An Eye for Detail - Architecture


	The sheer exuberance of this wisteria climbing up this grand old elevation caught my eye. I felt a vertical composition might suit this vertical form of gardening.

If you're fortunate enough to obtain a completely clear and unimpeded shot of the building of your choice, then by all means go ahead and make that sweeping statement on film. In my experience you often find yourself hampered by obstacles of one type or another between it and your preferred viewpoint - lampposts and telegraph poles, 'For Sale' or 'To Let' boards, or the seemingly ever-present scaffolding. You can also be foiled by weather conditions that conspire against you. It's at these frustrating junctures you might need to scale your ambitions down somewhat, and consider piecing together a series of shots made up of broader views backed up by smaller details to add variety and interest.

After all, our experience of a building tends to be dynamic rather than static. Walking around the outside followed by the interior of a structure provides a constantly changing tapestry of shapes, spaces and images, which is virtually impossible to encapsulate in a single photograph. Far better to build up an impression gradually, with detail views playing a key role in this emerging cumulative picture.


The advantage of looking up occasionally instead of straight ahead all the time is that you spot superb snippets of architecture, like this ornate clock or the incredibly detailed sculpted forms on this window ledge.

In many cases, small sections of a structure can say just as much about its style and design as a wider view, and their decorative or architectural merit often deserve special treatment. By focusing in on a narrow segment of the building, the resulting image concentrates the viewer's attention on that aspect, rather than allowing it to roam over a broader scene and possibly a myriad of distracting details. Small but significant details are invariably hard to discern in a long shot.

By curiosity, instinct and training, my eye tends to roam and scan as many aspects as possible of a building I'm interested in. That means I look at it normally from eye-level as I approach, but I also explore other viewpoints - how does the same structure look from pavement or basement-level, or from a higher vantage point, from up close or from a great distance. Out on the street most people don't even notice the things that are going on at or above first floor level, which I find astounding. Crane your neck back and all sorts of weird and wonderful details can be observed.

A powerful zoom or telephoto lens can be useful for higher details, though these optics are not always a perfect solution. Some elevated details and designs do not look at their best when shot from street level with an upward-looking perspective. One solution is to gain access to a higher vantage point, such as a car park, office building or roof opposite the subject, to provide a more horizontal view. Always ask permission where appropriate, especially in these security conscious times, or you might land in hot water.


	One detail makes this shot work - the tiny scale of the people compared to the massive height of the man-made architecture. To reinforce the contrast in size I bled the structure out of the top of the frame.

	Sometimes a small details says all you want to say about a building. These incredible horseshoe-shaped doors were the best feature of this Portuguese office, and I really liked the reflection of the busy street behind my viewpoint. On a more domestic scale back in the UK, I was attracted by the forms and razor edges of this immaculate thatched roof.

Another advantage of the detailed image is that it allows you greater control over the framing. You can include, and exclude, whatever elements are necessary to get your point across. That may mean showing a detail of the structure to reveal the apparent lightness or solid weight of construction, or homing in on a particular decorative item that catches your eye. Alternatively you can compose with a particular theme in mind, such as shape, colour or simply the way light falls exquisitely across an imaginative architect's creation.

Unlike internal details where the light is more or less predictable, exterior details are subject to a wider variety of lighting conditions. Variables such as the weather and the exact position of the sun mean that timing your shot is quite important to extract the best result. Perhaps a little rain would help your subject glisten in the available light? Some subjects such as three-dimensional relief look great with the light off to one side to give shadow and character, while others such as a complex shape require a softer light without the extra confusion of lots of shadows. Flat two-dimensional decoration requires even frontal lighting as a rule. Clearly a little research pays, so do your homework first and don't always take the shot when you first see it - there may be a better option in different lighting.

Rendering fine details with optimum clarity is an essential part of architectural photography, and for this purpose nothing rivals the quality produced by a large-format camera. The amount of information contained in a 5x4 inch transparency or negative is breathtaking, and can be enlarged to huge poster-size magnifications without loss of image quality. The reverse side of the coin is that each image is quite costly compared to smaller formats, and obtaining a decent telephoto lens to frame small and distant details can be prohibitive.

For many a medium-format SLR or viewfinder design makes an admirable compromise - still bags of image quality allied to more affordable optics. Even with the smallest 120 camera, using 6x4.5cm pictures, the quality leap over 35mm is significant, and there's no denying the impact a larger transparency has on the lightbox.

For the majority, of course, 35mm is more than adequate, and that's no surprise given its inexpensive hardware and the stunning quality of small-format films these days. It's not so long ago when a 400ISO colour negative gave pictures of considerable grain, but not anymore - you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish some modern fast films from their slower counterparts. The other huge advantage of 35mm is the ease of buying and using long telephotos, which are the prerequisite for detail work.

For precise or formal composition of a geometric shape such as a cathedral ceiling shot from a worm's-eye view, or exact placement of a building's parallel lines when viewing conventionally, a grid screen (lines etched both horizontally and vertically) ensures perfect alignment of any architectural arrangement. Many medium format SLRs offer this item as an accessory, and even some pro 35mm SLRs can have their screen switched by the manufacturers. On many large-format camera there's a subtle grid on the focusing screen as standard.

A whiff of railway nostalgia is evoked by this lovely wrought iron detail at a station in Essex.

An interior detail can be just as effective as a broader view. This is a small section of the large hall that houses the horseshoe museum in Lincolnshire.

		Two examples of a trompe-l'œil - a painted subject on a flat surface to trick the eye into thinking things are real. In each case here the deception is to add perspective and more depth than is really there.

A 200mm telephoto frames this graceful art nouveau architecture and cuts out extraneous clutter from the low street viewpoint.