Making A Building "Smile"

As a photographer that usually gets the assignment of covering weddings, holiday parties, family portraits and engagements, what do you say when asked to tread into uncharted waters by doing some architectural work? What else? "Bring it on."

Gear for the shoot? A trusty 5D, a 24-70 2.8 and a tripod.

In art and photography, it is always mentioned that "the eyes are the windows to the soul". So when shooting a building, would the windows be the eyes to the soul? :)





This was a short-order task. Take photos asap, have it ready by tomorrow, we need it printed in 24 hours. Drive home, get the gear, get good shots while the sun is high...ouch.








I was able to get a number of good ones with the sun melting the pavement with its strong rays, but I was also able to wait it out to get some dusk shots. Most of the images (if not all) were shot at f8 and up. I still shot in manual so that I can crank down the light as needed.


This image (above) was taken at ISO 50, f10 @ 1/80seconds.

Blue skies for the win! Too much brightness at 2 in the afternoon? Crank down the exposure in-camera. Probably do-able via Photoshop, but if you can do it without having to post-process so much, I just feel it speeds up the work-flow.


This image was taken at IOS 50, f11 @ 1/5seconds.





The last 2 images were shot at F9 and F8 respectively. Both at ISO 50 @ 30.00Seconds.

I'd like to believe the building gave a little grin at the very least in my attempts to make it shine.

*RANT Alert*

Tell me if you've heard this one before: "Excuse me sir, but do you have a permit to shoot here?" Have not heard it yet? You're either a ninja that blends well with the surroundings, or you are blessed by fate. I had a brief encounter that was resolved by a quick elevator run (more like a slow-limp really) up 14 floors then followed by a phone call, but it just made me think of an article i read a while back. I guess you're suspicious if you have a SLR (or DSLR), and all is good if you have a point and shoot.