Looking for an Angle - Architecture

We live in the age of the zoom lens - sometimes with digital enhancements on top of extraordinary optical prowess. Cameras these days boast zooms the likes of which weren't even dreamed of as little as twenty years ago. The beauty of the zoom, of course, is that it enables you to frame a composition accurately, or produce different looking pictures, without moving an inch. Just by staying rooted to the spot and twisting the zoom barrel, a host of alternative picture shapes can tumble from your imagination onto the emulsion.



				A series of pictures taken from the same viewpoint, with increasing focal lengths showing how perspective doesn't change, but the amount of the subject included does. With a 20mm wide-angle, the main subject - the cathedral - is hardly in view, and the viewer is more aware of the trees and field. At 28mm you start to become aware of the subject in the distance. Moving onto a 50mm lens, the cathedral starts to take on a more prominent role in the picture. With a 100mm focal length, the subject now dominates the image, while at 200mm every element except the odd tree has been eliminated.




At eye-level from a distance, there's nothing exceptional about these huts on a South African beach. But by moving up close, adopting a low angle viewpoint and eliminating unwanted elements; I turned them into a most graphic and colourful image.

The trouble is, we've let this wonderful device make us lazy. Instead of exploring a subject thoroughly on foot, and wandering around it until the optimum viewpoint and focal length have been established, we sloppily let the zoom do all the work. Burning up some shoe leather isn't, it seems, fashionable any more, while buzzing up and down the extensive zoom range and trusting everything to electronics is.

Well pardon me but I beg to differ. In my view you always get out of a picture what you put into it, and that applies just as much to architectural subjects as to any other. If I'm taking some architectural shots for a client, they are not going to be impressed by the sheer size of my zoom. What counts are the quality and style of the resulting pictures. So let's not rely on technology and instead get back to some useful basics.

There are some things you can control, and others beyond your ken. Last month, for example, we explored the value of light quality, time of day and weather conditions. This month I want to dissect the subjects of viewpoints and focal length - criteria that are often connected, but not rigidly tied. For example, take a look at the strip of cathedral pictures - these were all taken from the identical viewpoint, but with a range of focal length settings from wide-angle to telephoto. What you get at the extremes of the range are totally different pictures - one an all-encompassing vista, and the other a mere detail. Clearly, choosing the right lens for the occasion is something to be weighed and considered, depending upon the effect you desire.

Equally, your choice of viewpoint should be fully explored, and don't settle for the obvious or your pictures will look the same as everyone else's. I've included a couple of shots of beach huts I took in Cape Town to demonstrate the point. The first shot from a distance is almost how you'd come across the scene and register it as a possibility for image potential. It's taken from eye-level, with a medium telephoto lens. Now check out the second shot of the same subject - we're now closer, much closer, crouching low down, and the extreme wide-angle lens is pointing upwards for extra dynamics. All extraneous matter has been removed from the scene - beach, people etc, and we're left with just the graphic shapes and colours of the huts and the sky. A polariser was added to saturate the colours and darken the blue of the sky. Now look back to the first picture - what a huge difference viewpoint, and choice of lens and viewpoint can make!


The way you frame the subject, and what you include within the frame edges, has a huge bearing upon the final image. This silhouetted windmill makes a completely different statement from close-up, where it appears looming and solitary. From a distance the same subject looks smaller and not so isolated thanks to the balancing effect of the tree.

A building can appear to have several different faces or guises, depending upon the viewpoint selected. From up close a structure will dominate the photograph and look quite isolated, yet viewed from greater distance the same building seems just one of several on view - the relationship with its surroundings has been altered by your viewpoint. So don't always aim to fill the frame with your main subject, as adjacent structures or elements can sometimes work to your advantage, adding scale and interest.

Some people think that by switching to another focal length of a zoom, or a different lens, they will alter the perspective of a building. This isn't the case at all - if you stay rooted to one spot, and shoot a building with a 16mm ultra-wide lens, then switch to a 400mm telephoto, the perspective in both pictures is identical. All that has changed is the amount of subject included in the frame. The only way to alter perspective is to change viewpoint, and then use a suitable lens for your purpose. By choosing a distant position, for example, along with a powerful telephoto, you can make buildings appear squashed together or stacked on top of each other - a compression effect.

Another handy tip for composing successfully is to use any available frames to hold your picture together or draw attention to one particular element. Suitable frames might include a narrow corridor leading directly to your subject, such as a tall shiny tower block at the end of a shaded street. An arch is a graceful method to hold the sky over your subject, or a window or door can be employed to enclose the whole thing. Keep your wits about you as you wander around and you'll find lots of new ways to frame your chosen subject. If you've selected a tall structure, see if it can be spotted from inside a glazed roof somewhere, as this can often lead to stunning compositions with depth and scale.


Frames for compositional purposes can be natural or man-made. For the distant view of Cefalu in Sicily I needed some darker shapes to hold the left edge of the scene and give depth. A gated archway proved a perfect frame for this country hotel, with the path leading the eye through the picture to the distant subject.

Most cameras are designed for eye-level use - the height we view the world from - and most pictures are taken from this level and looking out horizontally. That's why photographs taken from different viewpoints can often add drama or excitement to a subject, or bring out an unusual aspect of it. You should aim to achieve this with architectural subjects - avoid the obvious and seek out unusual viewpoints for eye-catching results.

From a worm's eye view, even a garden shed can take on a towering presence, so take a look around to see if an ultra low-angle camera position leads to any bright ideas. From a basement view, even a modest building opposite can seem quite grand in scale. Those with a head for heights can try the opposite, as a lofty bird's eye view can also lead to some effective and graphic images. Eliminating much or all the sky from the composition by looking down is a novel start, and familiar subjects often take on an abstract form when viewed from on high.