A resource for working professional photographers and design industry professionals featuring news, commentary, equipment resources, and original articles
Let’s talk renderings.
In the vapid comments section of some blog somewhere, I read an interesting, yet disheartening question: “Are you afraid that renderings will replace the need for architectural photography?”
See? Lame. But also that little part of me that is convinced Skynet is coming for us, gets it.
In part two of my behind-the-scenes series in the Hungarian countryside, I’m going to jump into (ha ha…) a more complicated daylight image that I created. This image, like anything in architectural photography, contains quite a bit more than meets the eye, and utilized many different techniques to put together a visually harmonious image.
Large bold shapes, vibrant colors, perfectly captured repetition, contrast through lighting and color, and a whole lot of texture; This week’s featured project is a shining example of visual hierarchy at work.
In the small Moroccan town of Laayoune lies the Universite Ibn Zohr.
A few weeks ago I met up with the guys from Fstoppers and we released a ‘Critique The Community‘ video focusing on real estate and some architecture photography. For that video, Fstoppers readers submitted images and Patrick Hall and myself sat down and rated them. This time, I wanted to up the ante a little bit and take it more seriously – hard to believe, I know – but I think we made a very informative and helpful video as a result.
What do clothing, music, cars, houses, and architectural photography have in common? They all go through trends; many of them arguably cyclical in nature. Rob van Esch is an experienced architectural photographer based in Amsterdam who recently created the e-book “Trends in Architectural Photography” which focuses on the recent shifts in the way architecture is photographed.
For me, one of the more boring and monotonous things I have to do is post production. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy producing the results, it’s just the basic things I need to do for almost every image before it’s ready to be properly edited in Photoshop that drag me down. For a lot of images I still use Lightroom and this is where I find a lot of time is being spent.
Just nine miles south of the razzle and dazzle of Las Vegas lies Henderson, Nevada. This sweeping desert town houses fossils, state parks, and an architectural gem: Ascaya. Although it broke ground in 2004, Ascaya – a luxurious custom home community – screeched to a halt during the recession.
What happens when you are so obsessed with a perfect result that you neglect finishing the piece altogether? What happens when you spend an extra half hour on set perfecting an image only to miss the great light happening elsewhere? Why don’t interior designers ever photograph things at night (they used to!), and for some reason, Elon Musk absolutely refuses to credit artists when he “borrows” their work.
I recently teamed up with Patrick Hall from Fstoppers to critique some real estate and architecture images for the once-a-year critique I do with them. These images are submitted by the Fstoppers community and while we focused on and asked for people to submit real estate-based images, I still think that this critique is valuable if your primary interest is in architecture and interiors photography.
Vlad Feoktistov is an emerging talent based in Sochi, Russia, who makes his living photographing homes, hotels, and neoclassical Stalinist resorts, among other things. Vlad’s story is somewhat unique in our field and I couldn’t help but want to share it with everyone. Vlad and his career serve as a reminder that there are opportunities around us no matter where we are located and that architectural photography is a truly global phenomenon.
Australian architecture is such an interesting mix of modern and tropical design. Built to contend with the harsh temperatures and elements, these homes are never boring and almost always beautiful. Enter Murray Fredericks and his series on Bondi House by the architects at CplusC.
In a contrasting approach to my post about intentionally shooting during bad weather, photographer Heather Conley delivers a great vlog-style narrative video discussing her approach to selecting a shoot day based on weather. Heather is a successful architectural photographer based in Connecticut who has worked for a wide range of clients photographing a variety of project types.
While a seemingly small and technical niche, there is so much more than meets the eye included under the umbrella of “architectural photography.” This is proven by today’s esteemed guest, Brazilian photographer Ana Mello. Ana’s beautiful work is full of reflections, symmetry, movement, and color.
My name is György Palko, and I’m an architectural photographer based in Hungary. For my first post on APA, I’m going to share how I edited one of my favorite twilight images. To perfect this image, I used a wide range of techniques including exposure blending, color correction, cloning and sky replacement.
Simon Devitt is a fantastic architectural photographer based in Auckland, New Zealand. Bivvy House is a one-of-a-kind project on New Zealand’s incredible South Island. Here we have what I’d call a match made in architectural photography heaven.
Originally I had set out to feature one of Simon’s other beautiful projects – Scrubby Bay.
Every single photographer has rescheduled a shoot due to weather – that’s just a universal truth in this profession. But I don’t think you should reschedule when bad weather is predicted – I think you should embrace it and accept whatever comes your way to create more interesting photographs.
Mike Kelley
Lexi Taciak
György Palkó
Veeral Patel
Usman Dawood