I didn't want a lot of shadow.

C. R. Smith
Angel Star Photography
www.angelstarphotography.com

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Are you taking shots of the volunteers doing the work? If so, be sure the church has had them sign releases. When I do this, I often find that setting up shots is useful. The volunteers love to be identifiable in the final photo. If you’re doing a lot of shots in a short time you make find it easier to set the ISO up a bit, maybe 400, and shoot aperture priority with a decent f stop for adequate depth of field. I’d also leave the flash on (with a dome diffuser) for interior shots, and set down about 1.3 stops for fill. A few selective focus shots will provide some pop, and some nice wide angle views of the finished product should be shot straight, like any real estate photo.

I also do this for my non-profit and other agencies. My hat is off to both you and your church. Kudos on a great project!

Andy

Vietnam Vet

remember the shutter speed will affect the ambient light when using a flash. So if your flash is set correctly on the workers and you want more light on the background, use a longer shutter speed. If the background is too bright then use a faster shutter speed.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

Along with this, depending upon what image you want to create, you may need to switch to high-speed sync ocassionally on the flash. I had moments where I wanted to retain some of the background light while still creating a decent image of the subject(s). There was still much to consider even though I handed off a good portion of the settings to the camera's AI but that could be due to my desire to go for mostly candid shots and in the process creativity and innovation swamped me.

C. R. Smith (Charles)
Angel Star Photography
www.angelstarphotography.com

Richard Becker

I shoot pictures all the time for my church and for some Habitat for Humanity projects. I'm using a Nikon D7200 with an 18-200 zoom. Perhaps I'm "lazy" or "efficient", but I set the camera completely on automatic--ISO, shutter speed and aperture and shoot. If I'm shooting during a church service, I turn the flash off. For the final prints, I usually crop the pictures and make them into 8 1/2 x 11 collages in Microsoft publisher and label the individuals, places, dates and any other info that will identify the picture for viewing sometime in the future (after you've forgotten all the details). This can also become a part of the church history so make a copy with labels for the church archives. I would also encourage you (or have someone else) write a short story about each project as it happens. If not, the stories of the projects change with each rendition--just like fish stories.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

That (in my opinion) is the wrong way to look at light.


A speedlight is used to get more light into a scene but more importantly, to get BETTER light into a scene. Just because there is enough light doesn't mean it's good light.

Up your game...use the speedlight to control the quality of light.

My advice.

Put your camera on Auto (A or AE I guess) and the flash on TTL and bounce it over your shoulder or sideways depending on the subject and where you want the light.

You don't seem like you have enough experience to handle shooting manual in fast situations and there is no shame in AE and TTL at this point.

ronz Loc: Florida

After 8 years shooting as a volunteer for church and another non-profit, listen to what Andy suggested. They are probably going to use these photos for a bulletin or slide show, it is not like shooting portraits so they don't need to look like studio portraits. Do however, get a model release for the subjects, believe me it is important for you and the church. I keep my professional life separate but I always get releases. That is a good project they have ask you to shoot.

hj Loc: Florida

Isn't getting releases for this type situation a bit of overkill? Not selling the pics for commercial gain.

LCD

Suggestion: Mark a spot somehow and take a photo from it each day using the same lens and zoom. I've never tried it, but it seems worth the attempt.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

You have been given a lot of advice ... here's mine. Put the camera on Auto and take the pictures. You've not been asked to create works of art, these are "Record" shots; they are to show the work being done. I'm sure the workers are enjoying what they are doing and so should you be able to enjoy your contribution. If you get bogged down in technique or worry about camera settings, you will be putting unnecessary pressure on yourself. What ever you take, they will like, don't worry about it. As for learning and thinking ... look at each days pictures with an eye to improving your composition. Your pictures will improve and you will enjoy what you are doing.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

I believe you hit the nail on the head.

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

I assume that a Canon 7D Mk 11 is a decent (expensive) camera. You seem to have taken part in this project before (?). What advice could I, a retired Professional (Nikon) Photographer offer, that you should already know? You have more insider knowledge about the project than I will ever know. Just get on with it, stop whining.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

I'd take a different approach. This photos are likely not for blowing up but simply watching the progress. Basically saying don't worry about the ISO. Go manual shutter 1/125 maybe 1/250 to catch the little movement of the workers(assuming you want them in focus) set aperture 5.6 maybe 8 and set AUTO ISO. Let the camera pick the ISO and you simply take the shots and not have to play with dials. An ISO of 1000 or even 2000 is not terrible. Sometimes I think people go a bit nuts over minimal ISP when modern sensors handle it very well.