As a description, architectural photography has a highly specialized ring to it, but its subject matter - all and any buildings - is wide enough for it to be of interest to almost all photographers. The essential thing to appreciate is why a particular building was constructed, and how it relates to its surroundings. Good architectural photography recognizes and presents the purpose of a building; it conveys information about the architecture and displays it in a style or atmosphere that suits it. All buildings are constructed with a purpose, which may be as simple as providing shelter, or as complex as conveying a rich religious symbolism. (Show Photo)
In terms of content as well as design, architecture is a rich subject for photography, and by treating it sensitively, it can be used to reveal important aspects of culture and social behavior, not just the ways in which concrete and bricks are used. Vernacular architecture, from stone cottages in Ireland to adobe houses in New Mexico, often has an intimate connection with the environment and the way a society works. Prestige corporate architecture may reflect the current version of high style. Religious architecture follows precepts that may have nothing to do with the practicalities of construction.
Knowledge of the subject is therefore a prerequisite. A particular building may have been designed to be seen from a certain viewpoint, and the perspective and proportions worked out accordingly. There is no compulsion when photographing it to follow this slavishly, but it is at least important to know about it. Understanding and following the architect's intention might lead, for instance, to a view of a European cathedral from a distance that shows it dominating the surrounding town and countryside; or to a photograph of an extension to a public building in a city that emphasizes its continuity and the way that older decorative themes have been picked up and repeated, in the newer building.
Lighting
As with landscapes, lighting is the key to variety of image, and there will be times of day and weather conditions that suit a building better than others - or at least according to an individual photographer's preferences. Often, again as with landscapes, the low-angle sunlight of early morning or late afternoon will bring out form and detail, and can add obvious pictorial qualities. In all cases, however, the decision about the best time to shoot can only be decided by visiting the actual site. Seemingly small details, such as the shadow cast by an adjacent building, or the reflections off a bank of glass windows, can make a substantial difference to the photograph. In city centers, closely packed buildings have effects on the light that are difficult to predict without experiencing them directly. The sun may appear only briefly in the high gap between two skyscrapers, for example, or may be reflected around a corner for just half an hour or so.
The differences in appearance between a cloudy and sunlit day are usually considerable, and offer some choice, although one that is at the mercy of the weather. A radical alternative, possible with a large number of public buildings, is to shoot at night, under floodlighting. This usually needs a reconnaissance one night beforehand, and it is important to know when the floodlighting is switched on and off. With this option, it may be even more effective to time the shooting for dusk when there is just enough residual light left in the sky to define the outline of the building and its surroundings. Again, only the specific location will give the answer.
On the smaller scale of a house, it may be worthwhile to arrange special illumination with photographic tungsten lamps, using a longer exposure to overcome the low light intensity.
Viewpoint
For any particular building there are a limited number of viewpoints. Even though there is no guarantee that any of them are completely satisfactory, there are nearly always more possibilities than seem obvious at first glance. The first step in planning an architectural shot is to take time to walk around the building and study it from different angles, anticipating how it might look at different times of day and under a variety of lighting conditions. A close view with a wide-angle lens is usually the most obvious angle to look for, but more distant views with a telephoto lens may be less obvious. One method of checking these out is to see from the building itself what viewpoints, such as balconies on other buildings, open spaces or hilltops, are visible.
Think not only about a general view, but search out details, both decorative and constructional. These, whether gargoyles on the buttress of a cathedral or the jointing of stones in a wall, can enhance the photographic interpretation of a building. Ultimately, find a balance between the informative record-taking imagery and the subjective view. Much modern architecture lends itself more readily to expressive photography than does, for instance, European classical styles.
Distortion
One special problem of architectural photography is avoiding the kind of perspective distortion that in most other fields is hardly even noticeable. What makes buildings so prone to it is the regularity of their lines: most have vertical walls and a large number of other vertical lines. Viewpoints, as already discussed, are nearly always limited for a particular building, and the majority of obvious, or at least convenient, camera positions are at ground level and fairly close. This inevitably means that for a normal, frame-filling view with an ordinary lens, the camera has to be tilted upwards in order to include the top of the building.
The result of this is to make the vertical lines of the building appear to converge, and is a perfectly normal perspective effect. However, even though this is just the way in which the image is projected onto the eye's retina as well as onto the film, the brain accepts this distortion from experience and ignores it (except in a two-dimensional image). There are occasions when, by making the convergence deliberate and extreme and using a wide-angle lens tilted strongly upwards, the effect can be dramatic. When the convergence is more moderate, however, it can simply look like a mistake.
