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التصوير الفوتوغرافي الحديث
تصوير الخارجيات
التصوير المعماري للمصمم
ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE PICTORIALIST
From the pictorial point of view , architecture is an interesting and attractive subject . You should deal with architectural subjects as with any other pictorial material , paying careful attention to atmospheric effects and studying the beauty of line and composition . Sometimes you may wish to obtain broad masses of light and shade and will try to suppress unimportant detail .
There are , in nearly every locality , historic buildings and landmarks that should be photographed in order to preserve records of them . Many of the leading pictorialists in this country and abroad have devoted themselves almost entirely to architectural photography . There are in many places a number of historic and attractive homes as we as churches and other public buildings that are interesting to the student and lover of architecture . Such buildings provide fine material for the pictorialist . It is quite possible for you to make pictures that have value as records and at the same time possess considerable pictorial merit .
ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY WITH THE SMALL CAMERA
Although the view camera is the basic tool of the architectural photographer , this by no means rules out the use of a small camera such as the 35mm or the 2 % 24. Even the specialists in this field , whose primary source of income is architectural photography , will find good use for one of these small cameras as an adjunct to the larger camera he habitually uses . He takes the smaller camera along on his preliminary survey trips in which he plans the picture or pictures he expects to take with his regular equipment . In the survey , he will want to shoot pictures from many angles and at different times of day so that he can study lighting conditions , composition , and the camera viewpoints which will give him the best possible picture or pictures .
For such preliminary surveys , he doesn't need to concern himself too much . with perspective controls , so he does not need load himself down with a heavy view camera with its attendant large tripod and battery of lenses . He can forget about the fact that buildings will lean back when he points the camera up , and that fine detail may be lost . He can take care of all such matters when he comes back with his view camera equipment for the final pictures .
Another fact to be considered is that many photographers specialize in other branches of photography in which the small hand camera is the basic tool , and they may not have a good view camera . While camera equipment of almost any sort may be rented in such centers as New York , Los Angeles and Chicago , this is not possible in the smaller cities . Nevertheless , such photographers are occasionally asked to take architectural pictures by their regular clients and it is poor practice to turn down such jobs . They have no alternative , therefore , but to undertake the job with the small camera they habitually use .
Although the small camera , either 35mm or 24 x 24 , is not the preferred instrument for architectural photography , some exceedingly fine architectural pictures have been taken with such equipment . As a matter of fact , recognizing the usefulness of the small camera in this field , some manufacturers have provided a certain amount of perspective control in their instruments . The first attempt by a leading manufacturer of 35mm cameras to provide perspective control is the PC Nikkor lens . This is a wide - angle lens with a focal length of 35mm made to fit the Nikon camera . The unusual feature of this lens is that it can be shifted in its mount in any direction and thus duplicate the rising and sliding front of a view camera .
The S. L. Rolleiflex ( Figure 19 ) has a rather unusual feature in a small . camera - a swing front . Since the pivot or fulcrum about which the lens is swung is at the camera body rather than at the lens itself , the effect produced , although limited in its scope , is essentially that of the vertical swing back in a view camera .
Figure 19 S. L. Rolleiflex with unique swing front .
The very fast , extremely wide - angle lenses available in 35mm photography . often makes it possible to get by very nicely without the use of any camera movements . Figure 20 , for example , was taken with a 28mm wide - angle lens in a 35mm camera . The camera was at street level and pointed straight ahead so as to avoid perspective distortion of the buildings . The extreme wide - angle lens made it possible to take in all of the building without pointing the camera up . By cropping the important building area , as shown , a distortionless picture of the skyscraper was obtained . Because only a small portion of the 35mm negative is used , the detail here is not as good as would be obtained with a standard view camera equipped with all the necessary adjustments , but there are times when this technique may be used with quite satisfactory results .
Figure 20 A distortionless architectural picture can be produced with a 35mm camera by using an extremely wide angle lens and cropping the print as shown at right .
