Photography: photographing architecture - simple tips. Architecture: choosing the right shooting point How to photograph buildings and architecture

Architectural photography is unfairly considered a simple genre of photography. The buildings are motionless, the landscape in the city is minimally subject to change, only changing the time of day and seasons of the year can affect the picture. Every beautiful building in tourist spots in different cities was filmed thousands of times from all angles and with any variations of incident light. Taking an original photo is quite difficult; it requires experience and a bold creative vision.

Template shots will not surprise anyone, you need to look deeper and wider, use reflections in windows, natural frames and frames, interesting ensembles, colorful personalities, filters and additional equipment. But even in such a situation, you should not avoid following certain rules. To avoid making common mistakes as a beginner when shooting cityscapes, there are some tips and tricks to take into account.

Architectural photography has developed some rules and traditions over the years. For example, large modern buildings made of concrete and glass are usually photographed on a bright sunny day and include people, cars and movement in the frame to show the rhythm and activity of everyday life. And it is logical to complement old historical buildings and architectural monuments with the setting sun and silence - a minimum of people and a maximum of details showing the value and durability of the building. Temples and monasteries are often photographed against the backdrop of the dawn sun, showing the joy of the morning and the light. There are many such “traditions” that have developed.

To photograph buildings beautifully and technically correctly, you need to know a few basic points. What you need to pay close attention to when preparing:

• the correct angle is the key to the success of the entire shoot;
• choice of time of day, year and weather;
• composition of the frame, what to add and what to remove from the photo;
• daylight;
• necessary equipment;
• camera settings.

If you take into account all the points, the photo will turn out to be high-quality and professional, and then you can add something of your own, experiment with composition, light and settings. Let's look at all the important points in more detail.

Choosing an angle when photographing architecture

There are dozens of different angles for each building; you can walk around it from all possible sides and look at it in a new way. You can use other buildings, puddles, glass from the house opposite and any other ideas. There are basic techniques for choosing an angle:

• Look at other people’s photographs of this building, what is missing there, what is superfluous;

• Walk around the structure from all sides, trying out different compositions and variations;
• Come closer, move further away, sometimes changing the distance to an object can give completely unexpected results;
• Squat down or place the camera on the ground, so part of the ground in front of the building, flowers, fences and other interesting details will be captured in the frame;
• The building looks ideal if the horizon is visually in the center of the photo, and the buildings are clearly located in accordance with it;
• If it is possible to take a position higher than the building, try the perspective from above, this way you can find interesting solutions;
• Include details and various elements in the picture: stairs, windows, combinations of ornaments, balconies;
• Use natural frames and frames from tree branches, structures, and surrounding objects.

The photographer's biggest enemy is the lack of imagination and creative vision of the frame. These skills need to be developed through constant practice, photographing various objects, so over time an understanding of what needs to be done will come.

If you want to show the grandeur and massiveness of a building, come closer to it or shoot from a lower angle, so it will be visually enlarged and will “move closer” to the viewer. Shooting from an angle will give perspective and volume, but if you move further away, the structure will lose its grandeur and significance. It depends on the photographer what qualities he will endow with a house or building, what character he will give it.

Weather, time of day and season of the year

The right angle has been chosen, it’s worth starting to work out the remaining factors. Different buildings look different under different conditions. Ancient buildings look great in the snow, for example, and bridges are best photographed in summer and autumn; forests are more interesting in autumn. Each building looks special at different times of the year and day. Shoot a skyscraper during the day in the bright sun and at night in the glare of thousands of windows, signs and lanterns - you will get two different stories. There are no rules or mandatory conditions, but there are tips and recommendations:

• In the morning the sunlight is soft, there are few people, the buildings are shrouded in a haze of fog. At 5-6 in the morning, in good weather, you get excellent photographs of architecture - all the details have a golden tint and the details in the photograph come out well.

