Parkcrest Christian Church

Parkcrest Christian Church

An introduction to photography at Parkcrest Christian Church

Master Photo Gallery
Master Photo Gallery
Two white plastic buckets with the logo of Parkcrest Christian Church, placed on a round wooden table.
A man with glasses, a beard, and a goatee smiling while speaking at an event. He is wearing a black shirt, an open olive green button-up shirt, a beaded bracelet, and a necklace with a black pendant. He is standing near a table with a laptop on it, w
Six young women standing outdoors at a social gathering, making heart shapes with their hands, with tables, umbrellas, and people in the background.
A young woman working at a donut stand, serving customers at an outdoor event on a sunny day, with people and trees in the background.
People sitting outdoors at tables in a courtyard shaded by a large tree and a tan canopy, with string lights hanging overhead, during daytime.
Two men baptizing each other in a baptismal pool, one with a serious expression and the other smiling, both wet and wearing dark shirts, in a modern setting with dark walls and blue vertical lights.
A woman wearing glasses, a white knit cardigan, and a blue dress is smiling and giving a thumbs-up while holding a metal collection bucket with a church logo on it. She is standing in front of a glass door with children lined up behind her.
Two older women smiling and standing together outside in front of a brick wall, holding cups of coffee and plant pots, wearing conference badges.
A person with tattoos on her fingers and a beaded bracelet on her wrist is holding tiny pellets, possibly fertilizer or seeds, over a bucket filled with similar pellets. The focus is on the hands and the pellets.
A bald man in a checkered shirt holding a microphone and speaking on stage, with a water bottle on a high table next to him. The background is dark with vertical illuminated lines.
A woman with dark hair, tattoos on her arm, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, holding a microphone and smiling on stage with a blue background and plant decorations.
A person with tattoos on their hands holding an open book or Bible, reading it in a well-lit indoor setting.
A smiling man wearing a white shirt and beige pants, standing outside a building with a glass door, pointing towards the camera, with a name badge that reads 'Alex' around his neck.
A man with a beard and mustache playing an electric guitar on stage, with a music stand in front of him, a black background, and some decorative greenery hanging on the wall.
People at an outdoor fruit stand, with a young man in sunglasses and a yellow shirt smiling and wearing black gloves, surrounded by bowls of grapes and peaches.
A man with glasses, beard, wearing a black shirt and pink Nike sneakers standing at a podium on a stage, gesturing with his hand, with a large screen behind him displaying the text 'The Narrow Path' and a forested landscape.
A man with glasses and a beard, wearing a blue shirt, is holding a microphone and speaking at a presentation or conference. Two women are standing in the background, and the setting appears to be a dark auditorium or stage.
Four adults chatting outside a building, smiling and laughing, during daytime.
A woman with long dark hair singing passionately into a microphone, wearing a brown cardigan, with other people blurred in the background.
A group of people singing on a stage, with some holding microphones and one person playing the guitar, in a concert or worship setting.
Artist in blue denim jacket and black gloves painting a portrait of a woman on a large canvas with colorful floral background at an art event
A woman singing into a microphone on stage with a group of people and a musician in the background.
Three young men sitting with their arms around each other, watching a performance on stage in a dimly lit venue with hanging light bulbs overhead.
A person wearing a plaid shirt is looking at their phone with other people blurred in the background.
A colorful, abstract stained glass artwork made of rectangular and irregular glass pieces in shades of gold, red, blue, white, and black.
A tall white church steeple with a cross on top against a partly cloudy sky, with trees at the bottom of the image.

Values

    • Grow Parkcrest's social media and online presence

    • Show church life and community as it actually is, not staged

  • Mix of Horizontal and Vertical

    • Genuine interactions and candid moments

    • Diversity and multi-generational representation

    • The joy Jesus brings

  • Before you take a photo, ask yourself: "How does this support the objectives above? What's the purpose of this photo? How can it be used to further God's glory?"

Quick Settings Cheat Sheet:

Sanctuary

(Exposure Value ≈ 7)

1/250, f/2.8, ISO 500-1000, WB 3200K

(Alt: 1/250, f/2.0, ISO 800 or 1/250, f/1.4, ISO 400)

Tip: Use ISO as your main exposure control indoors. Expose for skin tones.

Outside

Aperture Priority: Auto WB or Sunny/Cloudy preset

Manual: 1/250+, f/2.8–f/4, ISO 100

Tip: Use shutter speed as your main exposure control outdoors.

Guide

Photography 101: The Basics

Exposure Triangle:

Exposure comes down to three settings that work together: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Think of your camera like an eyeball. Aperture is how wide your pupil opens. Shutter speed is how fast you blink. ISO is how sensitive your eyes are to light.

These three are linked. Change one and the others need to adjust to keep the same exposure. Learn how they affect each other and you can dial in any shot.

Diagram illustrating the exposure triangle in photography, showing ISO, shutter speed, and aperture settings along the sides of a triangle, with camera lens apertures from f/2.8 to f/22 represented at the bottom.

White Balance:

White balance tells your camera what "white" looks like under different light. Your eyes color-correct automatically. Your camera doesn't.

Different light sources (sunlight, fluorescent, tungsten) have different color temperatures. Cameras have presets for these, but we use custom white balance (Kelvin temperature) set to what looks right to your eye. Auto white balance works okay in natural light outdoors, but it's unreliable indoors or with mixed lighting.

Since we shoot RAW, we can adjust white balance in editing. But getting it right in camera saves time and keeps your images consistent across the shoot.

Color Accurate Vs. Color Correct:

Our goal in camera is color accuracy, meaning the scene looks how it looked to your eye in the moment. Color grading (warming things up, pushing magenta for skin tones) happens in post. More on that later.

