Architectural photography

This weekend I learned about architectural photography with professional photographer Steve Silverman. I have become more and more interested in architecture after working on my MA paper on mosque architecture and have found myself taking a lot of photos of buildings. So I thought learning from a professional would be a smart thing to do. Besides being a professional photographer (one of his areas of specialty is architecture), Steve teaches workshops on a host of photographic subjects. So Friday included 2 hours of shooting and today (Saturday) was 2 hours on post-production on Photoshop and Lightroom. Steve was a great instructor and we went over a lot of information.

Friday’s shooting took place at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, which was incredibly beautiful. I had never been there before and found it an incredible place filled with trees, plants, flowers, and art! They have a gallery inside and art outside (in ponds, on paths, trails, etc.). There was also a wedding going on and people were out walking the many paths and trails.

The most important things in taking good architectural photographs:
-Walk around the building and plan your shots before you take a single photo
-Get a tripod!
-Get a good lens (a architecture Wide Angle Tilt Shift TSE 24mm and a 24-70mm are good lens to buy)
-Lightroom is a cool tool and you really dont need Photoshop if you have it
-Lensbaby 2.0 is a wickedly cool lens

http://stevesilvermanimaging.com/ (Steve’s webpage)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ (great place to buy cameras and equipment)
http://photovisionvideo.com/ (Lightroom)
http://www.westphoto.com/ (local MN photo store and rental)
http://www.buy.com/ (hard drives)
http://www.whcc.com/ (professional printing)
Photomatix Pro is a plug-in used to merging photos together
Nik Software Color Efex Pro is a plug-in good for color changes and retouching images

Photos below were taken with my iPhone!