• During the day, in the bright midday sun, you need a clear sky with a minimum amount of clouds, which will allow you to photograph buildings without detail. Finding the point where all the lines are drawn and the light falls softly is almost impossible.
• Evening time, when the sun is already preparing to go below the horizon, is perfect for architectural photography. It is better to choose a perspective when the sun is shining from the back; you can use lit lights, headlights from cars and soft sunlight.

You also need to choose the time of year that suits the story of the photo. In summer, all city landscapes are complemented by the bright greenery of trees and lawns, flowers and signs. In winter, all photographs take on a tinge of sadness and melancholy, so you need to choose a building that suits the mood. Autumn is a festival of colors; you don’t even have to add bright colors and details to the pictures; trees and leaves will do the job for you.

The weather affects the mood of the photo, the amount of light, the intensity of the colors of the street and the number of people. A sunny day will give hard shadows, and clouds scatter the rays and you get soft light, rain and snow give glare and blur to images.

You can use the weather to create unique images, each building changes depending on the season and weather conditions.

Frame composition, composition

The center of the frame is the building itself, the other elements should complement it, then you get a harmonious picture. Moreover, it does not have to be placed in the center, it is enough to focus on it. A photograph can be filled with details, a building can be photographed in an ensemble with other houses, it can be taken out of the usual picture, as if isolated. Any of the options is quite interesting. In addition to the buildings themselves, you can photograph elements, combinations of parts, sections of a wall or house, stairs, balconies, doorways. Understanding artistic composition comes with experience; after several thousand similar shots, you will learn to see the frames around you.

Many unnecessary details can be removed by using a long shutter speed, changing the angle, changing the distance to the object or lens. You can take several pictures at different times of the day or year and then combine them in the editor. You can change the focus, depth of field, highlight some details, send something into the blur zone.

Using natural light when photographing buildings

The ideal ratio of light and shadow can only be determined during the shooting process; some materials and elements look beautiful when adding shadows from nearby trees. Some walls must be perfect, without glare and reflections. Glass and mirror surfaces, where the sun's rays, lanterns or car headlights are reflected, can even become the main storyline of the photograph.

Key points when choosing lighting:

• a cloudy day and lack of light significantly reduces the clarity and detail of the object;
• the light falling from the side of the building allows you to draw out the details of the architecture as much as possible;
• light coming from above or from multiple sides can produce glare or spectral conflict, which can distort the color of the object;
• if you shoot a building against the backdrop of a rising or setting sun, then all attention will be drawn to the contours, and the details will be barely noticeable;
• Shadows can be part of the artistic intent or ruin the shot, keep track of them;
• Clouds or changing the distance to the object will help soften the effect of hard shadows in bright sun. Clouds are natural reflectors and soften the light. And if you move away from the building, a section of blue sky will enter the frame, thereby diluting the photo.

• The best option for photographing a building is the sun behind the photographer, then the details will be drawn as much as possible, there will be no unnecessary shadows, and the colors will be rich.

Technical parameters of the camera and necessary equipment

In addition to the camera, additional tools and equipment may be needed for architectural photography. You can take with you:

• A tripod for stabilizing the camera at long exposures. Without it, pictures will turn out blurry, especially when using wide-format, telephoto and tilt-shift lenses.

• Lens options. A wide-angle will expand the perspective, with a side effect - the convergence of verticals. Long-focus lenses, on the contrary, narrow it. They can be used to complete an artistic idea. Telephotos, or telephoto lenses, allow you to shoot from long distances, which is important when the building does not fit completely into the frame.

Tilt-shift lenses allow you to shift the perspective or change the depth of field, which makes it possible to shoot a panorama without distorting vertical lines. Conventionally, lenses with a focal length of 24-35 mm are considered “universal”.
- Filters, for example, polarizing and color to achieve various artistic effects.

• Control panel or cable. They are used in conjunction with a tripod to eliminate hand shake when releasing the shutter.
• Additional tools depending on the type of shooting and the situation: a flashlight, a thermos with tea, warm clothes, dry shoes, protective visors for the lens, spare memory cards and a battery.

