Dime Building to Chrysler House
This past February I was asked to photograph one of the newest additions to the “Dan Gilbert Collection”; the Dime Building. Once again Mr. Gilbert had taken a neglected building and transformed it. With the Dime Building he’s gone a step further and renamed it. It’s now Chrysler House and Chrysler employees will occupy the 33,000 square feet in the building.
It’s awesome to have Chrysler in Detroit!
Architectural photography at the Detroit Port Authority
I was hired by Hamilton-Anderson Architects to photograph the new Detroit Port Authority building in downtown Detroit. This beautiful new facility is on the Detroit River just west of the Renaissance Center. The goals of the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority include promoting Detroit as a freight transportation and distribution hub for the U.S. Midwest and southwestern Ontario and also promoting the Great Lakes as a tourist cruise destination.
As with any architectural photography project, weather and sun position are extremely important. The metal clad exterior looks great in hard sunlight but I was hoping to also do a twilight exterior photograph of the building. This would have required someone from the Port Authority to come in after hours and turn on the interior lights for us, something we were not able to convince the Port Authority to do this. It would have been a beautiful shot!
Sunrise on the Detroit River
While photographing the Detroit River one morning, a ship loaded with sand came along to unload on the Windsor side of the river.
As I watched, the eastern horizon began to glow red. The color spread until the entire sky glowed red for about 90 seconds and then faded back to blue.
At mid-day this would hardly be worth photographing but the beautiful light produced at sunrise turned this rather mundane view into something very nice.
BTW, the colors in these photos have not been enhanced. Sometimes you just can’t improve on the real thing.
The ship turns directly toward the shore with it's flood lights on.
The ship then turned 90 degrees and began moving sideways toward the shore on the right.
An atypical architectural photography project
Point Pelee National Park is a 4.5 mile long peninsula that juts into Lake Erie and is the southernmost point of mainland Canada. Point Pelee is a unique ecosystem of Carolinian Forest and marshland. My client recently redesigned the boardwalk, which extends out into the ecologically important marsh.
As an architectural photographer I am usually photographing the interiors and/or exteriors of new or renovated buildings. A project like this is a wonderful change of pace, and the awesome weather on the morning of the photo shoot made the project even more enjoyable.
Photography at the Tucson Medical Center
I flew into Tucson the day before the shoot so that I could do a walk-through of the new wing and familiarize myself with the project. The front of the building faces south and is well lit at night, so I decided to begin the next day by shooting at sunrise.
On shoot day I arrived an hour before sunrise to find an SUV parked on the sidewalk at the front entrance. It turned out that a film crew (along with models and stylists) would be shooting a couple of TV commercials in the new wing. Since the hospital had hired the film crew and I was shooting for the architects, I was going to have to work around the film crew.
The guys were nice enough to move the SUV so that I could get the sunrise photographs and I spent the rest of the day trying to get my shots without getting in their way. In addition to having to work around the film crew, at 8:00am a construction crew began tearing up the driveway right in front of the main entrance. This would really interfere with the daylight exterior photos!
The film crew wrapped at 4:30 and by 5:00pm the construction crew had left, but by that time the sun had swing too far to the west to get the sunlit exteriors that I wanted. But with both crews gone I was able to make good progress on the shot list. I did a few exteriors as the sun set and by 11:00pm I had the last interior photograph finished. Seventeen hours after I started, I was finished. A typical day shooting architecture! http://www.claytonstudio.com Follow Me on Twitter
Architectural Photography Books Top Ten List
Not all of these books are “how to” or photography technique books. As important as technique is, more important is the way in which a photographer approaches and views his subject.
For that reason A Constructed View: The Architectural Photography of Julius Shulman is on this list. Understanding how this master of architectural photography worked and approached his subject can have a tremendous impact on the work and career of an aspiring architectural photographer.
Also, the last book on the list is not an “architectural photography” book, but it is a book that no professional architectural photographer should be without. Best Business Practices for Photographers is about the business of photography and the practices that will allow one to build a successful career in photography. This book should be mandatory in all photography curricula!
And so, without further ado, here is today’s Top Ten List:
-Architectural Photography: Composition, Capture and Digital Image Processing by Adrian Schulz
This is a must read book!