If a small hand camera is to be used successfully for architectural subjects , it is absolutely essential for the photographer to pay the closest attention to all of the steps which make for a technically perfect picture . Because of the high degree of enlargement required and the fine picture detail insisted upon by the people who buy architectural photographs , the work must be of the highest professional quality if it is to be considered satisfactory . To get such top quality , you should pay particular attention to the following
considerations :
FILM
For best results with 35mm cameras , use one of the slow , thin emulsion films such as Panatomic - X . This film will give finer usable detail than a general purpose film so that the negative can be enlarged to practically any desired size and still retain good image quality . In the 24 x 24 sizes , a medium speed film will be quite satisfactory . In either case , avoid the use of the fast emulsions - they are generally more grainy and the image quality does not hold up as well upon extreme enlargement .
DEVELOPER
With the thin emulsion , high resolution film , use the developer that is recommended by the manufacturer , or that is specially designed to work best with such films . Generally speaking , these same developers will also work quite well with the medium speed films , whether 35mm or roll film . Do not use ultra - fine grain developers for architectural work . While such developers may reduce apparent grain , they generally do so at the expense of sharpness or brilliance or both .
LIGHTING
Try to restrict your picture taking to the times when the lighting is crisp and brilliant . A technically perfect print with crisp , well - defined shadows and brilliant highlights gives the appearance of being much sharper than it really is . Steeply . angled lighting brings out the texture of the building surface and further increases the appearance of sharpness . It is extremely difficult to get a commercially satisfactory architectural picture with a 35mm camera on a dull , overcast day .
EXPOSURE
Pay particular attention to getting the correct exposure . Read the meter carefully and bracket your shots . It is particularly important to avoid overexposure , since an overexposed small negative tends to be grainy and lacking in both sharpness and contrast . You may actually find that you will get better pictures by keeping the exposure on the short side . While this will give you less detail in the shadows , it may more than make up for this lack by keeping the highlights open and emphasizing texture .
FILL THE ENTIRE FRAME
The biggest disadvantage , by far , of the small camera is the need for extreme enlargements of the negative it produces . You compound this difficulty if you don't take full advantage of the limited negative size you have . Study the subject very carefully and then work out your composition so that it fills the entire frame with very little , if any , room to spare . This will , of necessity , require you to have a rather large assortment of lenses of varying focal lengths . If you are in doubt as to the exact composition that makes the best picture , make a lot of exposures - film is cheap .
FOCUS FOR MAXIMUM DEPTH OF FIELD
In most cases , the subject itself will be far enough away so that you would normally focus at infinity . This , however , robs you of part of the depth of field . If there is anything in the foreground , focus just enough in front of the infinity mark on your camera lens so as to bring this object into reasonably sharp focus as well . While an out - of - focus foreground may be acceptable in some types of pictures , it is usually objectionable in good architectural photography .
Figure 21 People are often included in an architectural photograph to show the building's function , but they must be kept small and inconspicuous so as not to compete with the architecture .
Photo of the Ida Casson Calloway Gardens , Pine Mountain , Georgia . Courtesy of Portland Cement Association .
AVOID THE USE OF LENS APERTURE EXTREMES
No lens is at its best when opened up to full aperture , or closed down to minimum aperture . If you want maximum sharpness in your pictures - and this is almost invariably the case in architectural photography - try not to shoot at either the largest or the smallest apertures of your lens . The middle range of lens apertures will give you sharper pictures .
HOLD THE CAMERA STEADY
Since architectural photography requires extreme sharpness , it is important to take particular pains to avoid camera movement . When possible , use a tripod or other camera support , such as a unipod or chest pod . If you have none of these , the wall of another building , an archway or doorway may serve to give your body or the camera itself additional support .
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SMALL CAMERAS MANEUVERABILITY
The small camera has one extremely important advantage - its high degree of maneuverability . Take advantage of it . Look for new and interesting angles to shoot from . Try for interpretive rather than completely realistic shots to fill out the series of pictures - there is no telling when one of these will be acceptable to the client . Don't shoot everything at eye level . If the composition looks better from a low position , don't hesitate to stoop or even lie down if this will result in a more dramatic shot . Similarly , if climbing a wall to get a higher viewpoint gives you a better picture , do it by all means .