From the camera settings, you can separately select ISO - the building is motionless, so you can take the minimum value up to 400. The remaining parameters are adjusted on site and depend on the weather, the amount of light, and the distance to the object. Many people shoot with high depth of field values; this approach is considered classic. But to achieve the author’s idea, you can change this parameter to minimum values, focusing on the details.

Typical mistakes of a beginning photographer

It’s still not possible to completely avoid mistakes at the beginning of your journey, but they can be minimized. There are classic problems and standards for correcting them during the shooting process:

Where can't you film?

According to various legislative documents, there are places where filming is completely prohibited, where you need to take special permission, where you can simply run into trouble without even breaking the law. It is useful for a novice photographer to study in detail the prohibitions and restrictions:

• There is a conditional ban in religious premises: temples, churches, monasteries. The rector or other clergyman may give his permission to film certain premises. But even in this case, there are places where you still won’t be allowed to go with a camera.

• List of government institutions where filming is completely prohibited not so large - closed military facilities and premises of the Kremlin, court buildings and correctional facilities from the inside, rooms for meetings of the State Duma when employees are there, facilities of the Federal Customs Service.
• Filming near the state border, buildings of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, and administrative premises of Rostransnadzor is limited.

There are places where you may be asked to remove the camera; you can argue with the guards, but most often it is useless, and sometimes even dangerous for your equipment and health. If you are hinted about a ban, the easiest way is to apologize and leave, and come back a little later or the next day, when a more loyal shift takes over.

The most important advice for beginning photographers is to shoot as much and often as possible, alternate styles and types of shooting, participate in seminars, training events and read as much relevant literature as possible. Only by immersing yourself in the topic completely, devoting up to 80% of your time at the initial stage and up to 50% subsequently, can you get results and progress. Choose the genre and type of filming you like and develop yourself.

And in architectural photography you need to remember the most important points:

• the buildings don't move, so the photographer has to run;
• Some houses cannot be rented; you need to know them firsthand in your city;
• The camera and lens play a big role in the quality of the image, especially in the detail of the object;
• use a tripod, it will allow you to avoid hundreds of ruined frames;
• Preparation for shooting is more important than the shooting itself - come to the location several times at different times of the day and season of the year;

• in addition to exterior shots, there are also shots of the interior of buildings - this is also architectural photography;

• shoot as much as possible, this is the only way to gain experience and artistic vision.

Architecture surrounds us every day and is a very popular subject for photography. By following this guide, you'll be able to take great architectural photos.

Architecture covers a wide range of subjects, from skyscrapers to small huts. Every day, wherever we go, we are surrounded by architecture, and it is no wonder that it is such a popular photography destination.

Despite all this diversity, there are a number of general principles and techniques that apply in most cases. Knowing them, you can better think through the composition, choose the scene and lighting.

Practice will allow you to fine-tune your eyes to photograph architecture. This allows you to capture your subjects in a more interesting way, avoiding tired composition techniques and putting more personality into each frame.

Old architecture

When direct and simple composition is used when photographing old architecture, good photographs are usually produced that showcase the natural beauty and elegance of the buildings. It's usually a good idea to include some of the surrounding landscape in the photo to give the building a freer feel.

Simple composition makes old buildings look grander. Photo by Stephen Murphy.

Modern architecture

When shooting new architecture, a more modern, abstract style is encouraged. Experiment by using a wide-angle lens to get an unusual perspective or by shooting buildings from unusual angles. Also, due to the fact that modern buildings are often pressed against each other, framing to a narrow frame is acceptable, as this does not make the photo unnatural.

A more abstract shooting style suits modern architecture very well. Photo by Rohit Mattoo.

Use the surrounding landscape... or not

The answer to the question of whether to include the landscape surrounding the subject in the photo depends on the situation and the content that you want to convey to the viewer. Ask yourself whether the surrounding landscape will complement or detract from the subject in the photograph. If the landscape complements the building, take a wider shot, and if not, crop it.

By including part of the landscape, you can convey your subject in a natural context. Photo by Rob Overcash.

