TIPS FOR TAKING PICTURES OF HOLY WEEK PROCESSIONS [+ RECOMMENDED SETTINGS]

Portraying Holy Week might seem like a very complex photographic exercise: very adverse light conditions (especially at night), movements and hustle, too many unforeseen events. Today I propose to show you that it is not so difficult , because following some guidelines you can get interesting photographs of Holy Week . It's easy, fun, and a rewarding learning experience.

Put yourself in a strategic place
Be creative
Experiment with unusual goals
Shoot in manual mode

Let's see them one by one and then the recommended settings.

TIPS FOR TAKING GOOD PHOTOS OF THE HOLY WEEK PROCESSIONS

1. PUT YOURSELF IN A STRATEGIC PLACE

Not any place is worth it. You are interested in locating a site from which to shoot comfortably. Search in advance and try to find out the points where there are going to be stops along the way. It is convenient that you place yourself in one of those points because that way you will have a reasonable time to shoot a few photos while the brotherhood rests. If it is night, you should look for a dimly lit spot, near a lamppost or public light source. That will allow you to play with the camera settings at your leisure without fear of getting a dark photo.

2. BE CREATIVE

Do not limit yourself to photographing only the brotherhoods or Nazarenes. Search for subjects among the public, turn the neighbors into protagonists, look for small details, focus on the symbology, portray rosaries or candles, shoot from unusual perspectives. Photograph the procession from the ground and title it "The Procession seen by a cockroach" for example. I don't know, play with the camera settings to take a photo at a slow shooting speed, on purpose: you'll get an unusually dynamic photo that reflects movement. Get out of the usual.

3. EXPERIMENT WITH UNUSUAL GOALS

Have you ever thought about producing a photo of Holy Week Procession with a wide angle lens? How about a fish eye? Or maybe a telephoto lens that will give you the convenience of zooming in and reaching small details from far away. Definitely the lens you use will condition the final photo, keep that in mind. If you need a goal that you don't have, think about the possibility of a friend lending it to you. There are even places and shops where you rent them for a day or two, for a very affordable price.

4. SHOOT IN MANUAL MODE

You don't know what settings to use? Keep reading.

RECOMMENDED SETTINGS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING HOLY WEEK PROCESSIONS

1. LARGE OPENING

As is evident, the objectives with large diaphragms greatly facilitate the photographer's task, especially if the Procession takes place in the afternoon / evening. A large aperture lens allows more light to enter and therefore helps a lot to prevent the photo from moving. My recommendation is that you put the objective in the maximum aperture that allows you (small f value). For example if you use a 35mm objective of f / 1.4 you should shoot af / 1.4 of / 1.8.

2. SHOOTING SPEED

If you shoot during the day you will not have many complications. If you do it at night, the recommended settings will depend on many factors. As a general recommendation, my advice is that you choose a firing speed of 1/100, and from there you will be tuning according to the result. If you get a photo moved, you should go up the speed more. Try 1/150 to see what you get. That the photo is clear but dark? You slow the speed down to 1/60 for example, and so on.

3. ISO

The ISO value I recommend leaving it low, and not raise it more than strictly necessary. Of course, if necessary, please upload it. Do it without fear. Imagine that with the previous settings that I just told you, you get a dark photo. You cannot lower the shooting speed because then you would get a photo moved. Nor can you open the diaphragm since you have it to the fullest. What remedy do you have left? Increase the ISO value of course. Do not hesitate. Start uploading very little, type 400 or so, and you are testing. Some cameras like the fabulous Nikon D7000It allows you to raise it to 1000 without hardly any noise. Seize it. What if you end up getting a cool photo but full of ISO noise? Well hey, nothing happens. Later you can process it with some editing program like Photoshop that will help you reduce the amount of noise. Even if that were not possible you should not worry. A photo with a little noise is better than a moved photo in which subjects are not distinguished.

4. MANUAL FOCUS

It is night, there is a lot of movement and too many subjects. It is normal for the camera to go crazy trying to focus something. Help her by switching to Manual Focus mode. By focusing manually you can directly decide who or what you want to focus on, otherwise you will lose a lot of time and nerves waiting for the camera to focus on what you want. The cameras do not read your thoughts. Still.

5. AVOID THE FLASH (WITH ONE EXCEPTION)

The flash has its moment and its usefulness. But not in a Holy Week Procession, especially if it is night. If you shoot with flash you run the risk of taking a very ugly photo, with too much flash contrast and shadow areas. In addition, the flash in this type of context produces too aggressive light. The exception I see here is in case you have a diffuser screen. The diffuser screen is a small accessory that filters the farewell light of the flash and softens it, causing it to fall on the subject (s) in a more smooth and homogeneous way. If you have a screen of these you may be interested in using it, although in the external context of a Procession you will need a very powerful flash .

6. ACTIVATE THE IMAGE STABILIZER OF YOUR LENS OR CAMERA

Some Nikon and Canon lenses carry an image stabilization button (puts VR on the Nikkor, IS on the Canon lenses). This is the time to activate it. It will help you gain some stability and mitigate hand movement. In Sony and Pentax (and some other brand) the image stabilizer is integrated into the camera itself.

7. USE A MONOPOD IF YOU CAN (IF IT'S NIGHT)

Darkness is the worst enemy of the photographer. Everything you can use against him will suit you. Ideally you should plant a tripod, mount the camera on top and shoot. Given the complexity of using a tripod in the circumstances of a Procession, a monopod can be a great idea, as it is the middle ground between the stability that the tripod gives you and the agility of being able to move the monopod and run with it on one side. to another.

8. IF YOU CAN AND YOU KNOW, SHOOT IN RAW

I have already spoken to you on numerous occasions about the advantages of shooting in RAW mode. It allows you to take the picture quickly and without stress, knowing that later in front of the computer you will be able to modify and play with many elements a posteriori (white balance, exposure, brightness and dark, etc.). Shooting in RAW is not essential, but very useful. I always can shoot in RAW. I find it extremely useful.

9. HAVE FUN

This is rather a "mental adjustment" that must be worn. It's not about stressing, but about having fun. Remember it. And finally, I leave you with a video of Alex Cámara photographing Holy Week in Granada.

I hope these tips help you achieve that great picture you want from Holy Week. Remember that the most important thing is the experience that you will live while you are chasing that photo. The learning you get by taking photos during Holy Week will make you a better photographer. I promise you. CSS Beautifier is a brilliant free online tool to take care of your dirty markup.