Architecture Project (digital) Photography

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Marysville, CA

Alo',

I have no (professional) photography experience but I am in a situation where I have to document all of the projects I've made in Architecture school and assemble them into a porfolio and make it look snazzy.

In the past I've been told to get a piece of black velvet or like fabric (to absorb light) and cover a table and wall with it, place model on table, set up tripod, aim camera at model, put two lights behind tripod (not exactly sure where they would be specifically located or what kind of light (bulbs) they should be), and shoot. But I don't know anything about the camera settings or the lights! Ahhh!!!

I have to take pictures of both models and drawings. Any advice related to either is valueable to me.

I apologize, but I'm quite the amateur. The only info I have on the camera is that it's a Sony DSCS828, cybershot infolithium Digital Still Camera and it doesn't belong to me.

Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 360 Location: Revere, Boston

I would suggest going to your schools photography department asking for help. They also might have equipment for you to use.

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Marysville, CA

Thanks for the advice but I've already looked into local resources. I can't use the school's photo lab for a few reasons: 1)I'm not a photography student and 2) I'm not a student anymore period.

I was hoping for more specific advice-
I've looked a little online about product photography but was wondering if anyone knew anything more specific to architecture models and hand drawings.

(regarding models- I'm sure advice about techniques used for shooting model trains or stop motion film would apply).

Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 2 Location: San Diego, CA

Since you have no photography experience I would like to suggest the following:

1. Beg, buy, borrow or steal (just kidding) a 5mp digital camera with an onboard flash.
2. Get a tripod
3. Use the black cloth idea if you are shooting architectural models.
4. Set up the camera so that the shadow produced by the flash falls behind and below the back edge of the model.
5. You should visit a local professional camera store and look into renting some strobe flashes that will fire with slave triggers that trigger when your camera's flash fires. Use the term "slave trigger" at the shop and they will know what you mean. Most pro shops are very helpful in this regard.
7. Visit your local library and checkout some books on general photography and lighting. Try to find books that deal in digital photography not film.
8. Then Experiment, Experiment, Experiment.
9. Use the auto or program mode on the digital camera to begin with. Then try some of the more advanced settings. You will be surprised at how really easy it is to learn if you try.

The charm of going the digital route is that you can experiment with a small cost for the photos as you don't use film or photo processing. You can view your results on the camera's LCD and on your computer screen and you can print them on a printer at a Costco or Walmart.

Have fun and let us know how it works for you.

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Marysville, CA

Thanks for all the wonderful advice! Sorry it's taken so long for me to respond. This is going to be a big project.. I've already got library books on digital photography and have purchased black velvet so that hopefully my models will look like they're floating...

In the meantime,.. does anyone have advice as to how to photograph large hand drawings? Some of mine are 4'X5'!! That's big! Anyways I can hang them on a wall and photograph them with a tripod or take shots of them from above while they're stretched and smooth on a table... What's the best method in your opinion?

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:59 am

Reading books and searching the internet on product lighting should help greatly. The more I read the bigger brain I get. I geuss thats obvious, but it is true.

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Marysville, CA

You've all been a great big help.
I didn't take every single bit of advice partly because I was a bit lazy and because I've been a bit limited with time.

In any case I'd love to show a little of what I have so far... Is there any way to show images on this forum? I have some reservations regarding copyright issues, etc. so maybe I can just email a few to those who've helped (?)
Maybe y'all can take my word for it. I'm satisfied with some of the pictures.

I'm finished with shooting my old models. In the process I've learned about White Balance and Aperture priority mode- features I had never heard of prior to this little project.

The next step is taking shots of large hand drawings.. I worry a bit about angles and proportions when it comes to this (for instance the part of the drawing that is closest to the lense will appear larger(?) Should I shoot them from a far distance? If you were to photograph a large map or construction drawings, how would you do it?

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Marysville, CA

Maybe I'm writing too much and scaring everyone away.

Does anyone have any suggestions for photographing large drawings (particularly architectural, hand-drafted drawings)?

Joined: 17 May 2006 Posts: 118 Location: Pacific N.W.

BerkeleyChild wrote:

Maybe I'm writing too much and scaring everyone away.

Does anyone have any suggestions for photographing large drawings (particularly architectural, hand-drafted drawings)?

Just an idea, but could these drawings be scanned and then formatted to fit the size paper your interested in showing them on? Might be worth investigating. Good luck.