The previous photo shows an old building in the center of a modern city. If you wanted to convey a sense of contradiction, it would be worth including modern buildings in the frame. However, if we want to focus on the beauty of the old architecture, then the neighboring modern buildings become a distraction and need to be trimmed.

Lighting

Lighting is key when photographing architecture. Of course, we are deprived of the opportunity to choose the location and orientation of the building in space, so the issue of lighting often automatically disappears, and we have to be content with the conditions that nature provides us.

Side lighting tends to produce the best photographs of architecture. It provides sufficient illumination and also casts long, interesting shadows on the façade of the building, highlighting its surface details and adding volume.

Side lighting will allow you to highlight the texture and details of the architecture. Photo by Gianni Domenici.

Backlighting is the worst for architectural photography because it creates shapeless, dark surfaces of objects. One of the best ways to solve this problem is to try to remove the sky from the frame and use a slower shutter speed to get at least some detail of the building. You can also shoot the building just as a silhouette or wait until it gets a little dark.

Night photography

Even the most boring architecture can come to life at night. In fact, many modern buildings are designed from the ground up with nighttime in mind. When darkness falls, these buildings are illuminated by dozens of lamps, decorating the facades with multi-colored lights and casting intricate shadows on the surface of the building.

Spectacular night lighting can truly bring a building to life. Photo by Trey Ratcliff.

When photographing architecture at night, be sure to use a tripod and keep your ISO as low as possible to reduce digital noise.

Use long lenses

If you photograph a building from too close, the walls in the photo may appear distorted, as if the entire building is falling backwards. While this effect itself can be quite interesting, we usually try to reduce its appearance so that it does not distract the viewer's attention.

By using telephoto lenses and photographing architecture from afar, you can get straight lines on the walls of the building.

Use a telephoto lens to straighten your perspective and eliminate distortion. Photo by Álvaro Vega Fuentes.

Also, using a telephoto lens, you can achieve a unique abstract effect. Shooting from a distance with a long lens will give you a building with a straightened perspective and parallel lines, giving the photo a surreal feel.

Choose interesting details

Most architecture contains small details, such as ornate windows with beautiful fixtures and decorative cornices, which in themselves are interesting to photograph.

Try to look for interesting details to focus on rather than just photographing the entire building. Photo by Paul Hocksenar

Focus your attention on these types of details and compose your photo to highlight these architectural features.

It's not just about buildings

When photographing architecture, it's easy to get caught up in the idea that "architecture = buildings." While this may not be far from the truth, in reality most man-made structures fall under the category of architectural photography: bridges, towers, windmills, monuments and even lamp posts. Look at your shoot differently to capture interesting photos that most people will simply miss.

Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, New York. Photo by Lou Bueno.

Prime lenses (fixed focal length lenses; discrete lenses) provide the highest image quality. They do not have zoom, but provide very high sharpness. In addition, their aperture is significantly higher than that of zooms with similar focal lengths, which means that primes blur the background more. It is believed that these are the lenses that create the most beautiful bokeh (blurring of the out-of-focus area). In addition, all highly specialized lenses have a fixed focal length. This is the most uncompromising type of lens, but also the least versatile.

The cheapest of all primes are “fifty dollars” - 50 mm lenses. This is due to the relative simplicity of their design. Other prime models can cost several times more and compete in their cost with top-end zooms. So having an optics fleet consisting of several discrete lenses is not a cheap pleasure. But if you still want to work with the fix, then it makes sense to start with fifty dollars. It will allow you to shoot with a shallow depth of field, give you an idea of ​​high image clarity, and will not empty your piggy bank.

Landscape Lens

Any landscape photographer will tell you that it is impossible to recommend a single lens for landscape photography. Some shoot landscapes with ultra-wide-angle models, others use a series of prime lenses, and others use a single zoom lens. There are people who prefer to photograph landscapes with powerful telephoto cameras, thanks to which they can get a large setting or rising sun in the pictures.

But the fact remains: one of the main requirements for landscape lenses is high image detail. In other words, the lens must provide very high sharpness, and not necessarily at an open aperture. Often when shooting landscapes the lens will stop down to f/8-f/11. It is also good if the optics have a low level of chromatic aberration. We are talking about colored edges of contrasting objects, mainly on the periphery of the frame.

