Six common architectural shooting techniques

In addition to natural scenery, architecture is also a favorite theme of many photographers, but what are the good tips for beginners to shoot architecture? How can I take wonderful photos of buildings? Let's take a look at these six commonly used shooting techniques and learn together!

(A) looking for line texture, shooting abstract effect.

Depending on your subject, many distinctive buildings, especially those related to art and design, or buildings with unique appearance and materials, are very suitable for taking photos with abstract effects. First of all, observe the appearance of the building carefully with your eyes and look for some interesting patterns, lines and textures to shoot. Be careful not to be too greedy and contain too many objects. Sometimes "simplicity is beauty"! If necessary, you can also use telephoto lens combined with filling composition, or trichotomy and shallow depth of field to take beautiful abstract photos.

Look for interesting architectural lines with the eye of photography!

(2) Shooting the reflecting surface

Many modern buildings also contain a lot of reflective materials. At this time, with the help of external light, you can find interesting reflections to shoot, but remember to carefully adjust the shooting angle to make the objects in the reflective surface clearer and easier to identify.

(C) the use of comparative composition

If your photos always contain only a single building and look dull, you might as well pay attention to whether there are some interesting things around the building, such as old and new contrast, size contrast, or adding people, vehicles and so on as the foreground, which can make the photos look richer.

(4) Pay attention to different light.

Light is very important for photos, so is taking pictures of buildings. The same building will have different reflective surfaces, shadows and materials at different times. In fact, there is no rule that it is best to shoot architecture at that time. For example, the midday sun, which is generally not conducive to shooting, can strengthen the shadow of the building and make it more beautiful when shooting black and white. Smooth light (direct light on the building) can make photos have the best details; Magic moments such as dusk and sunrise can make photos have gorgeous colors, so different lights can shoot different themes. Students can practice more!

Sunshine can shoot blue sky and buildings with balanced light, but the atmosphere will be a bit dull, so try to shoot different lights more.

Capturing the light and shade of the building with black and white effect will bring out another taste!

(5) maintain or correct lens distortion.

When shooting a large building with a wide-angle lens, the building is likely to be deformed. In fact, "deformation" is not necessarily a bad thing. Under the wide-angle lens, appropriate deformation can make the building look more magnificent, or make the photo more tense. However, if you want the building to have a normal shape or the theme of a documentary, you can use the shift lens to shoot, or use the. The upright function of Camera Raw in Photoshop CC is used to correct lens distortion.

Because of the lens distortion caused by fisheye glasses, you can shoot interesting effects.

(6) Shooting silhouette

In the fourth point, it is mentioned that we can shoot buildings in different time and light. One of the shooting methods is to shoot silhouettes of buildings, especially some sharp-cut buildings, such as churches and temples, so that readers can easily see what kind of buildings they are shooting. For the teaching of silhouette shooting, please refer to the article: How to shoot silhouette.

Try taking silhouette photos in different light, it will have different effects!

For beginners, architecture is one of the good photography themes. You can shoot at any time, and you can take all kinds of beautiful and wonderful photos from different angles, perspectives, subjects and even in the same building. This is a very useful exercise for training the photographer's eyes. You must try!