So you want to start taking photos for your church website or social media account but you don’t know where to start. Neither did we! Hopefully this series of articles on church photography can help you know how to take those next steps to capturing impactful images that get results.

We are passionate about church media and seeing the church promoted in an uplifting and inspirational way to the world around us. Photography and branding play such an important role in promoting and advertising, and we want to help equip you to have professional, consistent images that tie in with your brand to help display the powerful, meaningful, and beautiful services that happen each weekend at your church.

We believe that church photography is so much more than just beautiful images, it’s helping people to connect to the church and find a place to belong. Photography is a powerful tool. Think about it. Let’s say I’ve never been to your church before. Or taking it a step further, I’ve never been to a church AT ALL. My friend shares some photos from a recent event or service on their Instastories or Facebook page. I’m getting a real, first-hand look on the inside at what goes on in a church service or event and I’m getting to FEEL what an experience will be like when I visit before I ever step foot in your building.

A Forbes article recently stated:

“You and your business have 7 seconds to make an impression on your customer. If your business exists primarily in a digital environment, they’ll only give you a few seconds — in fact, visitors may form an impression of your website or social media in as little as 50 milliseconds. Include photos and videos that evoke a feeling. Those 50 milliseconds may not be long enough to guarantee even a tagline will be read; instead, convey emotions and the power of your brand through photos and videos.”

Forbes

WOW. Are you convinced now at how much visuals matter?! Visuals are even MORE important than wording when it comes to first impressions. Obviously you’ve got to have really great messaging to go along with and enhance your visuals, otherwise your visuals will just seem like fluff, but if your visuals aren’t doing anything for you, then people will be less likely to take the time to even read what you have to say.

The Practicals

In this series on church photography, we want to give you practical hands-on tips that you can start using each week to enhance and grow your church photography. To start off, we’ve provided a complete list of resources on our website for you. This includes the equipment we use and the software and presets that we edit our photos with. We want to make your journey of learning as easy and pain-free as possible.

In this series, A Beginner’s Guide to Church Photography, we’re going to instruct you on how to stage the shots you’re looking for, prepare for a photoshoot, capture candid moments, master photography basics in manual mode, and edit compelling images.

Did you know that the most important part of a photoshoot is the preparation that you put into it before you’ve ever arrived at the site of the photoshoot? Stay tuned to find out why!

We’ll let you in on a little secret! We’re in the process of developing a COMPLETE PHOTOGRAPHY online course that will include everything you’d ever want to know about shooting, editing, posing, and so much more! Hit subscribe to be the first to know when our COMPLETE PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE releases.

You can download our FREE MediaToolkit that includes our weekend photography shot list guide. This guide is full of pointers and ideas of photos that you can capture on your weekend services that portray your church in a positive light to the world around you.

CHURCH PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES:
(links will be updated when released)
A Beginners Guide to Church Photography
A Guide to Staging the Shots You’re Looking
Preparing for a Weekend Service Photoshoot
Capturing Candid Moments
Overview of Photography Basics in Manual Mode
A Guide to Editing Compelling Images