As for the range of focal lengths, we would recommend that amateur photographers start with wide-angle lenses. The choice between a zoom lens or a prime lens is a personal matter. As a rule, a beginner will still find it easier with a zoom. By the way, the standard zooms mentioned above are perfect for landscape photography.

Architecture lens

This direction in photography is very close to landscape photography, only even more stringent requirements are imposed on lenses. Architecture is replete with straight lines, which should remain straight and not distorted in photographs (unless otherwise included in the author's plans). And this circumstance forces the use of lenses with well-compensated frame geometry. This primarily applies to wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle models.

Summer is coming soon - time for vacations and endless trips! People travel around the country or the world, and what can I say, every day cities become bigger, better and more beautiful!

Architecture is the face of the city. And, as you know, each face has its own shape, its own geometry.

Ancient architecture is fascinating, modern architecture is amazing! What is not a building is a masterpiece!

How to photograph architecture correctly? Photo Idea will tell you about this!

Architecture in photography means a lot: it is the subject of the photograph, the background, an additional element.

You often have to take photographs “against the background of the wall of this house”, “against the background of this skyscraper”, or “Right here! A very beautiful building!” And sometimes you look at a familiar building, you see it every day, and today, in this weather, in front of you is a masterpiece of architecture!

But you need to be able to photograph a building: it doesn’t matter if it’s an ordinary house or a temple that’s already a thousand years old.

There are initially several principles for photographing architecture:

1. Classic shooting! When constructing a building, geometry is strictly observed. This is a classic. No one will build anything diagonally or at an angle of 37 degrees! Make sure that the verticals of the buildings are level!

2. Skyline. Decide on the composition; you should have a clear picture in your head of what you want to show in the photograph (it makes no difference whether you photograph from below or from the roof).

3. Photo shooting point: It is very important to determine for yourself which side you are going to photograph the building from and in what lighting.

Lighting is a very important point when photographing architecture:

Weather. It is best to take photographs in cloudy, cloudy weather. These are ideal conditions! Creates soft diffused lighting. And white spots of clouds are often included in the composition of the photo. The photo will turn out mysterious and interesting.

It’s not worth shooting in cold weather, if only because the equipment freezes.

It is not advisable to take photographs in the rain, but in rainy weather you get photographs with a dramatic “character”. In this case, use a slow shutter speed.

Bright sun is also not welcome. You will lose image, volume, details. The result will be graphics.

Shadows. They play a dual role. On the one hand, the shadow shows us the volume of the entire building, emphasizing relief drawings and decor, if any. However, if the shadow turns out to be too deep and greatly darkens the areas it falls on, then the photo will lose all meaning. And the building will lose its elegant details and all its beauty.

Of course, if you only need to show the outline in the photo, then you won’t need shadows at all.

Times of Day. Firstly, the choice of time will affect the camera mode in which you will work.

Dusk and sunset are the ideal times if you want to take a photo with meaning that will encourage the viewer to think.

Pictures taken in the morning or afternoon will have a “direct” meaning. In such photographs, the main role will be played by the plot itself, the composition.

Let's not forget that how a building is built and when it is built matters a lot. For example, it is better to photograph a modern glass building in clear weather, during the day or in the morning. And the temple, which was built in the 10th century, will look better at sunset. It is customary to photograph a Christian church in the rays of the rising sun, for example.

Photographs of architecture have a unique property - they are all different. Even if 10 photographers shoot the same building from the same point, the photographs will be different from each other. It depends on the photographer himself (for example, height), everything else is a matter of technique: determining the focus (a window on the third floor or a window on the top floor), optics, filters, whether a tripod is used or not, etc.

I decided to slightly diversify the place where I store useful thoughts online and wrote a short article, which was initially intended to answer _briefly_ a question on a forum dedicated to photography, where in one of the topics a question was asked about photographing architecture. How short the answer is is up to you to judge; I only hope that the time spent reading it will not be wasted.