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 8:50 am

BerkeleyChild wrote:

The next step is taking shots of large hand drawings.. I worry a bit about angles and proportions when it comes to this (for instance the part of the drawing that is closest to the lense will appear larger(?) Should I shoot them from a far distance? If you were to photograph a large map or construction drawings, how would you do it?

If I couldn't scan them, and couldn't get far enough away to photograph with one shot square on, I'd take several shots as square on as possible and use Hugin to straighten them out.

It's a freeware panorama stitcher, a quick google should turn it up

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Marysville, CA

Thank you all for your kind suggestions. You are helping me tremendously.

Scanning probably would be the best option for my drawings, but seeing as how I don't have a scanner that large, it would probably be rather expensive to get it done at a print shop. I have about 30 drawings that I'm photographing.

Which also means I'm not going to have the patience to shoot pieces of them and then stick it together with software. I might do this for a couple of the drawings but I don't think this is going to be my method for all of them.

I've already fiddled with some of the camera settings and shot some of these drawings from as far away as possible. Of course they are a bit distorted because of the perspective, but I'm ok with that.

I guess my newest problem is possibly a very simple one: all of my images are turning out very dark. I don't have any lighting equipment aside from lamps with 60Watt bulbs. What would be the best place to put my light sources and how powerful do they need to be?

These drawings are all relatively large (approx. 3' x 4') and contain a lot of detail, most of them being graphite or ink on velum (fancy paper). What I'm trying to get now is the most contrast and sharpness so that I can capture as much of this detail as possible and make my drawings really stand out.

Keep the suggestions coming! I love them!

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Marysville, CA

Thank you all for your kind suggestions. You are helping me tremendously.

Scanning probably would be the best option for my drawings, but seeing as how I don't have a scanner that large, it would probably be rather expensive to get it done at a print shop. I have about 30 drawings that I'm photographing.

Which also means I'm not going to have the patience to shoot pieces of them and then stick it together with software. I might do this for a couple of the drawings but I don't think this is going to be my method for all of them.

I've already fiddled with some of the camera settings and shot some of these drawings from as far away as possible. Of course they are a bit distorted because of the perspective, but I'm ok with that.

I guess my newest problem is possibly a very simple one: all of my images are turning out very dark. I don't have any lighting equipment aside from lamps with 60Watt bulbs. What would be the best place to put my light sources and how powerful do they need to be?

These drawings are all relatively large (approx. 3' x 4') and contain a lot of detail, most of them being graphite or ink on velum (fancy paper). What I'm trying to get now is the most contrast and sharpness so that I can capture as much of this detail as possible and make my drawings really stand out.

Keep the suggestions coming! I love them!

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:07 pm

BerkeleyChild,

I assume you're shooting the drawings by hanging them flat on a wall, then backing the camera up on a tripod until you get them in full frame?

To avoid distortion as much as possible, use a prime lens for your photographs (about 85mm would be best but 55mm will work). Then, you need to center the camera exactly on the center of the hung drawing. There is a simple trick to do this. To wit, place a small mirror in the center of the drawing (adhere with low-tack tape or hang) and look into the viewfinder of the camera. Move the camera up and down, left and right until the reflection of the lens is seen in the mirror. Viola, you're exactly centered on the document.

As for lighting, two 60W bulbs with reflectors placed about 4-5ft out from the wall, just out of frame, should be enough. The key is to make sure you have even light coverage. You can use as long a shutter release as necessary (you are triggering the camera remotely, with either a cable release, time delay, or IR trigger, right?) to get proper exposure.

Shoot RAW and adjust your brightness and contrast in post production. Keep in mind the intrinsic resolution of the sensor may limit how much fine detail you're able to capture on a large drawing. For instance, a 9-point font on a 3 ft by 5 ft drawing will not be readable if you have a full-frame capture, even at 10 Mp. The sensor resolution is exceeded in this case, and the only way to get the necessary resolution would be to take overlapping shots, centering as described above for each shot, and overlapping by at least 50% each time.

Hope this helps,

Sigma147

Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Marysville, CA

Wow. I have a lot to play with. Just to confirm, yes all I've been doing is hanging my drawings on a white wall and shooting from a tripod. And I've been shooting in my digital camera's Aperture priority mode without flash (for the most part) and using the selftimer while holding my breath so as not to cause a disturbance while the image is "capturing" and "processing". I've also been shooting the images as 8M which is the largest image size my camera can handle.

The mirror idea is genius!

I'll let you know how it goes.