Architectural Photography in the 21st Century
Architectural Photography in the 21st Century
For decades the 4x5 view camera has come to symbolize the professional architectural photographer.
The view camera allows the photographer to produce photographs with the accurate perspective and high resolution demanded by architects, designers, builders and other clients in the construction and hospitality industries. By adjusting the tilting back of the camera to be parallel with the walls of the building being photographed, walls and vertical lines are kept parallel. This prevents photos in which the sides of the building converge at the top of the photograph. While occasionally architectural photographers will use such converging lines for creative effect, one of the hallmarks of the professional architectural photographer is the ability to produce photographs with the “correct perspective”.
Choosing a camera is always a compromise. A few of the considerations are cost, speed of use, portability, weight and the intended use of the images being produced
Before the development of digital cameras, the 4x5 view camera was the best compromise for architectural photographers. Smaller, lighter weight and less expensive to shoot than larger 5x7 or 8x10 view cameras, the 4x5 view camera had all of the perspective controls required for architectural photography. When the correct film was selected and properly exposed, the 4-inch by 5-inch sheet of film delivered more than enough resolution for most uses.
Eastman Kodak’s development of sheet film in 1913 was a huge improvement over glass plates, but photographers still had to load their film holders one sheet at a time. If the photographer loaded and packed 25 film holders, he (or she) would be able to take 50 photographs (each film holder contains 2 sheets of film). You could expose one negative for each scene, but to be safe most architectural photographers would expose 2 negatives for each photograph. This means that by cleaning and loading 25 film holders with 50 sheets of film, the architectural photographer would be able to photograph a maximum of 25 different scenes.
This is usually fine for interior photography where the time spent lighting and arranging the room will usually limit the number of photographs produced in one day to well under ten (often just 3 or 4), but exterior photography can be a different story. While professional quality exterior photography requires that each photograph be done at the correct time of day and under the right conditions for that particular photograph, occasionally conditions allow for many photographs to be taken in a short period of time. At these times architectural photographers must use care in deciding which photographs to produce. The limited number of film holders available often means that some good photographs may not be made because of the priority of other views.
Digital cameras have changed the way that architectural photographers work. While the basics of lighting and composition have not changed, digital photography has freed architectural photographers from many of the time consuming and limiting aspects of film capture. Architectural photographers no longer need to deal with film holders or film processing. Instead of a large case of bulky film holders the architectural photographer can now capture hundreds of images on a compact flash card. With Photoshop post production capabilities such as perspective correction and layers, architectural photographers can produce more photographs in less time than was ever possible with film capture. Balancing the light level of a room interior with the view outside through the windows was always a tricky and time-consuming challenge for the architectural photographer. With digital cameras photographers can now capture the room interior and the view through the windows separately and later combine the images in Photoshop.
The equipment choices that architectural photographers make today still involve compromise; high powered studio flash units or compact portable flash units, tungsten balanced “hot lights” or daylight balanced HMI’s, fast and responsive high resolution digital SLR’s or ultra high resolution digital backs on medium format or view cameras.
I believe that the majority of architectural photographers were at first reluctant to give up their view cameras and sheet film. I know I was! After all, we had a great deal invested in our equipment and its use. We spent years learning to master this equipment; everything from the proper use of swings and tilts (remember the Scheimpflug Principle?) to multiple exposures on a single sheet of film. There are a few photographers who have refused to give up their view cameras and continue to produce beautiful images on sheet film. But for the majority of professional architectural photographers the demands of our clients combined with the tremendous advantages of digital capture have pushed us into this new medium. There is no turning back.
The big winner in this photographic evolution? Our clients. The people and companies who hire us to produce the best possible images of their projects. With today’s high quality digital cameras, powerful computers and image editing software, architectural photographers can now deliver higher quality architectural and interior photography in less time than ever before.
For decades the 4x5 view camera has come to symbolize the professional architectural photographer.