There are a number of different solutions to this problem. One is to find a higher camera position, such as from part of the way up an opposite building, so that the camera does not have to be tilted. Another way of reducing the angle is to shoot from further back using a telephoto lens to fill the frame with the building. Both of these techniques, however, depend on available viewpoints and accessibility. A more generally useful approach is to use a wide-angle lens, but you need to find foreground elements (such as a fountain, some flowers or a sculpture) that allow a workable composition with the camera aimed horizontally. Technically the best, but certainly, the most expensive solution is to use a shift lens.
Interiors
Interior shots are integral to architectural photography, but require different techniques, notably lighting management. Space restrictions make a wide-angle lens essential; apart from close-ups of furnishing and decorative details taken with a more normal focal length, virtually all interior room photography is wide-angle. Because the light levels are lower than outside and good depth of field is nearly always wanted, a tripod is essential. (Show Photo)
As with exterior shots, the camera angle must first be chosen with care. Quite often, there is more in a room than can be included in a single view. For this reason, in professional architectural coverage of an interior such as in a magazine, it is normal to shoot more than one view of each room. In this case, the choice of viewpoints has to give the greatest contrast between the shots.
Camera position: As a general approach, select the position from which the most important elements in a room are visible. In order to include these, the best position is often close to one corner, but with a very wide-angle lens there may be a danger of unacceptably distorted shapes close to the edges of the frame. Circular objects, such as round tables, are particularly susceptible to this, and it may be necessary to rearrange some of the furniture. Another reason for moving things around is that, to our eyes, a room usually appears tidier than it really is; to achieve the same impression in a photograph, the interior can benefit from cleaning and tidying.
Lighting: While it may not be necessary for the photographer to light a room, the lighting must be assessed and balanced. The choices usually lie between mainly natural lighting, ambient artificial lighting and redesigned lighting with photographic lamps. There are various combinations of these, but an early decision should be whether to capture the effect of the existing lighting, or to alter it. Consider the mood and effect of the interior. Perhaps the very unevenness of the lighting gives the interior a special atmospheric quality. This may well be true in many historical buildings; before electricity or even gas-lighting, a good architect designed interiors to work as well as possible with natural daylight. In many modern interiors, lighting design is an essential part of the architectural effect, and it may be important to preserve this. On other occasions, photographic lighting can be used to improve an interior.
Opening doors can help lighten dark areas, as can switching on more of the existing tungsten lamps, but if the aim is to maintain the existing effect, whether in daylight or ambient artificial light, there is still often a need to add some supplemental lighting to fill shadows and control contrast. The imbalance of lighting in most interiors creates a high level of contrast, with pools of light and areas of darkness, but our eyes' rapid ability to accommodate masks this. Film, nevertheless, records it. If the walls are dark, the illumination from a single window falls away rapidly from it.
In these conditions, the job of supplemental lighting is to balance the existing illumination, and should never be obvious. A cardinal rule is not to allow these lights to be obtrusive, and this means being extremely careful about shadows. If an undiffused light is aimed into a shadow area from outside the picture frame, the hard shadows it casts will point it out and destroy the illusion of natural lighting. Diffusion is the easiest solution, either by hanging diffusing material in front of the light, or by bouncing light off a wall or part of the ceiling behind the camera. If a part of the interior needs to be lit from inside the picture frame, conceal the added lights in such a way that they could appear to be part of the existing lighting. In a church, for example, lights could be placed behind pillars and facing away from the camera.
Tungsten or flash: Tungsten lamps are usually much easier to use than flash in interiors. As explained earlier, exposures can be adjusted simply by time, whereas extra light output from a flash is only possible by triggering it several times. Color balance is straightforward as gels can be clipped or taped in front of the lamps; blue gels can raise the color temperature to match that of daylight. For a quick shot, a portable flash can be useful, and if the overall light level is low enough to permit a time exposure of many seconds, the flash unit can be triggered separately by hand and from different positions in the room (a technique sometimes referred to as "painting with light").
Archaeology
Photographically speaking, archaeology is a branch of architecture, but with special concerns. Many of the technical considerations, such as dealing with viewpoint and converging verticals, are the same, but the best known sites are heavily visited and carefully controlled. Permission may be necessary, particularly if a tripod is used, and visiting times may be restricted. These logistics need to be checked out beforehand.
Usually, one of the key shots for any ancient monument is an overall view that evokes atmosphere. (Show Photo) As with any other building, the principal ways of achieving this are through careful choice of viewpoint and good lighting conditions, but it is usually important to avoid including elements that are anachronistic or distracting, such as nearby modern buildings, power cables, and so on. Also, few sites benefit from having tourists visible in photographs of them, and it may take time and patience to have a clear, unpopulated view. Where possible, it may be worth trying for permission to shoot outside normal opening hours. Of course, in a few instances, the great contrast between an archaeological site and its modern surroundings can be exploited for effect.
