Feedback Sought - Architechture/House Pics

[fokker]

Hi all, I am new here and am relatively new to the hobby of photography but I am very interested in it and try to spend as much time as possible practising. I joined here because I would like feedback on both my technical skills of taking the photo and on the artisitc/composition side as well. Be as harsh as you have to be, I just want to learn!

I took these photos in the weekend of my parents' new house. I have a problem with almost all my outdoor shots (and a lot of indoor ones too) suffering from patches of overexposure, which I can never seem to avoid without making the rest of the photo too dark to be of any use. Is it possible to avoid these bright patches or do they just comw with the territory? They really annoy me!

Please note these are all untouched in any editing software at all. I will get around to learning this side of things when I get a faster computer :meh:

 

[fokker]

Bump?

 

[SonnarSphere]

i like your pictures. (and i like also that house - very cool) maybe with 'patches of exposure' - shoot RAW, meter for the highlights and you will have some latitude in your RAW development software to lift some out shadow detail. additionally post-produce - curves + levels. if that still seems to blow the highlights, you could try dodge the mids and shadows with photoshop/gimp.

'view grid' where possible to check those vertical and horizontals. sometimes with handheld you'd be a degree or more out of true.

a tripod is worthwhile. also a circular polariser for glass. (use of the burn tool via an adjustment layer in PS/GIMP also can look good for glass).

without a shift-lens, you will have these converging lines as you frame upwards, but (e.g canon) modern lenses come with software to correct some distortion of native lenses. try and exclude some of the partial edges, decks, frames that are creeping into your shots. i think that's conventional..but it's entirely your call, subjectively.

 

[SonnarSphere]

i just re-read my reply and i thought to add..

until you have software to enhance your pics you will be forced to compromise
with exposure. even so..

by metering for the highlights - i dont know what cam you use but.. aim the center of the viewfinder ¦+¦ at the brightest part (or semi-bright..experiment to find a happy medium) of the subject and use exposure lock to retain this shutter-speed. and shoot like this using aperture-priority mode. (study the manual if you need to find this control) sorry if this irrelevant, i assume you use a dslr.

 

[Torus34]

Shoot, where possible, on overcast days.

 

[TriniPhototakeoutta]

Like #3 and like the architecture of the building as well. good compostion

 

[fokker]

Thanks for the comments!

Torus: I understand the advantages to shooting on overcast days, but I think the grey colour of the house would not look good with a grey sky behind it, besides I was only up there visiting for one day and it was a nice one despite being the middle of winter here in New Zealand.

Sonnarshpere: Thanks for your helpful tips. I have got my hands on a copy of photoshop and my laptop seems to be okay running it for some of the more simple tasks I have been experimenting with. I will need to spend some time getting to know how to use this software as I don't know about things like levels etc.

I am using a Canon 350D and the standard 18-55mm kit lens without any filters. I have just bought a CPL filter and a lens hood (I was holding my hand up around the lens to cut the glare for a few of those shots) which will hopefully make some improvements.

I have just started to use RAW files when taking pictures so that I am in the habit.

I know what you mean about the verticals and horizontals - I find it hard to get these right a lot of the time. Is the 'view grid' function something that I would find in the camera itself or in photoshop?

and when you saying partial edges do you mean where I have cut off the edge of a line out of the shot?

I think #3 is my favourite too

 

[SonnarSphere]

i used to use photoshop, but some years ago now - so im a bit hazy on it.
i use GIMP which is opensource. yes..it will be something like VIEW GRID, in one of the
main drop-down menus. also in-camera i would guess you have a menu option: grid on/off
oO(but i think for review rather than composing shot)
cool that you got a laptop and software now.

with the grid in photoshop or whatever, pick a vertical/horizontal - like an edge of a wall
or building, and rotate to align that (often only between say, 1-4 degrees). due to some
lens distortion and/or perspective; you'll probably be unable to get all lines in the picture
true. (this is why the real top-draw, architectural photography requires a camera with some
way of shifting the lens, relative to the film plain). try to identify the strongest lines in the
picture that 'define' it.

my comment about composition. yea- anything distracting - a bit of window or the edge
of the deck on the ground. i'd play around with cropping anything out like that from the
edges of the frame. a tripod is good for allowing considered composition.
but it's all good fun ain't it! :0)