The view camera allows the photographer to produce photographs with the accurate perspective and high resolution demanded by architects, designers, builders and other clients in the construction and hospitality industries. By adjusting the tilting back of the camera to be parallel with the walls of the building being photographed, walls and vertical lines are kept parallel. This prevents photos in which the sides of the building converge at the top of the photograph. While occasionally architectural photographers will use such converging lines for creative effect, one of the hallmarks of the professional architectural photographer is the ability to produce photographs with the “correct perspective”.
Choosing a camera is always a compromise. A few of the considerations are cost, speed of use, portability, weight and the intended use of the images being produced
Before the development of digital cameras, the 4x5 view camera was the best compromise for architectural photographers. Smaller, lighter weight and less expensive to shoot than larger 5x7 or 8x10 view cameras, the 4x5 view camera had all of the perspective controls required for architectural photography. When the correct film was selected and properly exposed, the 4-inch by 5-inch sheet of film delivered more than enough resolution for most uses.
Eastman Kodak’s development of sheet film in 1913 was a huge improvement over glass plates, but photographers still had to load their film holders one sheet at a time. If the photographer loaded and packed 25 film holders, he (or she) would be able to take 50 photographs (each film holder contains 2 sheets of film). You could expose one negative for each scene, but to be safe most architectural photographers would expose 2 negatives for each photograph. This means that by cleaning and loading 25 film holders with 50 sheets of film, the architectural photographer would be able to photograph a maximum of 25 different scenes.
This is usually fine for interior photography where the time spent lighting and arranging the room will usually limit the number of photographs produced in one day to well under ten (often just 3 or 4), but exterior photography can be a different story. While professional quality exterior photography requires that each photograph be done at the correct time of day and under the right conditions for that particular photograph, occasionally conditions allow for many photographs to be taken in a short period of time. At these times architectural photographers must use care in deciding which photographs to produce. The limited number of film holders available often means that some good photographs may not be made because of the priority of other views.
Digital cameras have changed the way that architectural photographers work. While the basics of lighting and composition have not changed, digital photography has freed architectural photographers from many of the time consuming and limiting aspects of film capture. Architectural photographers no longer need to deal with film holders or film processing. Instead of a large case of bulky film holders the architectural photographer can now capture hundreds of images on a compact flash card. With Photoshop post production capabilities such as perspective correction and layers, architectural photographers can produce more photographs in less time than was ever possible with film capture. Balancing the light level of a room interior with the view outside through the windows was always a tricky and time-consuming challenge for the architectural photographer. With digital cameras photographers can now capture the room interior and the view through the windows separately and later combine the images in Photoshop.
The equipment choices that architectural photographers make today still involve compromise; high powered studio flash units or compact portable flash units, tungsten balanced “hot lights” or daylight balanced HMI’s, fast and responsive high resolution digital SLR’s or ultra high resolution digital backs on medium format or view cameras.
I believe that the majority of architectural photographers were at first reluctant to give up their view cameras and sheet film. I know I was! After all, we had a great deal invested in our equipment and its use. We spent years learning to master this equipment; everything from the proper use of swings and tilts (remember the Scheimpflug Principle?) to multiple exposures on a single sheet of film. There are a few photographers who have refused to give up their view cameras and continue to produce beautiful images on sheet film. But for the majority of professional architectural photographers the demands of our clients combined with the tremendous advantages of digital capture have pushed us into this new medium. There is no turning back.
The big winner in this photographic evolution? Our clients. The people and companies who hire us to produce the best possible images of their projects. With today’s high quality digital cameras, powerful computers and image editing software, architectural photographers can now deliver higher quality architectural and interior photography in less time than ever before.
Posted by Curt Clayton at 4/19/2009 7:41 PM 
Categories: Architectural photography, Photography
Tags: architectural photography photography digital photography
Categories: Architectural photography, Photography
Tags: architectural photography photography digital photography
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Anna
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