Week 6

Buildings and Architecture

We spend the majority of our time in buildings, but how often do we take the time to stop and really take a good look at them? We have all taken a photograph of a building, often  we find that we're happy with the result.  This evening we explored some different ways of approaching this type of photography.

Lighting

It may seem that every week I have something to say about lighting, but every week I stress that when it comes to taking a photograph it is all we've got.  When we take a photograph we capture light that is reflected from different objects, so if we are aware of the light, where it's coming from and it's quality, we are more likely to know how to deal with it as it enters the camera.

As with many photographic subjects, midday is not the best time to be looking for shots of buildings. You will fair much better by heading out early  for that clear, crisp light of morning or arriving late to catch the light coming from the side that creates  warmth and catches the highlights of the building. You will also get more interesting skies at these times of day.
As is so often the case, there's an exception and this is when the building consists of an expanse of glass.   Sun, blue sky and glass are a great mixture for colourful compositions.

Composition

It is tempting to try and get the whole building in the one shot, but you will not be surprised to find that that shot will have been tried many times before by other photographers resulting in dull and samey shots. By all means if that's what you want to record, take that photograph, but do try to obtain some other different shots that fewer photographers have attempted.  This is a particular favourite of mine. I took this shot in Chapel Street sitting on the step of the building looking straight up the side of it. 

The same building from a different angle

So set your camera on zoom, get in close and find some interest in the detail of the building. Explore the building from different angles.  Look out for interesting shapes and textures that you would not normally have noticed.  

Don't just take one or two shots, take dozens and when I say dozens you need to think about each one.  It's easy enough to fire off dozens of shots with a digital camera.  When we used to use film every shot needed to be considered, because each shot had a cost (film +developing) our cost now is in time of trawling through them and weeding out those shots that we don't need to keep.  But still consider each shot, is there a point of interest?  is everything in the frame relevant? is there clutter that can be removed?

Framing

We can use the edge of other objects to frame a shot, such as the foliage of a tree, an archway or the sides of some other buildings.  There are a few advantages here.

It puts the photograph in context.
It adds depth to the shot by providing a foreground layer.
It can lead the eye into the shot.

Eiffell Tower

Qutub Minar

Westminster Cathedral

Shutters

Night shots

Many buildings are lit at night, and look great but you will need to ensure that your flash is off, the camera is steady,  and you can experiment with the exposure.  For starters set the camera in a semi auto mode set your aperture and then try a shot.  The camera will probably keep the shutter open longer than necessary.  Look at the shot in the preview, it may look a bit washed out and not really how it appears to your eye, but it will give you a starting point.   Now set the camera to manual  and try the shot with a faster shutter speed, maybe reduce it by a quarter or third.  Take another shot and check the preview to see what it looks like.  If it starts to look too dark go for a slower shutter speed.

I took this one of South parkway station just after sunset while the sky was still lit, but it was dark enough for the building to be lit.  I started with an aperture of 22 and tried a 2 second aperture.  This was too dark so I doubled the shutter speed to 4 seconds, it was still just a touch too dark so I added another second and settled on that.  I did  tweak it in post-processing.  I've shown the original RAW image below it. 

I always go for an aperture of 22 because this gives a pleasing star effect around any light points and any movement, vehicles or people is blurred. 

Ugly can be good

Photos of buildings and architecture don't have to be beautiful. Buildings are lived in and get used and if not maintained begin to show signs of wear and tear.  So another tip is to look out for disrepair and decay, they're  all good subjects for our photographs.

A more detailed exposure triangle

The bold words within the triangle are the functions on the camera, at each side of these words are the extremes at which they can be set.  The bold words outside the triangle are the what is affected by what is inside the triangle. So  aperture  affects Depth of field (DOF).
At each side of  the effect is a word that describes the extent of the effect, small aperture - wide depth of field.

Funtography

This weeks task:  Detail and different viewpoints.   Be aware of where the light is coming from, look out for shapes and textures in buildings that are becoming dilapidated.