Architecture

NanaMo

Greetings!

Thank all those who answered my cry for help on the insurance. I hope it also helped others.

Now I have another question and not sure if this is the proper forum. But I am sure someone will help me out on that!! LOL

This is the question du jour....I have been asked by to photograph some buildings so the gentleman can enter them in an architecture contest. Initially it will be the outside of a metal building and then the inside of small offices (patient rooms in a doctors office, small offices spaces etc).

How do you make them look exciting and inviting? :scratch:dunno I have looked up this type of photography on the web but they do show exciting buildings with great angles etc etc but those I need help photographing are metal and mostly rectangles... did take this on one of them as an example....unfortunately, shooting into the sun and the entire street in the foreground in order to get the entire building. My 12-24 lens distorts the building....woe is me!! LOL



In all honesty, those that I saw entered inthe contest have too much sky, parking lot, street, have the sides clipped off etc and those were the winners!

Tho' as mentioned, I have done some research Iwould rather hear from smugmuggers!!

Thanks in advance
:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow,

Maureen

Jaraviss

check these out
http://www.metalconstruction.org/pubs/index.cfm?pg=gallery.htm

i would suggest looking at magazines dedicated towards the type of archtiecture you're going to be shooting.

the link above is for metal buildings.....they may be more high end than what your architect is going to be doing...but if you look around, you can see how they photographed the images.

also, look at other architecture magazines (not just metal buildings)
-architectural record
-architecture
-dwell
-architectural digest (too much "fancy" interiors for my taste)

or go down to yoru local bookstore/library and look at the architecture section (luckily at my bookstore, it's right by the photography section).

just look at the images that jump out at you (and are similar to what your subject matter is) and see if you can break down what they were doing.
look how the parking lot looks, misc props around the site.
if there are people milling about or not.
the lighting.

after i found out how much i love to shoot architecture, i googled local photographers whose careers focus (pun intended) on architecture, i then checked out there sites and actually emailed them explaining my situation.
i was pleasantly surprised to receive replies from all of them.

the common answer (to my question about "how to do architecture photography)...was that there is no really good "cook book" for getting results out there....there are books on the subject but they're stuck in the "film age"

one of the gentlemen is actually writing/has wrote a book on the subject and will be published in 2008.

another guy (here's the link) has an "architectural checklist" that i found really helpful/informative.
http://vancefox.com/services/archchecklist/ArchitectureChecklist.html

i wish you luck...i'm still very much excited about architecture photography.

come see some more irecent images...
http://www.digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=74304

thanks and i hope this was helpful....let's keep eachother informed of our progress and if you come across any useful info, please send it my way.
i'll do the same for you.


:ivar

-G

2whlrcr

I'm no expert here, but to me, that's a boring building. Just a box with an entrance peak. Very few windows, bland colors and the landscaping isn't interesting either. This building is in some kind of contest?

I would try and shoot early morning or late afternoon. Whenever the light hits the front, or front quarter of the building and is relatively low. Maybe use a polarizer to bring out the sky and landscaping. Is the building interestingly lit at night? You might try something at night with the lights on?

Do you have to have the whole building in the picture? The entrance and glass are the most interesting part. You could try a tighter crop, shoot from different angles, get down low, include some landscaping, etc...

NanaMo

Thank you, G, for so much great information. I have done some of the suggestions but many other great ideas from you.

Going out of town tomorrow and hope to have lots of great buildings to show you --- Beijing!!!

Will keep you posted with anything I learn.....this all came up for me on Friday and naturally, he wanted the pictures yesterday! Had a very limited window.....but did manipulate the pics I took and gave him some he was happpy with.....another photographer took some and he HATED them....all sky and pavement....ah, learning on the job.

ttfn,
Maureen
:ivar

NanaMo

Right 2whlrcr! How do you make a box interesting? That is why I asked for suggestions.

I had ONLY 1 hour to grab the picture late in the day. The man hated the pics done by another photographer and with his deadline and me going out of the country -- well...many of us have been in that position.....

I did manipulate the pictures and presented him with something he really liked and plans to use. It sure will be great to have more than 1 hour to take the picture and looking forward to it the next time. Did a 10:4 pano of the building with the sky fixed as well as the blown out area on the building and then below 3 shots of some of the accents on the building.

Thanks for the comment,

Maureen