Shooting Buildings and Monuments - get a new perspective!

By Marc B

Shooting buildings and monuments can be very challenging to get right.  It’s easy to stand in front of a building and snap off a few shots, but what does it take to get a truly exceptional photograph?  There are many things that need to be considered when it comes to this type of photography, not least of which is location, light and perspective. 

Location

The best part of the photo taking process is actually finding either a building or monument to photograph, and finding a different perspective than anyone else.  This involves a bit of walking and looking.  You don’t need to shoot a well-known landmark or building; indeed they have all been photographed to death, so it’s good to find something a little out of the way that may not get the attention it deserves.  I have seen amazing photographs of drains, old petrol stations and even car parks. The limit here is your imagination and skill in capturing a compelling photo of what could normally be considered a ‘boring’ subject. 

Canon 5DMk2, 50mm, f5.0, 1/125 second. Shot in Hamburg, Germany

Lighting

Here is the real challenge.  Getting the lighting right is really what photography is all about, but how do we control the light on something like a building?  A little bit of patience is required as you will need to wait until the light from the sun (or moon!) is at just the right angle for the photo you want to achieve.  There are a few Apps that you can get for smartphones that can tell you where the Sun will be at any time on any day for the chosen spot. Knowing this information will help you plan your timing to be on location.  A nice technique is to wait until ‘Golden Hour’ which is a time just after sunset where the sky takes on a nice deep blue - this lasts for varying amounts of time depending on the time of year and your location.  The lighting of ‘Golden Hour’ adds great colour to the sky while at the same time leaving enough light to have some details in the shadows of buildings.  

You will definitely need a steady tripod for this kind of work as your shutter speed will be quite long, particularly if you are using a low ISO (which you should be).  Also a cable release would be very useful here.

Canon 5DMK2 70mm, f2.8, 0.6 seconds. Shot at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

Change your perspective

Here is what almost everyone does: they see something that looks like it would make a good photo and they lift the camera to their eye and take a shot.  This ends up looking like every other photo of that building (or waterfall or whatever) ever since cameras where invented.  This is where you need to get creative.  Think about the perspective you want to use to make your photo different (changing lenses does not alter your perspective; it changes your angle of view only).  Can you get up high and take a photo from a nearby building?  Can you find somewhere that allows you to lie flat on the ground and shoot up at the building from an extreme low angle?  Try to think of anything that will give your shot a wow factor that is different from the standard point and shoot mentality.  Lens selection is also important. Do you shoot with an ultra-wide angle?  Stand back and shoot with a standard lens and get straighter vertical lines?  If you have the time, try as many options as you can.  

Patience

Above all you will need patience - finding the location, working out the best time of day for light and then nailing the perspective will take time. But in the end you will end up with a photo like no other - one with some thought and planning behind it, which will stand above the average snapshot.  Get cracking!  Feel free to share you results with us and remember that the first 10,000 shots are the worst!

Recommended equipment:

• Lenses of varying focal length but particularly wide and mid-range lengths such as 10-22mm, 24-70, 18-55
• A sturdy tripod (essential)
• A cable release for your camera
• Filters like a Cir-Pl, ND and graduated ND filters are great for certain situations (take a look at our recent blog on the Benefits of Filters)
• Lens hoods can be helpful when shooting outside
• A torch if you’re shooting at night
• A weather resistant camera bag

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Photographing Water - in all its glory!

Photographing Water 

We’ve all seen those great landscape photos of the beach with wonderfully soft looking water washing onto shore or silky smooth waterfalls flowing over the edge of a cliff.  How do we recreate this?  It’s actually quite simple, there are just a few things that need to be done to create this effect.

Canon 5DMK2 with 24 -70 L at 24mm, ISO 100, f22 @ 2.0 Seconds.
Shot at Isabella Falls near Edmonton, Far North QLD  

Technique
The technique is very simple: long shutter speeds with your camera on a tripod.  But there can be problems that you will need to correct, for example, your shutter speed is not slow enough due to the scene being too bright, the sky blowing out above the scene due to too much light hitting the sensor from bright parts of the image, water ruining your equipment, camera movement, etc.  There are a number of pieces of equipment that can solve these issues.

