Frames in Focus

Always be thinking angles. The angle you shoot from is relevant to every style of photography imaginable, but is particularly relevant to architecture. The most common subject of architectural photos -buildings- are often quite large. This means that whether you want to or not you’ll have to think about the angle of your photo to determine how much of the building will be in frame or not.

Perspective could also be considered with the angle of a photo, but in this case it refers to something slightly different. Think not only about how you’re looking at something, but where you’re looking at it from. A lot of buildings will have interesting features and aspects that are only visible from a certain location. Think of the front and back yards of your house; same building, totally different views and features. Walking all the way around a building or block can give you a huge variety of different photos. You may not even be able to tell that some are of the same building. Another aspect of perspective and angles to consider is how far you are away from the building. Photos of an office tower taken from across the street and standing directly in front of it can look completely different.

Much as you can get different images by looking all around a building, you can also often find different subject matter depending on how close you are. Small architectural details are often invisible from a distance, or, when it comes to larger shapes and structures, only visible from a distance. On older buildings there are often intricate stone details that can be excellent subjects for close up shots, and newer buildings usually have unique overall shapes, especially in contrast with others. Look for a mix of both small unique details and larger big picture aspects to keep your images varied and interesting. You don’t just have to take pictures of single entire buildings, look for one cool corner, an interesting pattern of windows, or the height variations across an entire block.

Architectural photography provides quite possibly the most natural opportunities for framing of any style of photography. The orderly patterns of blocks and streets can be perfect to enclose and silhouette your subjects, especially when they don’t quite perfectly line up as a grid. This works especially well for buildings that are taller than all of those around them, as you can usually get them lined up in between two others from at least one vantage point. Probably at least half of the photos of the CN tower you’ve ever seen will have used this. Another piece of shot composition that streets lend themselves quite well to are leading lines. This is because, well, streets are lines. So are most buildings, and just about anything at all that’s built by people. So streets, other buildings, lamp posts, signs, and just about anything you can think of can usually be used to -quite often literally- point at what you want people to look at in your photo. Combining the angle of your shot, where it’s taken from, and what surrounds the subject can create masterful compositions.

Architectural photography typically requires a lot less technical manipulation than other styles. It helps that buildings don’t move very quickly. A lot of the same ideas as landscape photography can be applied; narrow apertures that keep a lot of the image in focus are good, as city blocks have a lot to be in focus, narrow apertures require slower shutter speeds, and slower shutter speeds often require a tripod for more stability. However, it’s not as easy to set up a tripod in the middle of the street as an open field, so compromising with a medium aperture and higher shutter speeds usually works well. If focusing in on smaller details, a wider aperture, like for product, wildlife, or subject oriented styles, can be useful. Wide angle lenses are encouraged, as they let you feature more of large objects, and the distortion caused by ultra-wide angles can be used very creatively. Telephoto lenses can also be used to capture details in high up places that wouldn’t be otherwise visible.