Article by Adam Barnes
I would like to say that photographing buildings is easy and that it is a point and squirt operation, however they do have one fatal flaw which many subjects don’t have and that is that they don’t move. Thankfully most buildings worth photographing have been designed in such a way that it makes it easy to catch the light. Old stately homes are a good example. In the olden days there were many lords with much money and much land and they could afford to build their huge homes where and how they wanted.
Unfortunately not all buildings were built with lighting in mind, some face the wrong way. With everyone wanting to build in the same area, space is sparse and buildings often get squeezed in close together. Cities, harbours, industrial estates Etc are common examples of where this can occur. Skyscrapers and office blocks are particularly hard to photograph due to their tightly packed nature and high rising stance, creating unwanted shadows and hard lighting. Hence why in many cities the fashion is the bigger the better because then you stand out in a crowd.
So here are some hot tips on how to shoot buildings:
Check it out
If you have the opportunity it is always worth visiting the building first to examine the best features and time to photograph it, research is key!
Nature’s Light bulb
The lighting for any photo is critical but with a building it is quite often out of your control. It is all about timing, you need to find out when the sun will fall upon the building in the way you want so that you can get there and capture the images exactly how you want them.
Weather
The weather can make or break a nice photo and really set the mood. For those of us in less sunny Climes a gorgeous blue sky doesn’t come often enough but is much treasured when it arrives. There are other options to make the most of the weather, for example when the sky is black you can get a really moody image which is equally as striking as a sunlit one, and when mixed with some sun shining through it can be really dynamic.
Foreground
Try to think outside the box and bear in mind what might be going on in the image other than just your building. Different buildings need different environment settings and a busy London night club will need a completely different setting to that of a relaxing country hotel spa. Consider what you want from the photo and find out when it is best to achieve this.
Wait
The game a photography is a game of waiting, unfortunately the best images don’t just hang around. Give the environment time and have patience with your setup and subject and your wait will be rewarded with some great imagery.
With those five gems of wisdom I draw this tutorial to a close. Hopefully the one thing you can take from what I have recommended is that the subject, due to its lack of mobility, needs to be researched to obtain the best results.
Regards
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whereby the original author’s information and copyright must be included.
Why not try and visit our site to see more details about Hertfordshire, WWW.VenueShire.co.uk You can see all our venues on the our Hertfordshire venues page.}
Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher Guidelines
whereby the original author’s information and copyright must be included.
