If you are in a property related business such as surveying or architecture a key part of your marketing strategy should be great images of projects you have worked on. So you need those pictures to wow your audience. Typically that means great shots of buildings. So what can you do to improve those images? Here are 5 top tips.
1. Be sensitive to the light. Sun on the front of a building usually looks the best, but light creates shadows textures and reflections so look at the whole scene to judge when it will look its best. You are essentially creating a portrait of the building so you need to bring out the angles and features that make it special.
Capture the angles of radical shaped buildings
2. Use good quality equipment, a digital SLR camera and a sturdy tripod. Use a wide angle lens, the best one you can afford. This will help you to get the full building into the frame although you may experience some issues with lens distortion these can easily be corrected with software programs like Adobe’s Lightroom,which does this at the touch of a button . Tilt shift lenses will help avoid converging vertical lines of the building (see here for a related article)
The use of a tilt shift lens avoids converging verticals
3. If you are taking interior photographs then keep an eye on the white balance. Most modern cameras are very good at white balance in the auto setting, but they will occasionally get it wrong especially when there a mixture of different light sources for example windows, LED lighting and CCFL in the same room as can often be found in open plan living areas. You can get round this be choosing a preset white balance value or by taking a reading from a grey card, or alternatively fixing it in software afterwards if you shoot your photos in RAW.
White balance has been set manually to allow for the mixture of light sources
4. Relections add an extra dimension to your images so look out for them and incorporate them in your composition.
Reflections in the nearby canal
5. Shoot from a different angle. Architecture is usually built on the principles of symmetry or if it is more radical it might be built deliberately to break all those rules. Look for lines and if it is symmetrical capture it that way. This will reinforce the subject. If it is not symmetrical follow the curves and circles and forms and use them in your composition. Shooting from a low position or very high position can often emphasize this and produce dramatic images.
Low shooting position adds drama
Shooting from a different position is not only used to show a different perspective often it is necessary to shoot from an elevated position using a telescopic mast to enable a view of a complete site, or perhaps for inspection of a roof (see more).
Elevated shot to capture house and outbuildings
These techniques will all help you to improve but If you would like photos taking of your best project or would like training on your camera and software to improve your own skills please contact me on 07557 780336