Six photographic skills of indoor architectural photography

Indoor architectural photography is often more challenging than outdoor photography, especially for photographers who are new to this subject. Don't worry, let's learn how to take satisfactory indoor architectural photos through six simple and practical photography skills.

First of all, the tripod does not leave the body.

For an architectural photographer, there are two reasons why a tripod is indispensable. The first reason is that tripod can give you unparalleled stability when shooting, thus basically eliminating the jitter caused by hand-held shooting. You know, for architectural photography, the blur of any subject scene is almost not allowed. In addition, another advantage of shooting with a tripod is that you can keep the camera level at any time. The second reason why I have to use a tripod sounds a bit melodramatic, that is, I can't find a reason not to use a tripod. You know, architectural photography doesn't need you to constantly adjust the composition, nor does it need you to track the subject by moving the camera quickly. The tripod will not be an obstacle to shooting, but it can be said that architectural photography is still shooting 99.99% of the time, so how can it be missing a tripod?

Second, try to use the flash.

In addition to the tripod, another essential artifact of indoor architectural photography is the flash. If you shoot in an indoor environment without flash, you will have a great chance of encountering various shadows raging indoors, and using flash can help balance the exposure in the whole picture. Some basic points of setting the flash include placing it a few feet away from the camera, adjusting the angle of the flash so that it can illuminate the ceiling and keep a proper distance from the shooting space, so that the flash will not directly illuminate the shooting space, thus creating softer and more uniform light. The flash does not need to be fully turned on, and the full power output can be set manually below the first gear.

Third, don't rush to use a super wide-angle lens when shooting a large space.

For photographers who have just started indoor architectural photography, one of the most common mistakes is to be greedy for perfection. When facing a large space, they always want to use a super wide-angle lens with a wider angle of view to explain all the scenery in the whole space at once. However, it is not always a good thing to flood too many elements into the screen at once. Another disadvantage brought by the ultra-wide-angle lens is the serious distortion of the edge position of the picture, which is also an unbearable problem for rigorous architectural photography. After testing several lenses with different focal lengths, I come to the conclusion that shooting with a focal length between 2 1mm and 28mm can achieve a balance between wide viewing angle and low distortion, while the ultra-wide angle of 14mm or 15mm is difficult to completely eliminate the influence of distortion even after post-processing.

Fourth, try to present an ultra-wide perspective with a panoramic view.

What should I do if the space is narrow and the wide-angle lens above 2 1mm is not enough? Don't worry, even if we don't need a super wide-angle lens like 14mm, we can still show the indoor space completely and avoid serious distortion. This way is panoramic shooting. Taking a panoramic view is actually very simple. We just need to erect the camera vertically on a tripod, and then make sure that every photo we take overlaps with the previous photo by at least 1/3. Of course, when pressing the shutter, we also need to make sure that the camera is always horizontal during the rotation and find the rotation point. You know, no matter whether the rotation point is too far or too close, if you shoot the rotation point on the camera body, the photo will be distorted, such as the picture below, and as a result, there will be convex deformation after the photo is synthesized.

Try to include one or two walls in a photo.

Geometrically speaking, showing two walls in one photo can provide the best visual effect. When more than three walls are shot at the same time, if we don't spend more time on composition, some parts of the photo will become clumsy or unnatural.

The above picture is a typical indoor architectural photography with two walls, which are at 90 degrees to each other. The following picture was taken in the same room. The difference is that I retreated to the lower left corner of the whole room when shooting, so that three walls in the picture can be accommodated at the same time.

Personally, influenced by the left wall, the photo space of three walls looks less natural than that of two walls. However, the world is not absolute, just as we will create it by breaking the principle of trichotomy, there is no need to present more than three walls at the same time as needed. The key is to ensure that the elements in the space are geometrically arranged.

Six, confirm the camera level

Last but not least, before pressing the shutter, don't forget to check the level of the camera to ensure that it doesn't turn left, right or up or down. You know, small deviations in the early stage require us to spend a lot of time to correct them in the later stage. The following two pictures are the difference between horizontal shooting and non-horizontal shooting.

It can be said that whether to shoot horizontally has a great influence on the final photo effect. There are several ways to ensure that the camera remains level when composing and shooting. First of all, most cameras on the market have built-in liquid level meters. When we make a composition through the viewfinder or display screen, we can judge and correct the camera level through the horizontal line in the center of the picture. The second method is to buy and install a hot shoe level meter, and confirm the camera level by observing the position of bubbles in the level meter. Personally, I prefer to use the second method, because I think this hot shoe level is more accurate than the one built in the fuselage.

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No matter what kind of work you shoot, the most important thing in photography is to be willing to spend time and have enough patience to confirm your composition, exposure and other elements that affect the final effect. Fortunately, for architectural photographers, one of the great benefits is that the objects we shoot will not move, so there is no reason for us to rush into shooting.