Architectural Photography

 

Architectural photography is the photographing of buildings and man made structures.

 

In small groups we discussed what we associate architecture with and this is what my group came up with........ 

 

 

 

Here are a few images I took in Manchester a few months back on a sunny and blue skied day at the end of last year....

 

 

 

 

The weather and light was perfect for photographing architecture as it created the reflections and colours.

 

 

 

 

 

This is obviously an older, more traditional building. I took this one to show the symmetry.

 

 

 

 

 

At the weekend, I went to Liverpool with the intention of taking some photos of architecture. The weather was very dull and depressing, so not ideal for this subject but I stuck with it anyway!

 

The colours came out looking very flat and grey due to the light so I desaturated them to get rid of any colour.

 

This is the Echo arena...

 

 

Lines and shapes.

 

Different viewpoints.

 

 



 

 

Details.

 

 

 

 

This is the Museum of Liverpool which is quite an interesting building.

 

 

 

 

Here are a view more shots of more modern buildings...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also took a few images of some old buildings which I didn't enjoy as much.

 

 

 

 

 

Studio Photography - Portraits

 

 

Working in a portrait studio was quite handy for this section of the brief!!

 

I used our studio and one of our photographers Chris as my model for the portrait part.

 

I did 3 different lighting set ups to demonstrate which lights create which effects.

 

I started with this set up below. 2 soft boxes to give a nice soft and even spread of light across Chris' face and then 2 reflectors at the back pointing towards the wall, creating that crisp white background.

 

 

Here are a few of the images i took with this light set up...

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see....this lighting gives a very soft and fresh look and is probably more flattering for females as it gives quite a flawless effect. All women want to look flawless!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the next few images, I used this set up. Just 2 lights, one beauty dish to one side pointing towards Chris's face and one reflector at the back with a honeycomb. I used the beauty dish to create a focused area of light wrapping around his face and the honeycomb at the back to create a soft glow of light on the background, also focusing on a specific area and not spreading too far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This kind of lighting is a bit more masculine as it shows the texture in Chris' face as he has just one light to one side illuminating him, creating the shadows. 

 

You can see the effect the honeycomb had on the background. It gives quite a soft grey, with a halo of light around Chris' head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I tried this set up just using the 2 same lights as above again, but this time turning the honey comb one towards Chris.

 

The beauty dish was doing the exact same and before, but the light with the honeycomb gave a little bit of light at the back of his head, highlighting some texture and the back and side of his head but still giving those nice shadows too.

 

I think this is the image I will choose to go with my studio brief. I prefer this lighting for my model. I like the shadows it creates and I like the way the light at the back highlights texture in his hair and back of his neck. I also like the catch lights in his eyes.

 

Studio Photography - Flowers

 

 

 

 

Today I took some images of a flower (it IS valentines day). The lighting has to be right to accentuate the detail and colour of the flower.

 

This was my light set up below. I used a beauty dish to one side of the camera. I used this because it gave a focused pool of soft light on my subject. I also, used a deep reflector behind the subject with a honeycomb fixture. This brought out more colour and definition around the edges of the flower. The honeycomb also gives a soft light and ensures that there is no glare in the lens. I chose to use a black background.

 

 

 

 

 

I also desaturated the image. I think I prefer this one because its very delicate and graceful but also quite moody.

Studio Photography - Commercial

Commercial photography involves taking pictures for commercial use: for example in adverts, merchandising, and product placement.

John left us to our own devices today to set up a studio and photograph a product. Unfortunately, I didn't know we had to bring something in (John forgot to tell me...), so I got the lighting right and photographed Andy's lovely camera. Anyone want to buy it? I hear it's going for a tenner! (yeah right)

 

 

 

 

 

 

For this image, I used a white photo table with a light underneath, and then 2 soft boxes at each side for a nice even spread of light. At first, the lens cap was quite dark so I used white card to reflect onto it. The softboxes created an even spread of light across the subject which is always good for commercial as the intent is to sell the product, so the consumer wants to see everything clearly. It gives a realistic representation of the camera. The light underneath the table gave the bleach white effect for the background.

 

 

I wasn't 100% happy with the subject I chose for this (no offence to Andy's camera), so I went back and photographed my new converse while they were still clean! I chose quite a contemporary angle and composition to suit the subject which is quite funky and 'trendy'. I used the same white table and light underneath as I did with the previous subject, however, used one soft box to one side of the subject and one deep reflector with barn doors to the other side. I used the deep reflector as I wanted more contrast for this image for more impact, instead of using another softbox which gives that soft, even light.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some more images that I took but won't use.....

 

 

 

The shoes are positioned the same in this image (above) but it gives a much different effect due to the viewpoint at which I shot from. This was shot straight on at eye level, getting all of the subject within the frame. I think it looks quite boring and doesn't really suit the whole style of the shoes. The image I chose is shot from quite a low angle and also tilted to one side. It gives the impression we are looking up to them. Also, I shot it so that bits of the shoes were cropped off which gives quite a contemporary style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Studio photography - Still Life At Home

 

 

 

 

I decided to take a few snaps of chillies because my fridge is full of them! I also love the strong colour you get from them. I decided to lie them on a white piece of fabric with a little bit of texture for the background. I chose different types of chillies and some were more shrivelled than others as you can see.

I just used one light (a desk lamp) positioned above the subject, looking down but as you can see from the shadows, it was a little bit more to the right.

I also used pieces of white card around the sides to reflect more light onto the chillies.

I think the shadows are a bit too prominent in this image due to the lack of lighting I had so I used the dodge tool in photoshop to tone them down a touch. I do like how the different tones have turned out but a desk lamp is certainly not the best thing to use! I would like to try this again using proper studio lighting or even using 2 lights positioned above the subject, one to each side.... but I had to make do with what I had at home. No harm in trying! 

Here are a couple more I took....

With this one, I changed the white balance to cloudy to add warmth.