Equipment
Before we head off and attempt these images there are a few things which are absolutely essential and a few things that are nice to have.

• Camera – Your camera should allow you to adjust ISO, aperture and shutter speed.  This will give you total control over your exposure.  The shutter speed needs to be able to stay open for at least a few seconds to properly blur the water movement.  A CSC or DSLR would be ideal but you can get good results from higher end compacts, as long as they allow you to control the exposure variables (ISO, aperture etc.).  Wide angle lenses are ideal.
• Tripod - A good, solid tripod is ideal, try to stay away from the cheaper tripods as they can have some movement in them with factors such as wind.  Heavy tripods are more stable over long exposures.  Also the shorter you have the legs, the more stable the tripod due to the lower centre of gravity and less flex.  Generally with landscape composition it’s a good idea to be low to the ground anyway and some tripods can go lower than others.
• Shutter Release - The shutter release allows you to remotely activate your cameras shutter, either with a cable (which is ok) or wirelessly (which is much better).  The wireless option eliminates the possibility of you causing movement in the image due to snagging or accidentally moving the cable.  Wireless shutter releases generally do more than just release the shutter, some of them allow you to do multiple exposures for star trails or time lapse movies.
• Filters - There are a few filters you can use.  The most obvious one is the neutral density filter (ND) which reduces the amount of light getting to the lens.  This slows down your shutter speed allowing the water movement to be slowed down to give a silky water effect.  This filter is available in darkness ratings from ND2 (blocks one stop of light) all the way up to an ND400 (stops 9 stops of light).
• The other is a circular polariser (CP) filter.  This filter removes or reduces reflections off of non-metallic surfaces, including water, glass and tree foliage and grass.  This tends to make water look clearer as it removes reflections from it allowing you to see through the water easily.  It also makes colours seem more saturated: think bluer skies and greener grass.
• The last filter to consider is a graduated neutral density filter (GND); this one is clear on one end but dark on the other with a gradual move between the two ends.  Here is a link to a Cokin kit that starts you off with three filters and a holder.  This filter is used in landscape photography to darken the sky if it’s overexposed in the image.  For example, if the sky has lost all details due to over exposure but the waterfall is correctly exposed then you would use the GND filter to reduce the brightness of the sky but leave the waterfall correctly exposed.

The Shoot

First you need to find the right location.  Ideally this would be a spot where the water is moving noticeably such as a beach where the waves are hitting the sand or a rocky outcrop in the foreground.  A waterfall or quick moving stream are also good to photograph as you can smooth out the water to give a nice effect in contrast to static rocks in the stream.

When you are setting up in these locations you need to be mindful of your safety and the safety of your equipment.  The nature of these places can be slippery and rocks are very unforgiving to falling gear and people.  I have smashed a lens shooting a waterfall before and it’s a bad feeling when you see it happen.  Also watch out for wildlife (snakes, spiders and leaches) that can make surprising appearances at surprising times and also can lead to damaged gear.

Set up your tripod low to capture the foreground clearly in the image and try to relate the foreground to some background elements, this brings a cohesive nature to the photo.  Make sure to get your camera level (using one of these) and then attach the filter.  Note that some filters can make it impossible to see through the lens to focus, for example an ND400. In this case you will need to focus prior to attaching the filter. 

When exposing the image to get the water smooth, set a slower shutter speed.  How slow will depend on several factors such as the speed of the water, the limits of your equipment and even whether you are shooting between waves and need to move out of the way before you get drenched.  The longer the shutter speed the smoother ocean waves will look in the final image.  Waterfalls can be exposed for as little as 1 second and get good results as the water is falling so fast that it blurs very quickly.  Experiment to find what works best for you in the situation you are in.  You can slow the shutter speed down further by using one of the ND filters, the darker the filter, the slower the possible shutter speed.

In the two photos below the one on the top had a shutter speed of 1/20th of a second and you can still see some definition in the water drops.  The photo on the bottom had a shutter speed of half a second and the water is much smoother in appearance.

