Architectural photography

Explore Architectural Photography

Architectural photography is going to be the area in which I have chosen to explore. I will be going around Bristol finding buildings that I find interesting and also a combination of new and old architecture to possibly be in the same shot. I want to be taking shots in different types of weather at different and at times of the day.

By going to so many different locations, shooting in all different types of light and weather will really help me to understand different camera settings that I will need to use.

Dug Wilders

I have looked at the work of Dug Wilders who began as a freelance wedding and portrait photographer but after a while, he was taking a lot of architectural photography and began to specialize in this area. he does talk about how produces high-quality interior, commercial photographs.

He describes how he can become familiar with your property and help you show it off which will definitely draw in a particular people.

He has many different clients including architects, advertisers, and even estate agents.

Some of his work

This is a great use of colour and they stand out so well against the blue of the sky, especially the large red pillar that runs to the top of the building which runs which runs down to the left.

This is almost completely symmetrical and the point of the roof in the foreground is almost exactly in the middle, there seems to be light fade around the roof of the building which could well have been an effect added during editing.

The images are so sharp and the colours are bold I think this is also because of editing after it was shot

Two interior shots he has taken

The reflection works so well, in some ways it almost looks like a Reflection you would have in the water.

The quality and composition is so good and you're able to see how it makes these interiors so appealing.

The next three images show so well how he has positioned himself in terms of perspective.

These two images have almost exactly the same kind of weather, it could be done as this helps to make the different textures of the buildings stand out so well.

Personally, I think this shot seems to be quite geometric. It is such a good mixture of texture, with the smooth walls inside and the rough brickwork on the wall right above it.

the two shadows on the left and right-hand side almost level you out in some ways when you are looking at the image.

Thomas Struth

Thomas Struth is a well-known German photographer originally from West Germany and he is known for his black-and-white photos of the streets of New York and also of Düsseldorf between the 1970's an and 1980s.

Although this was taken in the late 1970s you're able to see the Twin Towers which is very modern style architecture and they are right in the centre, it is such an interesting combination as your drawn towards them by older buildings to the left and right.

In this Image, you're able to see how badly maintained the roads are and some of the buildings almost look like they are completely empty and you're only able to see one car parked on the right-hand side, it really does make it seem like it is almost an abandoned area and completely deserted.

Streets of Dusseldorf

These shots were taken in the streets is Düsseldorf in the late 1970s as I mentioned before all of these are in black-and-white, please do show a very centralized perspective looking down the deserted streets, they must have been shot at a certain time of day so he would be able to take a shot that included no pedestrians, the only thing is parked cars which do make you wonder why there are no people walking about. he was using at that time a large format plate camera and would carry on working in the subject matter.

In these next two shots, I really like how you able to see the cables going across the street attached to the top of the buildings.

In the shot, the cars parking either side of the road are in a slightly lighter colour as opposed to the darker brickwork of which could be flats, this helps you to notice the centralized perspective.

These are my own shots I have taken

These were taken on a trip to Berlin and there were so many oppertunities to get shots of modern and older architecture together.

Berlin now has so much more modern style buildings purely because of the destuction of the city during world war two, and the city had to be rebuilt after all of the bombings during the war.

The tall tower block is right in the centre of this image and the sun was shining from behind me so it is cast on the building making it stand out so well against the grey sky from behind, also you are able to see the reflection from the windows on the building on the right.

As I explained before Berlin has a great combination of older and new style architecture, with this shot I managed to find a building in which one side of it has been completely redeveloped whereas one other side of it seems to be how it was when it was originally built, which would have been before World War II. I like the composition of this image although it would've been better without the scaffolding, building work and also the two people walking across the bridge.

I think this would be some of the older style architecture, I was able to think this because of the older stone, even on the ground/pavement.

This was taken at the Holocaust memorial right in the centre of the city, I have used the same technique as Thomas Struth by trying to use a are centralized perspective.

I quite like the composition of this Image although I think it could be slightly too dark on the lower part of the shot.

This was taken right next to the hostel in which we were staying, I think it works really well with the glass on the side of the building on the left shows a light colour which is the reflection of the sky. I quite like how the building is a light colour almost quite similar to the sky, it almost seems like the street carries ongoing.

These shots were taken in Broadmead right in the centre of Bristol early in the morning, I was able to take shots that would not include any people walking around or any traffic.

I was really happy with this shot although it definitely needs editing as the sky is far too bright.

This was taken in Broadmead in the centre of Bristol when I took the shot I chose to look up words as I didn't want to include the road. It was really good on this day I was it was I clear blue sky similar to the shots of Dug wilder.

I'm really happy with the composition of this Image and again I have to use the same technique as Struth I'm the corner of the church tower is almost is almost completely in the centre.

This really does show some good geometric shapes between the office buildings and with a shot similar to the one I took in Broadmead I looked up and chose to not show the road. To start off with I was not very happy about the lampost, but I think works well as it is the same dark tone as the building on the right of the image.

These next two were taken looking up the road with the BRI in Bristol on the right.

This shot above works a lot better than the first one in terms of light, but I still would have liked it if there was nobody walking around.

These two were taken not too far from the BRI, but as it was getting later in the day the sky was becoming a lot brighter but this is something I could work with whilst editing.

This is my favorite of the two and the red brick building stands out so well against the sky.

