Architectural Photography

Architectural Photography is simply photographing the design aesthetics of buildings and structures. There are different types of subjects when it comes to Architectural Photography – it can cover tall buildings, bungalow houses, heritage sites, modern buildings, farm barns, bridges, warehouses, factories, and many more. Typically, architects and architectural firms who want to display their work are the primary clients of Architecture Photographers, although property owners who would also like their homes featured or published can hire an Architecture Photographer as well.

Architecture photography isn’t just about showcasing the façade of a building and its external features. It covers the whole building in its design entirety. Sense architecture involves the interior features of a building, it should not be mistaken with Real Estate Photography which focuses on the space rather than the design, although both professional photographers can include furniture arrangements or similar setups done inside the actual building.

Architecture Photography is really more about the design than the building itself. When it comes to design, an Architecture Photographer may highlight some of the details that make a building look aesthetically pleasing. It is not uncommon to see architectural photographs of just a fraction of the whole building. Perhaps a wall, an archway, or some beams may be shown instead of the whole appearance of the actual building.

Aside from the common buildings that we see, Architecture Photography also covers shooting buildings, walkways, arches, and other structures that serve a different purpose other than providing shelter or space. Highlighting the design of these structures including patterns and other design aesthetics is the first concern of an Architectural Photographer.

Aerial Photography

Aerial photography is the acquisition of a vertical image with a specialize camera installed on board of an airplane, equipped for this type of work.

Airborne acquisitions are always performed in such a manner that two consecutive photographs have a side and forward overlap. These overlaps enable a three dimensional (3D) observation of the territory, with the help of a specialized tool. The optical phenomenon, which makes it possible to see in 3D, is called the stereoscopy.

Overlap

In order to obtain a three dimensional view of a covered territory, part of the photographed land on one image has to be also present on the next image, this is what is called overlap.

Stereoscopy

As the airplane flies, the photographed area, which is showed on two consecutive aerial photographs, that is the forward overlap, provides a view of the territory photographed at two different angles. When looking at this part of the photographs with the help of a specialize tool, such as the stereoscope, it is possible to view the landscape (relief) because it appears in three dimensions.

The raw image, as it is acquired on board the airplane, can be processed and printed on paper film or diapositive; and is then called an aerial photograph.

When the image is digitalized and corrected so as to eliminate the imprecision resulting from the airplane position in flight and the distortion due to the ground relief, it is called an orthophotograph. Every orthophotograph is georeferenced, which means that it has location geometrical properties identical to those of a map.

Top 15 Genres of Photography That you Need to Know

In the age of the smart phone, where we are constantly shooting and sharing photographs on the go; everyone is exposed to photography and visual imagery in some form or another. Whether we are looking at pictures of friends on social media, huge billboards or advertising campaigns at local departmental stores; photography is used to communicate a message or tell a story to the viewer.

We may be shooting pictures every day, but how many of us know the different styles of photography that have been inspiring photographers? Understanding the different styles or genres of photography is key for developing our knowledge in the area and also for gaining an insight as to where our photography fits.

Let’s look at the top 15 genres that we can draw inspiration from:

• Aerial Photography
• Architectural Photography
• Candid Photography
• Documentary Photography
• Fashion Photography
• Food Photography
• Landscape Photography
• Night-Long Exposure Photography
• Photojournalism
• Conceptual/Fine art Photography
• Portraiture
• Sport Photography
• Street Photography
• War Photography
• Wild-Life Photography

Conclusion

So those are 7 absolutely core aspects of photography that every shooter should be studying and developing. Some of them can be understood in a short period of time, and others will take a lifetime to master. But that’s good news. You’ve got a lot of exciting learning ahead of you!

But are there other things to learn? Are there other topics to dive into to help your photography? Of course there are! These are just a starting point. They get you proficient with a camera and the language of visual art. From there it’s a whole world of things to explore.

Maybe you want to do portraits, and then there’s a ton of subject interaction and psychology you could learn. Or perhaps you want to dive into travel photography. There you have a huge variety of genres, from photojournalism to landscape, and then an anthropologist’s curiosity for culture and a historian’s interest in the past will serve you well in telling the stories of the places you visit.

There’s no end to what you can learn as a photographer, but these 7 topics are a very good place to start. So what are you waiting for? Pick one and get going!

7.Perfect Your Post-Processing

Let’s end it off on a topic that is a little bit controversial.

