Action Photography In Church

I've posted before about how any kind of action photography is a hit or miss proposition. What may look smooth and natural when viewed at regular speed can look awkward, or even funny, when viewed as a fraction of a second excerpt. While my pastor is not overly animated when he preaches, he does move around a bit, and photographing anyone when they are speaking requires scores of exposures to get something natural looking.

Pastor Alan Davis, Waynesville, NC  -  2014

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Last Sunday I made over 80 exposures to get this one that I really like. This is when a digital camera begins to pay for itself. This would have been prohibitively expensive for a hobbyist like me if I was using a film camera.

I shot this from the back of the church in the little room where the audio people work. No one can see or hear me shooting from there, so I'm not a distraction. Of course, that means shooting with my zoom lens racked out all the way, and ISO set at 3200. That's usually not a formula for the sharpest results, although this one came out OK.