Another good combination of old and new, taken at Bristol bus station, I managed to shot this with the post which has a clock on the top of it right in the centre and I think it works really well with the edge of the glass shelter drawing your eyes from the top of the post right between the two buildings.

This is one of my favorite shots it was taken very early in the morning, I was stood next to a shop window and you're able to see your reflection from the road on your right-hand side. I really am using Struth's technique all of the time as you can see in this image the shop window is almost completely in the centre.

These next two shots were taken just around the corner from college, and I decided to walk up the road so I was looking down as the road went uphill. In these two images, I wanted to show a combination of old and new architecture together in one shot.

I think I managed to do what I had planned although the new flats in the centre are not really shown too well and there is far to much light.

I have chosen to shoot a lot of my photographs using the same technique of Struth in terms of perspective and I think this shot below is a very good example, looking down one of the streets in Broadmead, Bristol.

The next two shots I have taken I am really pleased with, I was able to choose just the right moment and not include any pedestrians or traffic.

There are actually a few people walking in this one above but they are right in the background so you can hardly see them at all.

The Bristol City football ground was the location of these next three shots. This was a really good location and the stadium was only finished being built within the last two years.

With these shots, I have tried to use similar angles and composition as Dug Wilder and I think the blue sky has enabled me to create a similar effect.

I decided to look up towards the top of thefootball ground and by doing this I have managed to cut out any activity like people driving or walking around.

these two were taken right by the bus station in the centre of Bristol, I was really keen to take some shots when it was raining and I have managed to show good reflections in the road from the red lighting up the side of the student union building, which has also just had some building work done to it which has only just been finished.

I used a slow shutter speed int his shot and you are able to see the light traces from the traffic as it passes by. I was stood under some shelter from the rain and I like how the black billar sits in front of the bright light of the main enterance.

I have always wanted to get a shot of this building and I decided to wait until night, just because the street lighting lights the building up so well and it works so well well against the dark night sky.

I also like how the tower block building curves around to the left and on the right-hand side it is just a straight line, the top curve of the building is almost copletely in the centre of the building.

The next four images I have shot were almost next to each other but it was such a good area which included tower blocks, arches, small pathways and also an old wall of the city.

I was really happy with how this shot came out, as you look down the small pathway between the old wall of the city next to a modern office building you are able to see a large tower block at the end with two large white charactors painted on the side of it, it's a brilliant combination of buildings althogh I will have to do some editing because of the low light.

These next two images have actually been shot either side of the walkway below the building, as similar to many of the other shots I have taken I chose to look up towards the to top, buts it is great how you are able to see through the bottom below.

Because of the walkway, which actually is a road as a car came through just before I took this shot, it creates such a good effect in terms of light with the light on the builging on the other side as you look through it.

Here are some screen shots I took whilst going through the editing process.

You are able to see where I made adjustments using, Camera Raw Filter

I also cropped the image on the right-hand side, just to try and take away some of the blue paint on the wall.

You are able to see how i used the eraser tool to remove the end of a pole on the left-hand side.

These are the adjustments made on the Raw Camera Filter to help with the issues I had with the light.

I also cropped the left-hand side to take away a small section of the wall.

I cropped this slightly to make the archway under the building more symetrical.

The bottom of this was cropped to make less black shadow below the curve.

The eraser tool was used to remove a piece of litter on the floor the was shining light.

there was a small light attached to the wall on the right-hand side and i decided to crop this away.

This shot came out so well but the red light on the building was slightly leaned over to the right, I was able to rotate it to make it straight.

Using Camera Raw Filter always does help with light problems.

I removed a fire alarm on the brick wall of the bus station on the left

Cropped it to remove an extra piece of roofing on the left.

Cropped away a small section from the bottom.

Used the Camera Raw Filter to help adjust the light levels in the sky.

Used the Eraser tool removed a pigeon from the pathway just on the right.

Camera Raw Filter, it definitely neede to be used in this shot.

Camera Raw Filter and I also cropped a small section from the top and removed a light up hotel sign.

This image came out so much better after using the Camera Raw Filter.

These are my final choice of shots post editing.

My final choice of shots which look so much better once I had gone through all of the editings on photoshop, it was mainly due to light and cropping really.

Evaluation

The exploration of architecture proposal I wrote for myself was something that I was really looking forward too, but I didn't realise how much of a challenge it would be. I am really glad I chose to focus in this area and it really has helped to come up with certain techniques I never would have used or even thought about before.

The two Architectural photographers I have researched into have helped me to understand this area of photography so much, especially the work of Thomas Struth. Even though all of his work I have looked at was from the 1970s and 80s it has influenced me so much, it has helped to understand the different kinds of perspective and composition for sure. It was very interesting to compare his work with another photographer I researched into Dug Wilder as his work does seem to be rather commercial.

I did realise that when I first began shooting, it has a lot more to do with it than just looking directly at a building and taking a shot without thinking about it first. I was able to see how I progressed as time went on and the images after editing them I am really pleased with, and it has also enabled me to understand the editing process better as well.

Professionally I would be able to talk with a client to understand exactly what they wanted and after doing this module I would definitely be able to approach this a lot better than before. You need to know the best time of day, the type of light you would need and also how busy the location you are shooting at would be. Although after saying that it would always depend on what type of style image your client would like.

This has been very interesting and this area of photography I would like to explore so much more.