See there are two camps in the photography world. There are those that believe that post-processing (using software to edit your images after they’ve been taken) is at best a waste of time, and at worst a perversion of reality.

The other camp believes that post-processing is a tool that a photographer can use help their images more closely resemble what their eyes witnessed as they took the photos, or go further to enhance the mood or tell a story. It’s a creative technique that has been around for as long as photography itself.

Any guesses which camp we belong to? 

Post-processing is an essential skill for a digital photographer. (Gasp! Even film photographers do post-processing!)  It’s a simple fact that straight out of your digital camera, your images don’t look anything like the original scene they captured. They’re dull, flat and lifeless. Post-processing helps bring back that beauty by adjusting things like contrast, brightness, sharpness, and saturation.

Then you can go even further. With programs like Adobe Light room you can do things like dodging and burning, which means to selectively lighten or darken parts of an image in order to direct your viewers’ attention where you want it to go.

These aren’t new techniques. Dodging and burning goes back to the beginnings of photography, but originally they were done by painstakingly exposing different parts of the print for different amounts of time. Very difficult, and if you made a mistake you’d have to start all over again. This image by W. Eugene Smith apparently took 5 days to dodge and burn!

Nowadays, with Light room, you can do it in seconds, and fine tune as much as you’d like until you get things perfect. Don’t you feel kind of lucky? I know I do!

6.Conquer Position

Going broader now, we dive into composition. This is a huge topic that is all about how the various visual bits and pieces in a scene have been organized. It’s broader than perspective, and encompasses things like light, lines, shapes, forms, colors, frames, textures, patterns, movement, reflections and more.

You may have heard of the “rules” of composition: The Rule of Thirds, Negative Space, Balance or Visual Paths. Rules sound scary, and boring, and the idea that you have to sit down and memorize them before you’re allowed to be a photographer likely prevents many shooters from really diving into the wonderful world of composition.

But I’m here to tell you that the “rules” aren’t actually rules. They’re more like guidelines. These are ways to arrange elements in your frame that help tell a story, convey an emotion, or catch your viewers’ attention. All fun things, and all very essential things if you want to be a great photographer.

For instance, that “Rule of Thirds” you always hear about it. Well, it suggests that by placing your subject along one of these magical thirds lines, or at an intersection of the lines (what I like to call an Awesome Spot), you will automatically give that element a boost of importance in your frame. And that’s a great thing to know, because it can help you direct your viewer to look where you want them to!

But, if you’re feeling feisty, you could intentionally break that rule (gasp!), and put your subject absolutely dead center. Perhaps you want to highlight the symmetry of your subject. Perhaps it’s a very serious looking object, and putting it dead center enhances that feeling. Or perhaps it’s something totally goofy, and a boring centered composition creates some tension between the two.

It’s up to you, master photographer. When you know about composition, you get to make all sorts of fun choices like this with each and every image you take.

5.Get to Know Perspective

This is perhaps one of the most under-appreciated topics in photography. Put very simply, perspective has to do with the spatial relationships between objects in your frame – their sizes, their placements, and the space between them. All of this positioning works to change the way your viewer interprets the scene. It might make things look more 3D, giving the photo a sense of depth, or it might flatten everything out.

So why is this obviously important topic not widely discussed? Because it’s complicated! Or at least it can be at first glance.

Let’s start simply. Where you position yourself when you take a photo is a hugely important decision. It is what determines your perspective. And changing your perspective can take your photo from bland to totally engaging.

Getting to know perspective requires a lot of practice and experimentation. And moving those little feet of yours! Crouch, lie down, stand on a ladder, stand on a building, take a step forward, take a step to the left. These things change your perspective and make major impacts on the look and feel of your photos. Experiment. Take shots each time you change your perspective, and then compare them afterward. How does it change the image?

Now what about focal length? Does that change perspective? Technically no. That’s changing the angle of view (that is, the angle of the scene that your camera captures). Wide angle lenses capture a wider amount of the scene. Telephoto lenses capture a narrower amount of scene. Alone changing your lens doesn’t change perspective (though it may appear to). It’s when you combine a lens change with a position change that your perspective changes.

Perspective gets a lot more complex, and there are different ways to use it to achieve your goals with your shot. We’ll be writing more on this topic in the future, but if you want to dig into it right now, this article about perspective, from (believe it or not) a NAVY training course, is helpful!