Architecture 497d - Architectural Photography

The purpose of this assignment is to photograph three buildings from several different vantage points that are located at different heights from the ground.  An additional purpose is to gain some experience photographing a front-lit building using one-point perspective. 

For the buildings that you will photograph, your primary objective is to examine the differences in perspective that correspond to the different heights of the camera location.  Three secondary objectives are (1) to examine the compression of the foreground space that arises from using a longer focal-length lens, (2) to examine the perspective distortion arising from photographing a building from a vantage point that is higher than the rooftop of the building, and (3) to examine changes in one-point perspective arising from different camera-to-subject distances. 

For all of the buildings discussed below, you may choose the lighting conditions and the corresponding time of day.  Likewise, the choice of color or black-and-white is open.  If you are using film, you should use a slow film speed, e. g., ISO 100. If you are using a digital camera, you should select the slowest "film speed."

On-site considerations

As examples, I present the north-facing facade of the Life Sciences Building and the northeast-facing facade of Tyson Building, because you can photograph them from several different elevations by climbing to various levels of the Eisenhower Parking Garage.  Likewise you can photograph the same facades from the ground.  Additionally you can photograph the west-facing facade of the MBNA Career Center from a middle level and from the top level of the Eisenhower Parking Garage.  To examine the effects of distance on one-point perspective, I selected Old Botany, because it is neither too tall nor too broad.  Because it faces southward, you can use front lighting.  You may follow the instructions below for photographing these specific buildings.  Alternatively you may select other buildings that you can photograph from comparable vantage points.   

Specific tasks

Photograph the north-facing facade of the Life Sciences Building.  The vantage points are ground level, an intermediate level, and the top level of the Eisenhower Parking Garage.  For these photographs, use two-point perspective.  The location of the Garage strongly limits your choice of perspective. 

Photograph the northeast-facing facade of Tyson Building.  The vantage points are ground level and the top or an upper level of the Eisenhower Parking Garage.  For these photographs, use two-point perspective.  For the photograph taken from ground level, use a wide-angle lens.  Because the distance from the upper level of the Garage to Tyson Building is considerable, you should use a longer-focal-length lens for this photograph.  If you have a telephoto lens, use it; otherwise use a normal-focal-length lens.  For the purpose of comparison, record a photograph using the same wide-angle lens as you use for the shot from the ground level.  For this comparison, you will need to crop the latter photograph extensively. 

From an intermediate level and from the top level of the Eisenhower Parking Garage, photograph the west-facing facade of the MBNA Career Center using one-point perspective.  The intermediate level provides vantage point from which you can record a true one-point perspective, provided that you maintain the film plane parallel to the plane of the facade.  From the top-level vantage point, you will need to tilt the camera so that the film plane makes a 45°-angle with the plane of the facade.  Although this photograph will appear to show one-point perspective, tilting the camera introduces a subtle distortion, which you should identify. 

Using one-point perspective, photograph Old Botany from two vantage points; they are a distance as close to the building as possible and a distance far from the building.  You can achieve the former by using the vertical format.  The location of Schwab auditorium determines a limit to the latter. 

To complete the assignment, submit nominally 8- x 10-inch or 8- x 12-inch enlargements of the aforementioned photographs.  Follow the technical guidelines given in earlier assignments. 

With the photographs, submit a brief statement in which you present the technical details:

make and model of camera and lenses that you used for the various photographs,

recording medium either film and film speed or CCD resolution in pixels,

approximate time of day when you recorded the photographs, and

procedure for producing the final photographs.