 

Canon 5DMK2 with 24-70 L at 46mm, 

ISO 500, f4 @ 1/20th Second

Shot at Baron Gorge, Cairns

Canon 5DMK2 with 24-70 L at 46mm, 

ISO 500, f13 @ 0.4 Seconds

Shot at Baron Gorge, Cairns

When exposing for long times it’s important to remember that any movement made by the camera will result in a blurry image. As already mentioned a good tripod is very important.  Also set your camera (if it has the function) to “pre mirror lock up” which reduces mirror slap movement by locking the mirror up when you press the shutter once and then taking the photo on the second shutter press.  Also make sure to use a cable or wireless shutter release to stop your finger moving the camera when firing.

The Last Rule

The last rule is to experiment!  Leave the shutter open longer and see what happens, move your filters around, get coloured sunset filters, change your white balance setting or adjust your aperture.  Continually try new things and shoot as much as you can, there is no substitute for getting out there and catching some light!  Go on over to Facebook and send us some shots that you’re proud of!  Good Luck!

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The Benefit of Filters

Digital cameras have reduced or eliminated the need for almost all filters. However there are still a number of filters that are important, and the effect of some of them are almost impossible to recreate digitally, either without a lot of time and effort, or at all. 

Circular Polariser

The circular polariser removes reflections from non-metallic surfaces such as grass and foliage, water, glass and the sky.  This filter will make a blue sky bluer, grass greener and even allow you to see beneath the surface reflections of water.  It has a moveable ring on the front that minimises or maximises the effect of the filter as you rotate it. The strength of the filter is also affected by the angle of the source of a reflection, and the angle of the main light source in relation to the camera and the subject. These can have a dramatic effect on your photo, with increased contrast and more saturated colours. 

The circular polariser is an important filter, because Photoshop can’t remove reflections and show what was behind a window or beneath the pond’s surface.

Graduated Filters

Graduated filters are still very relevant and useful to photographers.  The graduated neutral density filter (GND) is a square filter that sits in a holder (for example this Cokin GND Filter).  The filter is dark on one end and clear on the other.  This filter is used when a scene has a very bright horizon but a dark foreground.  A normal exposure that averages out the brightness levels in a scene will either blow out the highlights, losing detail in the sky, or underexpose, losing detail in the foreground.  A normal exposure would not result in a properly exposed image across the frame.  A GND filter works when the photographer positions the dark part of the filter over the brightest part of the image (eg the sky), reducing the brightness in this part of the image.  This allows the camera to capture detail across the entire image with one exposure.  GND filters also come in different colours for slightly different effects.

Neutral Density Filter

The Neutral Density filter (ND), reduces the amount of light that passes through it. It does a similar job to the GND filter except that it darkens the entire image.  This is useful in bright situations where you need a slow shutter speed but there is too much light around for your ISO and aperture to handle.  This is valuable in situations such as a waterfall when you want the water to appear silky instead of as frozen drops.  If there is too much light on the scene you may not be able to slow the shutter speed down enough to make the water smooth and still get a well exposed photo.  Using an ND filter will allow you to use a slower shutter speed. 

ND filters come in various densities from 1 stop of light up to 9 stops of light.  They are described as ND2 (1 stop), ND4 (2 stops), ND8 (3 stops) and ND400 (a whopping 9 stops). 

Variable Neutral Density Filter

The Variable ND can vary its light stopping ability generally from an ND 2 up to an ND400 simply by spinning the front glass on the filter.  This is very handy, as focusing can be very difficult at ND400.  This filter allows you to focus at ND2 and adjust to whatever darkness you need.    Hoya and Cokin both make them.

UV Filter

The clear UV filter is not an effects filter, but is the one filter than almost every photographer uses.  A similar filter though less common is the protector filter.  UV filters were originally used to clear haze from landscape and similar photographs as film was particularly sensitive to UV light.  Digital sensors now have UV filtration on them so the UV filtering ability is no longer required.  The reason these filters are still used is primarily for protection of the front lens of your camera.  It is always cheaper to replace a filter than it is to replace a lens or front element of a lens.  The most common mistake people make is not matching the quality of the filter with the quality of the lens.  Be prepared to spend approximately 10% of the price of your lens on your filter.  Here is a range of UV filters to suite any budget.

Each of the filters described above are useful because they are impossible to create in a computer program, or they would take a very long time to replicate. 

If you have never tried these filters, come in to one of our stores or give us a call and we will guide you in the right direction to turn your ideas into reality!

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