تصوير الخارجيات
التصوير المعماري للمصمم
ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE PICTORIALIST
From the pictorial point of view , architecture is an interesting and attractive subject . You should deal with architectural subjects as with any other pictorial material , paying careful attention to atmospheric effects and studying the beauty of line and composition . Sometimes you may wish to obtain broad masses of light and shade and will try to suppress unimportant detail .
There are , in nearly every locality , historic buildings and landmarks that should be photographed in order to preserve records of them . Many of the leading pictorialists in this country and abroad have devoted themselves almost entirely to architectural photography . There are in many places a number of historic and attractive homes as we as churches and other public buildings that are interesting to the student and lover of architecture . Such buildings provide fine material for the pictorialist . It is quite possible for you to make pictures that have value as records and at the same time possess considerable pictorial merit .
ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY WITH THE SMALL CAMERA
Although the view camera is the basic tool of the architectural photographer , this by no means rules out the use of a small camera such as the 35mm or the 2 % 24. Even the specialists in this field , whose primary source of income is architectural photography , will find good use for one of these small cameras as an adjunct to the larger camera he habitually uses . He takes the smaller camera along on his preliminary survey trips in which he plans the picture or pictures he expects to take with his regular equipment . In the survey , he will want to shoot pictures from many angles and at different times of day so that he can study lighting conditions , composition , and the camera viewpoints which will give him the best possible picture or pictures .
For such preliminary surveys , he doesn't need to concern himself too much . with perspective controls , so he does not need load himself down with a heavy view camera with its attendant large tripod and battery of lenses . He can forget about the fact that buildings will lean back when he points the camera up , and that fine detail may be lost . He can take care of all such matters when he comes back with his view camera equipment for the final pictures .
Another fact to be considered is that many photographers specialize in other branches of photography in which the small hand camera is the basic tool , and they may not have a good view camera . While camera equipment of almost any sort may be rented in such centers as New York , Los Angeles and Chicago , this is not possible in the smaller cities . Nevertheless , such photographers are occasionally asked to take architectural pictures by their regular clients and it is poor practice to turn down such jobs . They have no alternative , therefore , but to undertake the job with the small camera they habitually use .
Although the small camera , either 35mm or 24 x 24 , is not the preferred instrument for architectural photography , some exceedingly fine architectural pictures have been taken with such equipment . As a matter of fact , recognizing the usefulness of the small camera in this field , some manufacturers have provided a certain amount of perspective control in their instruments . The first attempt by a leading manufacturer of 35mm cameras to provide perspective control is the PC Nikkor lens . This is a wide - angle lens with a focal length of 35mm made to fit the Nikon camera . The unusual feature of this lens is that it can be shifted in its mount in any direction and thus duplicate the rising and sliding front of a view camera .
The S. L. Rolleiflex ( Figure 19 ) has a rather unusual feature in a small . camera - a swing front . Since the pivot or fulcrum about which the lens is swung is at the camera body rather than at the lens itself , the effect produced , although limited in its scope , is essentially that of the vertical swing back in a view camera .
Figure 19 S. L. Rolleiflex with unique swing front .
The very fast , extremely wide - angle lenses available in 35mm photography . often makes it possible to get by very nicely without the use of any camera movements . Figure 20 , for example , was taken with a 28mm wide - angle lens in a 35mm camera . The camera was at street level and pointed straight ahead so as to avoid perspective distortion of the buildings . The extreme wide - angle lens made it possible to take in all of the building without pointing the camera up . By cropping the important building area , as shown , a distortionless picture of the skyscraper was obtained . Because only a small portion of the 35mm negative is used , the detail here is not as good as would be obtained with a standard view camera equipped with all the necessary adjustments , but there are times when this technique may be used with quite satisfactory results .
Figure 20 A distortionless architectural picture can be produced with a 35mm camera by using an extremely wide angle lens and cropping the print as shown at right .