-Architectural Photography: Professional Techniques for Shooting Interior and Exterior Spaces by Norman McGrath
Norman McGrath’s first book, “Photographing Buildings Inside and Out”(published in 1987) was a classic and one of the best books ever published on the subject of architectural photography. This latest book features discussion on the use of digital cameras and digital post-production techniques in professional architectural photography. The section “Masters of Style” features five top architectural photographers (including the late Julius Shulman) with accompanying photographs and a discussion of the working methods of each photographer. I would recommend this book even if you have already read “Photographing Buildings Inside and Out” and if you do not have McGrath’s first book, this is a must read!
- Architectural Photography Inside and Out by Jim Lowe - Photographing Architecture: Lighting, Composition, Postproduction and Marketing Techniques by John Siskin
A great book!
This is an excellent book that just came out in December 2011.
- Architectural Photography The Digital Way by Gerry Kopelow
Another excellent book by Gerry Kopelow.
- Lighting for Interiors by John Freeman - The HDR Handbook: Unlocking the Pros Hottest Post-Processing Techniques by Rafael Concepcion - Photoshop Compositing Secrets: Unlocking the Key to Perfect Selections & Amazing Photoshop Effects for Totally Realistic Composites by Matt Kloskowski
John Freeman presents the work of some of the U.K.s finest interiors photographers in this excellent book.The variety of photographs and the varied techniques used by the 14 photographers whose work is presented in this book makes this an invaluable resource for any architectural/interior photographer. All of the images were shot on film and rely 100% on lighting and photographic shills. A diagram and a description of the photo and set-up accompany each photograph. High quality reproduction and printing by Switzerland based RotoVision. My #1 choice for an interiors photography book.
Realistic looking HDR techniques (not cartoonish, surreal looking images) can greatly enhance an architectural photographers arsenal of techniques. This book will show you how.
In our new digital world architectural photographers must be skilled in three areas; composition, lighting and Photoshop. This book will help any photographer improve their Photoshop skills.
The inspiring work of a master architectural photographer.
-Best Business Practices for Photographers, Second Edition by John Harrington
This is a must have, must read book for any professional or aspiring professional photographer! If followed, the business practices recommended in this book will help any photographer achieve greater professional and financial success. In these days of $1.50 royalty free images, photography is becoming a commodity. If you allow your work to become a commodity than your only leverage in the marketplace will be lower pricing. If that happens you'll need to make sure that mom & dad won't mind you living in their basement for the next couple of decades. Please follow John Harrington's advise!
http://www.ClaytonStudio.com Follow me on Twitter
One Haworth Center green roof
When planning the photography at One Haworth Center, one of the priority photographs was an elevated view of the building that would show the new green roof as well as the glass curtain wall.
Shooting from a helicopter would give us the most flexibility in terms of vantage point but would be costly and tricky to schedule due to the rapidly changing weather that we were facing. Turner Construction had a 60-foot boom lift on site and offered its use for the shoot.
On the second day of our 3-day shoot we contacted the boom lift operator and asked him to move the lift into position for the shot. Within 15 minutes he had me over 50 feet in the air and I was able to get a shot that showed both the green roof and the glass curtain wall of the LEED-NC Gold certified building.
Eastern Market Shed 3
I was hired by Turner Construction to photograph the completed project which was a joint venture with Turner Construction and KEO Construction. The architect was Kraemer Design Group. http://www.claytonstudio.com
Truck loads of produce arrive well before sunrise.
Saturday Market Day!
Follow me on Twitter
One light lighting test
In the old days (4x5 sheet film), small rooms such as this were very tricky to light. Achieving good interior lighting without any stands, lights or grip equipment in the shot could take hours!
For this test I put the camera on a trip, set the aperture to f11.5 and use radio controlled triggers to fire the camera and single strobe for the multiple captures used for this image. For many of the captures, I was in the scene holding the flash. The multiple captures were then assembled using Photoshop layers and masks. Most of the layers were set to “Lighten” mode. When the time spent making captures is added to the time spent assembling the and fine-tuning the final image in Photoshop, it is often no less time than in the “old days” using sheet film. The big advantages now are more control over the final image and much less time required at the location. When an interior photographer can produce excellent images without tying up a space for days, clients love that!
Wil Armster houses
Nicola’s house is a modest size house that perfectly fits the lifestyle of her and her husband.
Heidi’s house is a much larger house built on a wooded lot and provides plenty of space for the young family. 
When your father is Wil Armster, you’re not going to live in a three bedroom brick ranch!
http://www.claytonstudio.com Follow me on Twitter
