Author Topic: First serious attempt at architectural photography - feeback sought. (Read 1763 times)

peterb666 · « **on:** August 15, 2010, 10:35:23 PM »

My first attempt at true architectural shots took a lot of mucking around to look OK and my black and white efforts didn't work at all.

I finally decided to have a go with exposure fusion using Photomatix Pro 3 and it was able to achieve results I was happy with in colour. These shots were taken just after sunrise and the sky was part of the difficulty.

The first image may look better with a bit of cropping and earlier versions had that. There is some distorsion in there that if corrected, mucks up other bits of the architectural lines. Shooting long rather than wid may have been a better choice.

Comments on how I could do better would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Peter

Glebe Incinerator f by peterb666, on Flickr

Glebe Incinerator f-1 by peterb666, on Flickr

P.S. While I have known of this site for many years, this is the first time I have been there. I couldn't believe how small a building this was.

adash · « **Reply #1 on:** August 15, 2010, 11:35:20 PM »

I'll try to criticize to the best of my knoledge:
- Pic.1 has some perspective distortion. The stairs look as wide as the building, while that could hardly be the case. Vertical lines converge. My recommendation is to redo the shot with a "normal" lens, which will not distort the perspective, or with a wide lens, but holding the camera horisontal. You will then have to crop a part of the picture, but the rest will have an undistorted perspective. Having a short telephoto will do an even better job in keeping the proportions, but you will have to find a position further away from your current one. The Xenon 40mm would be the lens of choice, stopped down to at least F/8.
- Pic.2 has some perspective distortion too, but the vertical lines are still vertical. I believe that you were constricted in your choise of shooting position by the banisters behind you. My suggestion is to try to find a spot further away from the building and use either a short telephoto or a normal lens in order to give the pictures the natural perspective of the human vision.

peterb666 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2010, 12:48:43 AM »

I actually had the 40mm lens with me but didn't use it. There is garden and stuff that restricts placement and also view if you put that between the camera and the subject. As it was, I was standing in the garden with that first shot. You are right, it needs a longer lens or a perspective control lens.

Shot 2, you are right. The restriction was actually the steps (I was also up against the railing). Moving further away meant moving down and losing the shot.

I will return and try out longer lenses.

Thanks

Peter

adash · « **Reply #3 on:** August 16, 2010, 02:30:20 AM »

For pic.1 you could overcome the converging lines by keeping the camera horisontal. You have pointed it slightly upwards and thus parallel lines became converging. The proportion stairs/building can however be restored in two ways: a longer lens at a more distant position, or a frontal shot with the same lens.

Pic.2 - even the 20mm Pany would suffice for a more natural feel. I can not see EXIF now, but I guess you used something much wider.

peterb666 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2010, 05:54:33 AM »

Both were shot at the 9mm end of the 9-18mm M.Zuiko zoom.

Finder · « **Reply #5 on:** August 16, 2010, 06:02:15 AM »

You have a picture of a building, but it really is not saying anything about the architecture. Don't worry about perspective control--that is not going to make the picture better.

I would say you are not there at the right time of the day, or the building is south facing--hence, no illumination of the face. The first image is dominated by the stairs, but not even in an interesting way. Had you been closer, you could have used the repeating line of the stairs to create an interesting foreground while getting rid of a lot of distracting junk at the edges of the frame. But you still have to deal with the rails.

The second image is more interesting as it is showing why the building is interesting, but the framing is off--why does the building just tough the right side of the frame, but has space on the left.ere again, the face is in shadow.

To be honest, that is not an easy building to photograph.

thepeople · « **Reply #6 on:** August 16, 2010, 06:23:20 AM »

I agree with finder that is not an easy building to photograph..
and when this happen, you dont have to include the whole building in your frame,
just zoom in to some of its interesting parts such as the grill+the top crown-like-structure in vertical composition..
for me, a building will look great part by part as it give mystery on how the whole building looked like..

adash · « **Reply #7 on:** August 16, 2010, 06:32:00 AM »

Quote

Had you been closer, you could have used the repeating line of the stairs to create an interesting foreground while getting rid of a lot of distracting junk at the edges of the frame.

That would be truely interesting. I didn't imagine that before, but now I can almost visualize it - will be a really nice composition.

mikmas101 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 16, 2010, 12:10:06 PM »

Agree with earlier comments - particularly about the redundant additional stuff in the first pic (ditch half the staircase and left hand railing entirely).

I like the second very much and have no problem with the perspective distortion at all (it adds to it) but a much stronger light was needed to bring out the architectural details and sharpen the image up. This would also have added some drama to the whole - particularly with the right hand wall in shadow or some longer shadows falling off the relief.

If you haven't been there already the Flickr architecture group could be inspirational:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/architecture/

voyager · « **Reply #9 on:** August 16, 2010, 11:09:10 PM »

I do a lot of architecture photography, and the main mistake that I think a lot of people make is that they want to get the entire thing in there. You really don't want to do that, you don't want the surroundings or anything in there, you want to focus on the design of the building, which is usually something that you make very abstract. The photos here are definitely a good start for you.

peterb666 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 17, 2010, 12:01:14 AM »

Thanks guys. Some excellent comments and it has given me a lot to work on.

I agree the need to get closer. That's something I generally have to come to grips with.

The lighting was wrong and didn't suit the building however at the time I thought it would have worked.

Cheers

PeterB666

First serious attempt at architectural photography - feeback sought.