10 Techniques for taking brilliant shots of buildings

http://www.photographymonthly.com/Tips-and-Techniques/Architectu...

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Photography Monthly
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12.03.09

10 Techniques for taking brilliant shots of buildings

Words by David Corfield A building will tease you. It will tickle your creative funny bone and then, just as you think youve got the perfect shot, it will snatch it away with a cackle and a flurry of pigeons. Bad light, overzealous officials enforcing a no-tripod policy at a historic site and shuffling tourists getting in the way can all conspire against your perfect picture, making a seemingly easy subject one of the most challenging to successfully capture. But, with the help of this feature, youre about to make your sub-standard building shots a thing of the past. Weve accumulated 10 must-know techniques to help you put art into your architecture. And its not just a random 10 techniques either. Its THE 10, the pillars (ahem) of building photography.

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28/5/2013 3:04 PM

10 Techniques for taking brilliant shots of buildings

http://www.photographymonthly.com/Tips-and-Techniques/Architectu...

Before we start, however, a few words on tripods. If its good results you want, your camera will need to be attached to one virtually the whole time. No excuses. Obviously, if youre shooting in a public place, you have every right to use a tripod. There have been a number of well-publicised events where police have approached innocent enthusiast photographers in city centres and asked them to stop taking pictures. But, youre well within your rights to take shots. At a privately-owned location, such as a stately home, its not so cut and dry so wed advise you to familiarize yourself with the dos and donts before you go. Contact the property in question and confirm its tripod policy. And be sure to check on restrictions indoors as well if you fancy shooting interiors. One final point to make is that good building pictures arent a question of luck, they come from good planning. None of the pictures on these pages are a result of the photographer just happening to be there. So be prepared to put in the effort and youll soon be producing shots thatll have you shouting from the rooftops. Just mind the pigeons COMPOSITION You can use any one of the main compositional rules, but pay particular attention to the important zones of focus foreground, middle ground and background. A general view will have something in each one of these areas that adds to the overall composition. Elements in each area shouldnt compete with each other and use features such as pathways and walls to lead the eye into the rest of the scene and build up your composition as a series of layers. FRAME IT UP Its one of the most obvious of photo techniques and yet one of the most widely forgotten. In our haste to get as much of the subject in the frame, we sometimes forget to take a step back and use other elements in a scene to act as a frame for the focal point. Tree branches, window frames of other buildings or even people standing in the foreground can all be used as makeshift frames for an effective shot of a building. Use low angles to blow scale out of the window and place strong elements in the foreground to confuse the viewer. Whoever said that viewing a picture should be an entirely unchallenging business? Make the viewer work at appreciating your efforts and give your picture an edgy feel by experimenting with foreground interest and scale changes. USING CONVERGING VERTICALS Buildings are tall and including a whole one in the frame can be a challenge. Tilt your camera upwards to include the top of a church steeple and youll induce converging verticals where the sides of the building lean in. Purists frown at this effect and will either seek a higher viewpoint (to avoid tilting the camera) or use an expensive shift lens to get rid of the effect or do it in software. But we heartily encourage their use. Fit a wide-angle and crouch down low close to a building to send its uprights skyward. TIME IT RIGHT Architectural photography is like most other picture-taking disciplines getting the right light is imperative. The quality of light changes throughout the day, but at this time of year, youll be best off shooting buildings either early in the morning or in the late afternoon/early evening. Shoot before the sun gets up and the light will be softer and shadows less defined. Then theres a short period as the sun climbs into the sky when the light will be warm and directional, in much the same way as at the end of the day. If its dramatic shots youre after avoid the middle of the day as shadows will be

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28/5/2013 3:04 PM

10 Techniques for taking brilliant shots of buildings

http://www.photographymonthly.com/Tips-and-Techniques/Architectu...

harsh and the lighting flat and featureless. Whenever you shoot, an 81B warm-up filter will help enhance colours, warming up brickwork and enriching stone. Naturally, this can be added in post-production with filter effects available in most image-editing programs. Alternatively, shoot Raw and alter the white-balance when you convert files. USE SYMMETRY Being angular structures, buildings will contain plenty of symmetry if you look close enough. Seen through a telephoto or telezoom a building can be deconstructed into a series of detailed close-ups of curves, corners and lines. Weave symmetry into your detail shots or play a building off against its location by placing a foreground object slap bang in the centre of the frame with the building forming the background. Apply the same techniques indoors. The interior of a church, for example, is perfect for symmetry with pillars and a boat-like roof shape. GLASS ACT Best photographed on a bright but overcast day, stained glass is a great subject. If you want to include a whole window, meter carefully from a bright area, set the exposure using the manual mode and then recompose. For detail shots, you should be able to leave the meter to its own devices. If it is really sunny, look for areas where the windows colours are projected onto stonework or the floor. In both instances, a tripod is essential. REFLECTED GLORY If youre shooting a location on or near water, take a step back and see if you can capture a reflection shot. Ideally, you should attempt this type of shot when the weather is calm ripples in the water will dilute the effect. Remember the rules of composition and place the building in the top third of the frame. If it is windy, try going for a more abstract result, concentrating solely on the reflection. Whatever the prevailing conditions, take a polarizer filter to boost colour on a sunny day, but be careful how much you turn it as you dont want to remove the reflection effect altogether. TRY INFRARED The ethereal quality of an infrared image takes some beating in imparting a classic haunted feel. Infrared images used to only be possible with specialist film Rollei IR820C and Ilford SFXs extended red sensitivity film are still available but, thanks to digital, its got a whole lot easier. Some compacts are even infrared sensitive. One such camera is the Fujifilm FinePix IS-1, which is sensitive to infrared as well as visible light. Using an opaque filter with this camera, you can shoot handheld, because you get normal shutter speeds, but as always using a tripod is best practice, and the effects are impressive. With a DSLR, youll need a tripod because exposures will be long, even in bright sun, and an opaque infrared filter such as a Hoya R72 or B+W 092. Compose before putting the filter in place, then position the filter and take the picture. If youve recently upgraded your DSLR body you may like to know that you could get the old body converted for infrared photography. It costs upwards of 205. Once converted, you cant go back, but it does mean you get infrared images without using a filter. You can snap away as you would with a normal camera and then do some work on the computer afterwards this also applies to IR images taken on compacts and the IS-1. ASC offers an infrared conversion service in the UK advancedcameraservices.co.uk

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28/5/2013 3:04 PM

10 Techniques for taking brilliant shots of buildings

http://www.photographymonthly.com/Tips-and-Techniques/Architectu...

GO FOR DETAILS Architectural photographers have their work cut out when it comes to shooting details there is so much choice! But the beauty is you can do it in almost any lighting conditions, from bright sunshine to overcast doom and gloom. Both the exteriors and interiors of older buildings are littered with details, its just a question of spotting them and, crucially, making them photographically interesting. Shooting a gargoyle through the long end of a telezoom isnt enough. Instead, look for shapes and patterns in brick and stonework or go for more abstract compositions thatll challenge the viewer to work out what it is. Details dont have to be small. The grandeur of a church roof, cluster of turrets on a stately home or clock face on a town hall are all options. SHOOT AT NIGHT A building might look imposing by day, but its at night when the real fun begins! Floodlit by powerful tungsten lights at ground level, it will take on an altogether more dramatic persona thanks to stark shadows thrown up by the lights. Seen at night under floodlights a building will tower above a city and lends itself to being photographed from a distance with an object in the foreground such as rooftops or statues placed in silhouette. Expose for the highlights and watch for changes in white-balance. See PM next month for more on night photography and how to use your cameras B (bulb) setting.

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