Pictures of buildings

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Archive 2011 · Pictures of buildings

CoLmes
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p.1 #1 · Pictures of buildings

OK.. I have no idea which thread this should go on, so I'm plopping it here..

So I'm a photographer that's starting out.. a local doctor (big name in the city) wants me to take a few different pictures for him.

One, he wants a picture of his new office and a big print that he can hang on the wall inside. Big big print.

Two, he wants a picture of his home. I'd imagine this print to be slightly smaller.

Three, Family pictures.. those are going to be the easy part.

My questions are.. what lens is adequate for the first two photographs.. I'd take them during day light, I just need a lens that's wide enough. I'm probably going to end up renting one.. I only own a 70-200 and a 50mm.

My camera is a Canon 60D So I don't have a FF camera which could be a problem.. will it handle big enough prints if I put it on full raw?

How do I even charge for this? I don't want to run him a large bill, but I would like for him to help get my name out there. He's really known around here and it could help if I could figure out how.

Thanks for any input

Dec 10, 2011 at 04:59 PM

Gregory Edge
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p.1 #2 · Pictures of buildings

The best lenses for architectural shots are the TS-E. Shoot in RAW. How big will the print be? "big big print" means nothing. My idea of a "big big print" is a billboard. Others might be a 20x30.

For the building photos you will probably need a 17 TS-E. Have you scouted the locations? Tried your 50mm? if you keep the camera level you can correct distortion in post. Not as good as a TS-E but decent.

Also you should go at different times of the day and scout the lighting.

Dec 10, 2011 at 05:28 PM

CoLmes
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p.1 #3 · Pictures of buildings

Yes 20x30 is probably about right.

And I don believe my camera place rents tilt shift so any other suggestions lens wise?

Dec 10, 2011 at 05:42 PM

BrianO
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p.1 #4 · Pictures of buildings

CoLmes wrote: ...My questions are.. what lens is adequate for the first two photographs.. I'd take them during day light, I just need a lens that's wide enough. I'm probably going to end up renting one.. I only own a 70-200 and a 50mm.

It depends on the location; how far back you can get, etc. Since you say you can't rent a shift lens, I'd try to rent a 16-35L and/or a 10-22 so you have some framing flexibility to cover all bases.

CoLmes wrote: ...My camera is a Canon 60D So I don't have a FF camera which could be a problem.. will it handle big enough prints if I put it on full raw?

The 60D is 18Mp, plenty of resolution for big prints. Before cropping it will produce a 12 X 17 print at 300PPI, and can easily be resized without resampling/interpolation by changing the print resolution. 240PPI is fine for most prints hung on a wall, and that would give a 14 X 22 print.

Resampling/uprezing would also work fine if it's not overdone, so print size shouldn't be a concern. In that respect there's not that much difference between a 60D and a 5D Mark II. It's not until you get into medium format backs with resolutions above 33Mp that that really become relevant.

Lighting will be the main issue. Using exposure bracketing will allow for combining images if the dynamic range is too extreme in any single shot.

A sturdy tripod is a must, and take the time to get your shots perfectly level with major horizontal lines like rooflines, large window sills, etc. Since you won't have a perspective-control lens the vertical lines may converge, so some perspective adjustments in post may be required; frame your shots with some extra space on the sides to leave room for cropping.

HTH.

Dec 10, 2011 at 07:17 PM

cgardner
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p.1 #5 · Pictures of buildings

Your 50mm could work for the building shots if: 1) you can get far enough away to compose the shot without any foreground obstructions, and; 2) you put the camera on a tripod and keep it level. With wider focal lengths used close you need to watch out for anastigmatic stretching on the edges of the wide dimension.

The simplest way to find out if that will work is go to the locations with your camera and tripod and take some test shots. Enlarge the files to the size you want to make the prints, crop out an 8 x 10 section then make a test print, put it on the wall and look at it from various distances.

As Brian has pointed out as prints get bigger and are viewed from further away you can get away with less output resolution. The ideal output resolution will vary with content, size and viewing distance so again only way to objectively judge the difference would be to make test prints of as various resolutions, put them on the wall and compare.

With respect to dynamic range and image detail the direction the buildings face is a factor to consider. In PA the sun tracks E -SE-S-SW-W during the day. If the front of the buildings face south they and you shoot near the middle of the day they will be mostly highlighted with few significant details hidden in the shadows below the camera range when you expose for the highlights. If the front of the buildings face any other direction the lighting will be more problematical. Again scouting the location and taking some test shots is the best way to plan a strategy.

If the building is cross lit with shadows hiding significant details consider shooting on an overcast day or at dusk when the light will be more diffuse. If you do shoot during the "golden" hour make arrangements to have the interior lights on and all the shades even. You can deal with color temp difference with masked layers.

As for the family shots, I took a look at your web site photos of families. The first two have a very common fault seen in outdoor shots — dark eye sockets. When you shoot from ground level the subject's brow will shade the eyes. That's not the case in your third shot because the people are lower, faces tilted up, which gets the skylight past the brow and into the eyes. Learn from that comparison and bring a ladder along on your outdoor shoots. Get the camera up 8-9ft off the ground and have the subjects look up into the camera. The sensor / face plane winds up parallel // so the faces are distorted in any way but you'll find the faces are better lit, the pose acts like an instant facelift for double chins and loose necks, and the composition of faces above bodies puts more emphasis on the faces and less on the torso. The caveat in doing this is don't shoot too close because it will exaggerate the foreshortening of the bodies.

Dec 10, 2011 at 07:56 PM

alohadave
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p.1 #6 · Pictures of buildings

For the house shot, put your camera on a monopod or long pole. Raise the camera above your head and shoot on timer several times.

Raising the camera will change the camera's perspective and it will help improve the image.

Dec 11, 2011 at 08:01 PM

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