Hello All,

I was hoping to hear some tips or advice on where to find info for taking good, interesting photos of rather standard looking commercial buildings. I work in the construction industry (the structural side of buildings - not really the lighting/decorating side) and my boss has asked me to decorate our new office with "impressive" images of some of our completed projects (office buildings, wharehouses, etc).

Any help, advice, or suggested readings - is all greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Russ (by the way - I am an avid D70 landscape and portrait photog... but I'm far from being a 'pro' at anything. Materials I have on hand: SB800 & a couple SB600 flashes, some reflectors and umbrellas.. a grad ND filter, a polarizer, and a warm up filter... and tripods - but thats it)

Russ:
Hello All,

I was hoping to hear some tips or advice on where to find info for taking good, interesting photos of rather standard looking commercial buildings. I work in the construction industry (the structural side of buildings - not really the lighting/decorating side) and my boss has asked me to decorate our new office with "impressive" images of some of our completed projects (office buildings, wharehouses, etc).



Hi Russ:- Shoot the building in the hour around sunset. Try to shoot in an easterly direction. You want the sky to be dark blue and the building lights to be on. Try with a polarizer and without. Shoot lots, the light changes very quickly at that hour.
If you shoot low with a wide angle lens then you will get that leaning back look to the building. If you can get up about 1/3 the height of the building you will have a unique angle that most people won't see. That puts the shot into the "impressive" category.

Try to eliminate people and vehicles as well.

Good luck
Chris

thanks for the ideas Chris!

I also have been doing some landscape/commercial photography and I am having a hard time not wanting to make them 'artsy'.....I would love some more tips on getting a better image so they don't look like boring buildings...thanks for the advice already....any more would be great!