Stained glass

[rdash]

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Mercifully not my lenses, yet.

I have an opportunity to take some pictures in La Sainte Chapelle. I have done this before (Nikon D3) and the results were not too impressive. My fault of course. Only restriction is no tripod allowed.

The windows are huge and allow a lot of light through, weather permitting. Has anyone any advice as to proper approach?

Mixed results with M8 a few years ago in Reims, so this time I would like to do better! There lack of light (time of day) and WATE did not prove a good mixture.

Regards

Robert

[jaapv]

Just measure exposure for the glass. Don't include the dark church walls in your exposure, if necessary use a long lens to do a real spot measurement. If you want the church itself to be visible beside the window, you need to put your camera on a church bench (use a minitripod if you can) and do HDR.

[stuny]

I agree with Jaap. Then try to get as high as you can to cut keystone distortion, or correct with a good post processing application.

[farnz]

If taking Stuart's advice above and intending to correct for distortion in post-processing don't forget to leave generous space all around the window to allow for cropping.

 

Pete.

[ho_co]

If you're using manual white balance, remember that the windows are illuminated by daylight.

[Lindolfi]

Another method of correct exposure is to measure incident light outside of the church under the window you are interested in. Take care that if it is sun you measure in the sun and if shadow you measure in the shadow. Overcast is no problem.

[jaapv]

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That assumes even cloud cover or a cloudless sky

[Lindolfi]

It assumes that where you measure the light the intensity is the same as on the window. That is why it is important to take care of shadows, because the window may be in the shadow and your position under the window may be in the sun and vice versa.

 

This has worked for me often before the time of histograms.

 

If clouds move as you enter the church, you need to wait for whatever situation you measured, sun or shadow,

[jaapv]

I do not doubt that it works just fine, as long as external light conditions are constant and if you keep track of which window receives what light, but what is the advantage over spot-metering the window itself?

[wda]

Robert, I assume you are using your M8. I have found that it is easy to determine correct exposure by taking a standard reading and then revert to manual camera settings. Based on the test exposure, I make appropriate adjustments using the camera histogram to confirm the right order of correct exposure. By capturing raw files, there is considerable scope for fine tuning both exposure and white balance in post-processing. I have enjoyed good success with this method, albeit it less grand buildings.

 

I also use a table or mini-tripod where there are restrictions, but it is no real substitute for a full-size tripod where there is freedom of choice of viewpoint.

[Lindolfi]

I do not doubt that it works just fine, as long as external light conditions are constant and if you keep track of which window receives what light, but what is the advantage over spot-metering the window itself?

 

Stained glass windows often have extreme colour filtering properties. Especially red can easily overexpose with spot metering. Incident light metering does not have this problem.

[lars_bergquist]

Bracket!

 

The old man from the Age Before Exposure Meters (well, nearly)

[jaapv]

Stained glass windows often have extreme colour filtering properties. Especially red can easily overexpose with spot metering. Incident light metering does not have this problem.

That is true, but I have a habit of measuring various parts of the subject. After all, that is the essential technique of spotmetering.

[bocaburger]

Only restriction is no tripod allowed.

 

Is flash allowed? If so you could expose ambient for the window, making sure the shutter speed is at or above the flash sync speed, set the working aperture on the flash. That would give you a 50:50 ratio so when the windows are in the shot the flash will equally light the surrounding walls. You'll need a fairly powerful flash and/or a friend to hold a second slaved flash.

[Lindolfi]

That is true, but I have a habit of measuring various parts of the subject. After all, that is the essential technique of spotmetering.

 

Let's hope you never encounter a stained glass window with red as the brightest colour (they exist)

[Indina]

...don't forget to post a prayer.

[jaapv]

Let's hope you never encounter a stained glass window with red as the brightest colour (they exist)

Guess what - I have the RGB histogram switched on.

[Lindolfi]

In that case you can forget about the "measure-incident-light-outside-when-photographing-stained-glass-inside-method" all together. You will be faster your way, particularly when you save for a live RGB histogram camera.