Question about taking pictures

[mafiadon]

We will be taking a Med cruise and I have been reading the boards to get a lot of info as I have never been to Europe. I was wondering about when you go into all the churches to do tours are you allowed to take pictures while in the church? I love to take pictures and I want to remember all the things I have seen but don't want to do something that I am not supposed to do. Thanks Linda

[PollyPenguin]

On our Med cruise last fall I found that different places had different rules - Sistine Chapel - absolutely not; St. Peter's - snap away to your heart's content. There are usually signs or people telling you (or your guide will tell you, if you have a guide) if you can or can't. If you are able to get a good shot without the flash, that's your best bet, as it's not as distracting to others or as noticable to the powers that be.

 

Happy clicking! I only took 1300 shots on our 14-day cruise . . .

[Keith1010]

Most places you are allowed to take pictures. As PollyPenguin mentioned one of the key places that you are asked not to take pictures is the Sistine Chapel. Now, we were able to visit the Sistine Chapel on a special tour that was offered when the museum was closed to the general public (the tour was arranged by Crystal Cruise Lines) and we were allowed to take pictures. But, definitely no pictures during the daytime hours.

 

Keith

[MVPinBoynton]

Most of the churches don't mind you taking pictures, but many have signs saying no flask. It's just as well, since most flashes won't be able to illuminate much of the churches anyway. You can see how my church pics came out in my recent Med review on me website www.thepreismans.com . Most of the church pics are at the end of the second part of the review when we were in Rome. There are more pics in the Kodak gallery associated to part 2 of the review. I also like to use photos to remember everything we did and saw. I took 3,650 pics on the 12 day cruise with 2 day pre and post cruises in Venice and Rome. Take all the pics you can. They are such beautiful places.

[attagirl]

Did you use a digital camera without a flash or 35mm? If 35mm, what film speed did you use? I can't decide which camera to take with us!

[davejohn]

I got some pretty good pictures inside St. Paul's Cathedral in London using my Panasonic FZ7 digital without flash. I set the ISO to 800 and snapped away. Unless you have a DSLR you'll get quite a bit of noise in the picture, but I used the Noise Ninja plug-in for Photoshop to clean them up. They are fine for 4x6 or 5x7 prints, but 8x10 might be pushing it.

 

If you have a basic point and shoot with no control over ISO speed, you might want to take the 35mm and use a fast film.

Dave

[MVPinBoynton]

I have a Canon Rebel XT digital SLR camera. Most pics I take at ISO 400. When it is really dark, I will crank it up to 800. A little post processing can pull out a lot of detail if they come out dark.

[RetiredFL]

I do digital photos and create "slide" shows to play on CDs on my TV.

 

I have a combo printer/scanner and my solution is to buy post cards of interiors that I cannot photograph or that will be hard to do. Then I scan them in as JPEGs and put them in my slide show. You can't tell the difference except for that fact they are better. On my next trip I plan to buy many more postcards as backup in case my interiors are bad or blurry.

 

I also like buying aerial shot postcards as introductions to locations difficult to explain otherwise such as Ephesus.

 

Have fun.

[carlmm]

Really disturbing for worshippers is if visitors do not respect the sacredness of the places. In most churches there is a chapel or an area reserved for prayers. Still there are tourists who intrude there and even take pictures. It really would be nice not to do so.

Another misbehaviour would be to pose for a tourist snapshot in front of eg. a reliquary which is revered by pilgrims and worshippers.

Likewise worshippers and Holy Mass are not a folkloristic scenery where one should run around to take the best shot.

 

Otherwise in many churches taking pictures is welcome. Signs or people will tell you when there is a restriction.

[photographia]

We will be taking a Med cruise and I have been reading the boards to get a lot of info as I have never been to Europe. I was wondering about when you go into all the churches to do tours are you allowed to take pictures while in the church? I love to take pictures and I want to remember all the things I have seen but don't want to do something that I am not supposed to do. Thanks Linda

 

What others have said about NO FLASH is generally correct--this is because repeated flash will eventually damage frescos and paintings. In St. Peter's in Rome, you can use flash but cannot use a tripod (I know this because I tried it and was stopped!). This is true in St. Peter's Square as well, by the way!

In Orthodox churches throughout Greece, they almost never permit any type of photography at all, and will tell you so right up front.

In museums, it's worth asking before you begin your tour. The "yes but no flash" rule is becoming popular with them too. But occasionally they don't permit photos at all, so you might as well check your camera bag instead of lugging it all over the museum!

If you use film, I've taken spectacular pix in pretty dark churches using 800 ISO. If you take some with you, DON'T LET IT GO THROUGH THE MACHINES AT SECURITY or it will be ruined!! Tell them that you have 800 film and they'll do a hand check. Security people apparently assume that people are carrying lower ISO's (which are okay in the machine), so they don't usually bother to tell you about this unless you ask! The newer, high-tech machines are evidently much stronger than the older ones. I sent 800 film repeatedly through machines in Russian airports, for example, with no problems. But in the US and most western airports, it's a different story nowadays!

[bunnyette]

This may apply to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul as well - this is still a place of worship, and camera toting tourists might not be welcome. Tourists without cameras are probably ok...best to check with the guide on this one too.

[JLC@SD]

We will be taking a Med cruise and I have been reading the boards to get a lot of info as I have never been to Europe. I was wondering about when you go into all the churches to do tours are you allowed to take pictures while in the church? I love to take pictures and I want to remember all the things I have seen but don't want to do something that I am not supposed to do. Thanks Linda

 

I found the best way to take a photo inside a churh (which are usually dark) is to set the camera on self timer.....brace it on a ledge, or something solid.....and let the timer take the photo. Here is a photo I took with the camera set on a pew.

 

[ldog]

Last October we were allowed to take pictures in the Blue Mosque.

 

Some museums have an extra charge for cameras and usually double that for video cameras.

 

We took over 1500 pictures in Europe last year. Many of the locations are very crowded with tourists.

 

I like to buy the books that are sold in a lot of locations. The photos in them are professional and don't have all the other tourists in them.

[Maryutah]

 

Happy clicking! I only took 1300 shots on our 14-day cruise . . .

 

Oh i'm glad it wasn't just us! Between my sister and I we too 2800 pictures!

 

We used the disabled enterance to the Sistine Chapel, which does NOT have signs that indicated we shouldn't take pictures, so i'm snapping away and a nice guard asked me to not, so I put my camera away. As we walked around to the alter, and came back, THEN we saw the signs. I felt so guilty! But the pictures are so cool! :D

 

In the rest of the Vatican and St Peters pictures are allowed. In Turkey we were allowed to take pictures in the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia and the Topaki Palace, except for the HUGe diamond room, that was a no photo room (probably for security reasons).

[randolph]

For those into Hi-Def video, some churches and museums do NOT allow tripods( but will allow monopods for smooth panning).