Architectural Photography

What is Architectural Photography?

Swarna Mandir, Rajgir, Bihar

In simple words, architectural photography is art of clicking buildings. Many people use this form of photography for different purposes.
Architectural photographers started this for taking pictures of buildings which were used by other architects as reference. Some of them started traveling and capturing popular, unique kinds of building and these pictures made way into magazines and other communication mediums.




Architecture photography is another interesting form of art with comes with its own sets of challanges.

• You need to travel to the location and shoot sometimes it may get very time consuming process.
• You might not get right lighting at the time you are in the location.
• You might not get enough space around the architecture you want to click. 
• Climate can make it difficult for your to take the pictures that you desire. You may need to change your plan.

Victoria memorial in the evening lights

Victoria Memorial lit up at night

Suggested Gear for architectural photography:

• Any camera that can take decent pictures can be used for architectural photography. Advanced camera can help you take better pictures in different light conditions and different time of a day.
• Wide angle lens can help you capture more and from closer distances, they also help you get some creative freedom.
• Tripod / Monopods can help in low light conditions.  

Tips for architecture photography:

Enchey Monastery, Gangtok, Sikkim

• Research: Do some research on what popular architectures are present around you or the place that you are visiting.
• Find out what is unique / popular about a particular building that you are going to photograph.
• Spend some time in finding right angle and composing your frame before you start taking picture. 
• Check for light metering if possible and adjust exposure accordingly.
• Try to shoot when there is less or no crowd around the building so that you can get right focus. 
• Shoot in high aperture value (larger depth of field) and slow film speed (ISO) to get better colors and output. (Subject to lighting conditions)

Related reading:

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/how-to-photograph-buildings-4782
http://photo.net/learn/architectural/exterior