Photographing Buildings

[BigScott]

I am interested in learning composition for photographing buildings. I have taken a series of pictures of a small store in an old town near where I live. If any of you ever watched the tv show Walker Texas Ranger this store was used frequently. I can always work on taking better pictures but none of these even seem interesting to me. What tips can you offer to make the photos really stand out. What I am mainly interested in is the perspective/angle/other compositional elements. Here are a couple and the rest are on my flikr.







Here are the rest. Flickr: BigScott's Photostream

[RichardTaylor]

I would try shooting;
(1) in better light. Like the "blue hour" or early morning.
(2) and/or when you have a better sky as the "blown skies don't look to good,

[Eastree]

Everything Richard said, plus consider a circular polarized filter. It may also help with the blown out sky.

[BigScott]

Something like this?



This was done in Picasa so it isn't the greatest pp. The ideal way would be to take the picture this way in the first place but I wanted to make sure I understood what you meant. Is this close (as it can be in post)? This lighting isn't great but the color in the sky is a little improved. Please feel free to edit the photo yourself if you like. DPS members have full permission to modify any pictures.

[FormElement]

In my opinion, buidings need at least one of two things. 1) Drama (lighting, wide angle view, heavy processing) and/or 2) Contrasting Context (darkness, fields, open spaces, etc. something to contrast the building against).

If you can go back to that location, try going before sunrise or just at sunset when the lights are on, and get that "special" light where the sky has color (deep blue, red, purple, orange, etc). Shoot the building as close as you can get, at the widest angle you can muster, at f/8 on a tripod. That would be one way to add drama and context to the capture. Shoot during the entire period from dusk to dark (or gray light to full sunrise). The pictures will change dramatically.

[ricklumpas]

I guess the second photo needs to have the horizon straightened.

[RichardTaylor]

In line with some of the above posts, especially about moving in close, on your last edited pic (with the blue sky) why not try cropping most of that side wall out as it doesn't really do much for the picture.

Re shooting at a different time of day it can make a huge difference. This was a little too late in the evening (past the "blue" hour)

In a small town in Vermont.




and getting close helps as well. This was taken at 12mm on a 1.6 crop camera.

[pbailey68]

Hi BigScott,

Photographing buildings can be tricky, sometimes they just sit there.

For me, the most interesting thing about them is the people that inhabit them, a kid playing on the sidwalk, a shopkeeper setting up a display, etc. That being said, I would suggest shooting within an hour after sunup or within an hour before sundown, the light is just different and better. Also, a circular polarizer will help keep blue skies with your properly exposed storefront.

I shot this just before sundown, but forgot my polarizer.

[BigScott]

Thank you all for the help. I appreciate all of your input and I am looking forward to trying out these tips. I am doing all of this with a P&S camera right now but I hope to get a DSLR soon. (That way I can take bad pictures with a nice camera) Thank you also for sharing your shots. Seeing the examples helps me a lot.

[FormElement]

You can still get great pictures with a P&S. The tripod might sound silly for a tiny camera, but it will allow you to get sharper images in the twilight hour. I am sure you have at least rudimentary control of what the camera thinks it is photographing, and that can be all the power you need to get a good result.

Also, don't be afraid to turn the camera on its side. Sometimes you need it to get the most dramatic angle of a particular building. Your camera actually has two "widest" angles, the short side of your image is one wide angle, and the long side of your image is 30-50% wider.