Kelvin White Balance cheat sheet displaying color temperature ranges and their corresponding lighting conditions, including 2500-2800K for sunrise and sunset, 2800-4000K for indoor lamps, 5500-6000K for daylight, 6000-7000K for overcast, and 7000-9000K for shade.

Composition

Always think in three layers: a wide shot to establish the scene, a medium shot to show the subject, and a tight shot to add detail and emotion. Try and get a mix of all three for every scene every time you shoot.

Main Composition Types:

  • Ultra-Wide/Wide: Shows the entire scene

  • Full: Speaker head to toe

  • Cowboy: Speaker mid-thigh and up

  • Medium: Speaker waist and up

  • Close: Speaker chest and up

  • Tight: One single subject (hands, Bible, guitar, instrument, prop)

  • Shoot Through: Uses foreground elements close to you while focusing on the subject in the distance. See below for examples.

Note: For now, prioritize medium-close and tighter compositions.

Compositional Types

Divide your frame into a 3x3 grid. Place your subject at one of the four intersections, not dead center. This creates a more natural, balanced image and gives the viewer's eye somewhere to move.

For a single speaker on stage, place them at the top-left or top-right intersection on the side opposite the congregation. This gives the speaker "looking room" into the audience and leaves space for the graphics team to add text.

For more composition techniques, look up symmetrical composition, leading lines, framing, and the golden ratio.

Rule of Thirds Grid

The rule of thirds suggests that the main subject of an image should be placed on or near one of these points of interest rather than in the center of the frame. This creates a more visually interesting and balanced composition, allowing the viewer's eye to move around the image naturally. Additionally, the rule of thirds can be used to balance the composition of an image. For example, if there is a strong element on one side of the image, placing a complementary element on the opposite side can create balance and harmony. 

Generally speaking, when capturing a single subject on stage, I like placing the focal point at the grid's top left or right intersection. This gives the image a focal point while giving "looking room" and "headroom" to the speaker. It also provides the graphics team room to add text. To do this, I crop the speaker to the opposite side of the congregation to show them looking out into the congregation.

For more composition example types, looks up: symmetrical, leading lines, framing, and the golden ratio/golden spiral.

Grid with four black lines forming nine sections, with four red circles at the intersections of the lines.
Ultra Wide: Show entire scene

Ultra Wide: Show entire scene

Wide: Establishes Scene

Wide: Establishes Scene

Full: Head to toe

Full: Head to toe

Medium/Cowboy: Shows speaker waist up or mid thigh up

Medium/Cowboy: Shows speaker waist up or mid thigh up

Close-Up/Tight: Highlights 1 subject

Close-Up/Tight: Highlights 1 subject

Detail Photos: Highlights 1 detail

Detail Photos: Highlights 1 detail

Shoot Through: Uses foreground elements to create POV perspective

Shoot Through: Uses foreground elements to create POV perspective

Sanctuary Photo Zones

Here's a general layout of Parkcrest's main sanctuary as of 2025. Green zones are almost always safe. The ones I use most are 1, 3, 4, 6, and 5.

Be careful with Zones 2 and 5. These spots can be distracting during the service and may block the livestream cameras. Anthony does like shots from Zone 5, so grab a few, but don't linger.

Be discreet. Wear dark colors. Stay aware of your surroundings and never be a distraction.

These are guidelines, not rules. Get creative and find your own angles.

Diagram of a concert stage with labeled seating areas, including Pews Left and Pew Right, a stage at the top, entryway and sound booth at the bottom, with numbered green circles indicating spots, red circles with numbers, and black arrows showing movement directions.

Timeline

General Sunday Timeline

Check in upstairs. Grab your camera, name tag, and extra battery. Format your card and clean your lens before heading down.

9:00 AM Service

  • Song 1: Focus on musicians. Look for enthusiastic, energetic, joyful moments. Usually an upbeat song.

  • Songs 2–3: Focus on worship moments. Look for emotion, raised hands, eyes closed, people singing. Focus on singers and congregation.

  • Get close-ups of speakers (announcements, offering, etc.)

  • Sermon: Stay for the first 10 minutes. The opening is usually lighter, so look for laughter, smiles, and engaged faces.

  • Go outside and get detail photos of whatever is set up on the patio.

  • Come back for the last 5–10 minutes. This is where the speaker lands the message. Look for conviction, intensity, and emotional moments.

  • Closing worship: Get a creative shot or two and head outside.

Between Services

Shoot the patio: conversations, coffee, donuts, info tables, people connecting. Candids only. These moments matter just as much as the service, sometimes more. They show what Parkcrest actually feels like and what someone can expect when they walk through the doors for the first time.

Between Services

Shoot the patio: conversations, coffee, donuts, info tables, people connecting. Candids only.

10:45 AM Service

  • Similar to 9:00 AM through worship. If you got solid coverage in the first service, use this one to try new angles and get more creative. Also get photos of the Youth in worship since this is the service they attend.

  • Get whatever sermon shots or angles you missed the first time. (About 5-10 minutes tops.)

  • Children's ministry: Walk through the courtyard and classrooms. Get photos of smiling, happy kids and teachers.

  • Get anything else you haven't covered.

Wrap Up

Return camera upstairs. Pull the battery and put it on the charger. Hang your name tag on the hook.

Wrap Up

Return camera upstairs. Pull the battery and put it on the charger. Hang your name tag on the hook.

Additional Resources

For more on church photography, check out Pro Church Tools by Brady Shearer or ask me. For current style guides or specific photo needs, reach out to the Parkcrest Communications director.

Learn More
Learn More