If a small hand camera is to be used successfully for architectural subjects , it is absolutely essential for the photographer to pay the closest attention to all of the steps which make for a technically perfect picture . Because of the high degree of enlargement required and the fine picture detail insisted upon by the people who buy architectural photographs , the work must be of the highest professional quality if it is to be considered satisfactory . To get such top quality , you should pay particular attention to the following
considerations :
FILM
For best results with 35mm cameras , use one of the slow , thin emulsion films such as Panatomic - X . This film will give finer usable detail than a general purpose film so that the negative can be enlarged to practically any desired size and still retain good image quality . In the 24 x 24 sizes , a medium speed film will be quite satisfactory . In either case , avoid the use of the fast emulsions - they are generally more grainy and the image quality does not hold up as well upon extreme enlargement .
DEVELOPER
With the thin emulsion , high resolution film , use the developer that is recommended by the manufacturer , or that is specially designed to work best with such films . Generally speaking , these same developers will also work quite well with the medium speed films , whether 35mm or roll film . Do not use ultra - fine grain developers for architectural work . While such developers may reduce apparent grain , they generally do so at the expense of sharpness or brilliance or both .
LIGHTING
Try to restrict your picture taking to the times when the lighting is crisp and brilliant . A technically perfect print with crisp , well - defined shadows and brilliant highlights gives the appearance of being much sharper than it really is . Steeply . angled lighting brings out the texture of the building surface and further increases the appearance of sharpness . It is extremely difficult to get a commercially satisfactory architectural picture with a 35mm camera on a dull , overcast day .
EXPOSURE
Pay particular attention to getting the correct exposure . Read the meter carefully and bracket your shots . It is particularly important to avoid overexposure , since an overexposed small negative tends to be grainy and lacking in both sharpness and contrast . You may actually find that you will get better pictures by keeping the exposure on the short side . While this will give you less detail in the shadows , it may more than make up for this lack by keeping the highlights open and emphasizing texture .
FILL THE ENTIRE FRAME
The biggest disadvantage , by far , of the small camera is the need for extreme enlargements of the negative it produces . You compound this difficulty if you don't take full advantage of the limited negative size you have . Study the subject very carefully and then work out your composition so that it fills the entire frame with very little , if any , room to spare . This will , of necessity , require you to have a rather large assortment of lenses of varying focal lengths . If you are in doubt as to the exact composition that makes the best picture , make a lot of exposures - film is cheap .
FOCUS FOR MAXIMUM DEPTH OF FIELD
In most cases , the subject itself will be far enough away so that you would normally focus at infinity . This , however , robs you of part of the depth of field . If there is anything in the foreground , focus just enough in front of the infinity mark on your camera lens so as to bring this object into reasonably sharp focus as well . While an out - of - focus foreground may be acceptable in some types of pictures , it is usually objectionable in good architectural photography .
Figure 21 People are often included in an architectural photograph to show the building's function , but they must be kept small and inconspicuous so as not to compete with the architecture .
Photo of the Ida Casson Calloway Gardens , Pine Mountain , Georgia . Courtesy of Portland Cement Association .
AVOID THE USE OF LENS APERTURE EXTREMES
No lens is at its best when opened up to full aperture , or closed down to minimum aperture . If you want maximum sharpness in your pictures - and this is almost invariably the case in architectural photography - try not to shoot at either the largest or the smallest apertures of your lens . The middle range of lens apertures will give you sharper pictures .
HOLD THE CAMERA STEADY
Since architectural photography requires extreme sharpness , it is important to take particular pains to avoid camera movement . When possible , use a tripod or other camera support , such as a unipod or chest pod . If you have none of these , the wall of another building , an archway or doorway may serve to give your body or the camera itself additional support .
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SMALL CAMERAS MANEUVERABILITY
The small camera has one extremely important advantage - its high degree of maneuverability . Take advantage of it . Look for new and interesting angles to shoot from . Try for interpretive rather than completely realistic shots to fill out the series of pictures - there is no telling when one of these will be acceptable to the client . Don't shoot everything at eye level . If the composition looks better from a low position , don't hesitate to stoop or even lie down if this will result in a more dramatic shot . Similarly , if climbing a wall to get a higher viewpoint gives you a better picture , do it by all means .
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