Architecture Assignment

Location 1: Big Picture

Location: El Camino del Mar

San Francisco

Location 2: Detail

Location: American Cupcake

 Union Street, San Francisco

Location 3: Big Picture

Location: Legion of Honor

San Francisco

Location 3: Detail

Location: Legion of Honor

San Francisco

Location 3: Interior

Location: Legion of Honor

San Francisco

ANSEL ADAMS

Ansel Adams (February 20, 1902 - April 22, 1984)

• was an American environmentalist
• famous for his black and white photos of the American west and Yosemite
• developed the Zone System with Fred Archer to determine proper exposure and adjust contrast on a final print. 

http://gardenofpraise.com/images2/ansel.jpg

http://jeffbean.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/ansel_adams_mountains.jpg

Artistic elements and principles: value, unity in the snow, rule of thirds with the clouds, texture of snow and mountains. 

http://www.cs.umd.edu/~djacobs/CMSC426/ansel_adams.jpg

Notes pgs.202-217

CHAPTER 9: LANDSCAPES

LANDMARKS IN LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

• photography invented in 1839. 
• photographers looked to landscape paintings and the land for inspiration. 
• Carleton E. Walkins
• learned photography in 1854
• opened up his own gallery in San Francisco
• took pictures of Yosemite, which became famous and one of the first to be made art
• Ansel Adams
• mostly took pictures of Yosemite 
• took some of the best known photos taken there
• tried to capture the experience of being in the wilderness

PHOTOGRAPHING THE LANDSCAPE

Thinking Artistically

• composition and viewpoint very important
• explore different angles
• pay attention to value and how it ties in with the mood you want for a photo
• achieve balance between unity and variety

Camera Settings

• small f-stops and slow shutter speeds
• tripod for shape images

Light

• just after sunrise and just before sunset are best times to take pictures
• emphasizes shapes and textures
• warm, gold color
• easier to deal with direct lighting for distant subjects that it is for closer ones
• captures highlights and shadows
• gives 3-D effect
• overcast days better for close up shots

Film

• ISO 100 to capture a lot of detail
• black & white vs. color

Lenses

• wide-angle lenses to capture more of the scene
• allows you to include close object with distant objects on one shot
• telephoto lenses
• for mountains/range of mountains
• helps capture objects you cannot physically get close to
• macro lenses
• useful for getting really up close
• detail and small objects

Filters

• yellow filters bring out clouds
• red filter - blackest skies and whitest clouds

http://www.studiolighting.net/wp-content/images/phototools2.jpg

THE GRAND LANDSCAPE

• the "big view" for pictures of the great outdoors
• wide-open and shows the beauty of the natural world
• do not always have to pick "pretty" objects to photograph
• sky almost always prominent in photographs

http://www.petebarnesphotography.co.uk/uploaded_images/Landscape-photography-of-a-beach-in-Harris,-Scotland,-with-stones-and-clear-blue-water-and-moving-clouds-(IMG_2327-Edit)-730284.jpg

LANDSCAPE DETAILS AND CLOSE-UPS

• imposing landscapes are more inviting and comfortable
• parks are a good subject for detailed photos
• direct sunlight makes it harder to get a good shot
• cloudy/ overcast better

http://www.matrixrock.com/images/services-water-feature-construction-and-design.jpg

ABSTRACTED ELEMENTS IN THE LANDSCAPE

• can eliminate clues that tell the viewer the context of the photo
• composed of lines, shapes, textures, and values
• get really close to object
• telephoto or macro lens
• a lot of depth of field, slow shutter speed, tripod

http://www.sc-photos.co.uk/home/galleries/abstract/AbPICT14091.jpg

Notes pgs.190-197

ARCHITECTURE & URBAN LANDSCAPES


THE BIG VIEW

• most architectural photos rely on the big view, the wide-angle overall view. 
• shows the whole building
• far away using wide-angle lens
• perspective distortion appears as strong converging lines in a building, where sides lean toward each other than parallel in reality
• going farther away from building lessens the distortion
• straight on or angled?
• shooting from the side creates a three-dimensional effect

SHADOWS

• try capturing shadows of objects instead of the real thing

THE DETAIL SHOT

• detailed shot features the individual architectural elements of a building's interior or exterior
• details become indirect portraits of craftspeople who made them. 

INTERIOR VIEWS

• can record overall shots of whole rooms
• concentrate of the presence of the people living in them
• depth of field important

Notes pgs.179-189

ARCHITECTURE & URBAN LANDSCAPES

• architecture photos are indirect portraits
• materials, style, and scale of a building all provide clues to the context of the building. 
• when you take pictures of buildings, you create indirect portraits of the people who live there
• can be formal or informal

LOOKING BACK

• why photographers loved architecture in the early beginnings of photography
• buildings don't move
• a lot of detail, varied tones, and values
• needed long exposures
• Charles Negre
• artist and painter
• used photos of buildings as "sketches" for his paintings

http://www.near.li/html/images/exhibitions/Charles-Negre.jpg

• Frederick H. Evans
• considered one of the greatest architectural photographers
• took photos of English and French cathedrals 
• Eugene Atget
• self-taught photographer
• used old-fashioned equipment

PHOTOGRAPHING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

THINKING ARTISTICALLY

• can be a "sketch" of a place and the emotions connected
• exploration of abstract images
• use leading lines
• pay attention to space around a building
• a buildings relationship to its surroundings can give it its own personality
• pay attention to pattern

CAMERA SETTINGS

• sharpness very important so you can see small details
• greater depth of field
• slower films

FILM

• black & white vs. color
• color emphasize color and setting
• b&w emphasize values, shapes, and textures
• commercial vs. artistic
• commercial - magazines, brochures (color)
• artistic - B&W

LIGHTING

• color of lighting very important in interior architecture
• different kinds of lights
• incandescent - slightly orange
• quartz - slightly yellow
• fluorescent - slightly green
• daylight - more blue

LENSES

• wide-angle lenses
• camera and lens leveled
• tilt upward to distort images

CAMERA SUPPORT

• tripod and slow shutter speed
• balance portability and stability
• monopods

FILTERS

• yellow/orange filters can separate the sky and the cloud and bring out textures. 
• polarizer
• can darken the sky
• reduce reflections 

Landscape Photo

Architecture Notes

• not only are you taking a picture of a building, but you are finding a way to portray someone else's art with your camera.
• portray architecture in a way that makes people wonder what it is and where it's located
• different clues contained in a photo can give viewers hints as to where the architecture is located, who the people that live there, etc.
• using different framing and angles give off different moods and perspectives to a photo.
• the time of day/lighting taken in a photo can also give off different emotions
• used to develop photos on platinum paper
• big picture, detail, and interior architecture

Ten Points

• Illustrated Daily News first newspaper to sell based on photos.
• New York Tabloid was the most "scandalous" and contained the most sexual material.
• Composagraph - staged pictures with pasted in pictures of people's faces
• Ruth Snyder's execution because the Daily News snuck in a hidden camera.
• Advertising - people started using photography to advertise thier products to make even the dullest object look appealing to buyers.
• Babe Ruth - first person to use their pictures on advertisements.
• Before photography became an influence, Astronomers would have to draw what they saw through the telescope.
• Astromomers then started to use photography to show that what they say was in fact real and not in their imagination.
• Photography enables us to see things we are not capable of seeing with the naked eye.
• Pictures allow people to connect with family they have never met.