Sunlit church interiors

click photo to enlarge
In the days when I took photographs inside churches using a 35mm camera I almost always used a tripod. The older medieval churches and many Victorian buildings, through a combination of small windows and stained glass, have low levels of light, and so a stability aid was often necessary. In churches of the fifteenth and sixteenth century, and in certain later churches, larger windows and less (or more translucent) stained glass sometimes meant that the tripod could be dispensed with. There is a big difference in all churches between a sunny summer day and an overcast winter day, but the general principles outlined above still hold.

When I transferred to digital in 2000 the situation didn't change: a tripod accompanied my church photography. Anyone who has photographed in this way knows that carrying a heavy lump of metal around, and erecting and disassembling it on a regular basis detracts from the pleasure of photography. So, when Olympus introduced in-body image stabilisation in a camera that I was prepared to pay for (the E510), then I gratefully bought one. And I've never looked back. Today I don't often use a tripod. The image above was taken with my compact camera (the LX3). This too has image stabilisation (and a fast f2 lens), so it rarely requires a tripod. The smaller sensor means that it has good depth of field, even when wide open, and its high ISO capabilities are fairly acceptable, so it manages dark interiors quite well: in some respects better than the Olympus.

If I'm photographing church interiors with the architecture in mind I much prefer a bright but sunless day. When there is sunlight throwing shafts and pools of light in a predominantly dark interior the dynamic range of the subject is enormous, and getting detail in the shadows without the sunlit patches turing to white is next to impossible. However, when I'm looking to capture the light and mood of a church interior I often welcome a beam of sunlight through a traceried or leaded window: it makes the old stonework glow, adds an interesting focal point, and sharpens the carved details. It was these qualities that prompted today's photograph of the west corner of the south aisle that holds the font in the church of St Nicholas at Walcot in Lincolnshire. For another of my blog photographs of this church interior see here, and for a full-size version, here (click the image for maximum dimensions).

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Interiors without a tripod

click photo to enlarge
click HERE for full-size image - 3648 X 2736 pixels (2 Mb file)
Many people make the assumption that because I take a lot of photographs I'm interested in cameras. The fact is I'm not. I'm interested in photographs, and cameras only to the extent that they make securing a good image easier. For my needs four things are important - a reasonable price, the ability to finely control the exposure, a reasonably small size for body and lenses, and low light performance.

Price matters because DSLR development hasn't levelled off yet, so replacement and improvement happens more often than it did with film SLRs (and I've got other things I want to spend my money on)! Control of exposure is important because it is the critical factor in securing the image: DSLRs make this easier than most other types of camera. Small size is really critical for me because I walk and cycle a lot with my camera, and the small camera you have with you always secures better images than the (maybe better) bigger camera you leave at home because of its size! Then there's low light performance. Image stabilization is the most significant development for me in recent years. It has allowed me to capture images, particularly of church interiors, that previously I could get only with a tripod. Now, if Olympus could increase its high ISO performance to somewhere near that of the big two manufacturers, I'd be a very happy man because the tripod would become almost redundant.

Today's image is of the interior of the church of St Nicholas, Walcot, Lincolnshire, bathed in the yellow light of the low November sun. The architecture dates from the the 1200s and 1300s, and is notable for the beautiful fourteenth century east window with its flowing tracery, and the carved fifteenth century bench ends. It's an interior that wasn't "scraped" (see yesterday's post). The shot was hand-held at 1/20 second at f6.3, ISO 200. Is it as sharp as it would have been with the camera on a tripod? No, but it's sharp enough to produce a perfectly acceptable A3 print. I've included a slightly compressed (75%) version of the full-size shot for your perusal. It has a little post processing, some noise suppression, but no sharpening. With my old OM1 I never shot at a speed lower than 1/30, and then it was with 400ISO HP5 with the 50mm fully open at f1.8. These days I risk shots at 1/6 second, and am usually quite happy with those taken at 1/15.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 11mm (22mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/20
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On