Home > Learn > Special Subjects > Stained glass photography
Stained glass photography
By Neil Ralley
Neil uses a 35 mm camera but many of the areas he writes about apply to digital.
Until the last decade or so photographing stained glass windows was something which only professionals or serious amateurs could attempt with reasonable expectations of success. Technological advances in recent years have changed all of that.
The traditional technique of photographing stained glass usually entailed the use of ladders and/or scaffolding in order to get the camera as near to directly opposite the window as possible so as to minimize parallax distortion. In addition the photographer might arrange for the removal of the wire meshes often put on the outside of stained glass to provide protection from birds and other sources of potential harm. The addition of a white translucent sheet on the outside might also be considered if the sunlight was too bright.
While this technique will still produce the best results, especially when combined with the use of medium format equipment, the availability of affordable zoom lenses has opened up other possibilities. Now, instead of getting close and parallel to a window, almost equally good results can be obtained by going further back and using a very long lens to zoom into the detail. This by no means eliminates distortion but it greatly reduces it.
The other technical advance that has helped enormously is in exposure metering. Modern cameras now meter so accurately, even in very low-light, that the bracketing (taking several pictures at slightly different exposures to be sure of getting a good one) is rarely necessary. If you add to that the ability to get instant feedback about a shot if using a digital camera, all of a sudden photographing stained glass is not as difficult as it used to be.
Personally I still use a 35mm camera and always shoot slide film. Next to the camera, film and lenses my most important item of equipment is a good tripod. In dark churches and on dull days exposure times can be long and the means of keeping the camera perfectly still is important.
I recall one shoot in Hudson Falls in New York State which was at around 4pm on a dark, gloomy, wet Saturday afternoon in late November. In churches I always work with the lights off if possible so as to optimize the contrast in terms of light coming in through the windows. In this case I could barely see to change lenses because it was so dark. The exposure times which my camera was giving were at least 30 seconds but my sturdy tripod did its job and every shot came out.
Photographs and text, used with permission: Copyright 2004 Neil Ralley All rights reserved.