Preamble

In fact, there are several basic and standard ways to photograph architecture. In addition, it is necessary to distinguish between artistic and technical photography - it turns out there are differences. If in artistic architecture the photographer can afford complete improvisation, then in the case of technical architecture it is imperative to convey the shape and appearance of the building as it is - one might say, realize a sketch drawing using photography.

But in most cases, people still shoot the artistic version, so it can probably be given more attention.

Examine the object

Firstly, it is advisable to inspect the beautiful building by walking around it if possible. Find the most advantageous type of structure in your opinion, which would more fully convey your feelings from the ensemble. Try not to shoot parallel to the plane of the walls of a building with a rectangular plan, so that the frame does not look completely banal. Please also note that in addition to the general appearance, it is very important to take into account small details, bas-reliefs that decorate the building, interesting features of architectural elements, and also be sure to study the incident light, which can strongly emphasize everything listed in detail. Apart from the chosen building itself, it can also blend beautifully with its surroundings.

Take a careful look around - perhaps the architects have already worked on this point. The shooting distance also matters; the closer you are to the object, the more majestic it will look, as if hanging over the viewer, and vice versa - the further you are from the building, the less important and tall it will look. If it happens that your subject “does not fit” into the frame even with the widest angle lens, then you may need to use panoramic shooting.

Select shooting time

1. insufficient exposure is observed - it is necessary to increase the shutter speed or reduce the aperture number
2. exposure is normal - nothing needs to be done
3. obvious overexposure - you need to reduce the shutter speed or increase the aperture number

If you have such an opportunity, then observe the architectural ensemble at different times of the day, because at different times of the day or even time of year, the same building (and not only) may look dramatically different.
The light of the sun low above the horizon draws out all the details especially well - at sunsets and sunrises. Also interesting is shooting during the so-called “regime time” (blue hour), as professional photographers called him for the shade of the sky (sunset) or already (dawn) bluish. Shooting during restricted hours is sometimes beneficial due to the use of additional artificial light from lamps and spotlights used for illumination. Additionally, shooting at early or late hours is beneficial because fewer people are likely to be in the frame.

Filming equipment

From the technical point of view, it is worth noting first of all several basic units of necessary equipment.

In first place is a camera with a wide-angle lens.
When choosing optics, try to pay attention to such characteristics as: the focal length itself, the value of which should be approximately 17-28mm for a larger frame coverage in terms of viewing angle; good sharpness and minimal distortion (Fixed DF lenses usually do better).

When photographing architecture, it is imperative to remember to take a tripod. The support for your camera must be as stable as possible and at the same time not weigh too much so that it can be carried with you for a long time. You can take the advice of one experienced photographer - use a lightweight but durable tripod, the stability of which can be strengthened with a bag of sand or stones suspended from the hook of the central rod of the tripod (buy this option).

An electronic “cable” for releasing the shutter—a remote control for remote shooting—is a very good addition to a tripod. Which model to choose, electronic with or without a wire, is at your discretion. For the future, you can immediately stock up on a cable that allows you, in addition to automatic values, to select an arbitrary exposure time by hand (Bulb mode).

The shooting technique itself

Here we can say the following. The fact that the camera should already be in its original position, mounted on a tripod and equipped with the necessary lens and release cable, I think is already clear from the previous paragraphs. Now all you have to do is point the camera through the viewfinder at your future masterpiece and set the required exposure.

Considering that we are preparing to shoot from a tripod, the issue of shutter speed can be somewhat neglected, paying more attention to the aperture, holding it down to no less than a value of, say, F/16 to obtain greater depth of field in the image space (DOF) and due to this, easier focusing.

Finally

In addition to what is written above, you can use many different techniques and techniques, including panorama shooting (single-row, multi-row and spherical for subsequent gluing on a computer), high dynamic range shooting (HDRi), the use of various filters, as well as a combination of all such methods. Each option implies a separate description of the technique in the form of separate articles that can be found online or in paper publications on photography.