Help the portrait guy shoot some buildings

[srwatters]

Of course since I'm the photographer at work, I've been asked to shoot photographs/panos of some of the company buildings. They will be used for print and web. I went out this morning early to survey the site and orientation and here is what I found:

- Building one is 520K square feet and is situated N-NW on the long side where I need to shoot. I've been asked to shoot from both corners and the middle of the long side.

- Building two is 820K square feet, but I'll be shooting the short side of this one and that side runs parallel to the long side of building one.

I have the opportunity to shoot from an elevated position across the street on a hill that runs the length of both buildings and provides a nice level vantage point. Here are a couple of test shots from approximately 8:30AM this morning.

Building one:




Building two:




Now the questions:

Given the direction of the sun (camera left and behind a little), is this a good time and angle to approach these buildings from?

When shooting for a pano of buildings this large, would it be better to stitch together multiple shots from parallel shooting angles rather than rotate about a single point?

Any other pearls of wisdom?

I do have access to a survey grade GPS device and could use that to set my shooting position to within 1 meter to do parallel vantage points along the long building.

Thanks for any help!

[MicWayWal]

Scott,

You may not get a lot of responses here. This is a showcase thread to show off what you have done.

[venchka]

Nope. It's photo tips.

Scott, so far what I see are technically correct but boring photos. I guess these are just sketches to help you figure out how to do it.

I would like the answer to the pano question too. I tried an interior pano from a single location with panning and got ZIP! that I can stitch together. My lens was too wide-close to 90 degree FOV and I only shot 3 frames. Wrong! For my next attempt, I'm thinking a normal to slightly wide lens in vertical orientation and a lot of frames. Better still would be a series of overlapping frames parallel to the building and moving the tripod. Assuming the software can handle that.

Shoot early. Shoot late. It's all about the light. Get closer. Then get closer. Level the camera. Or level the tripod head then clamp the camera on it. Level the center column and level the head front to back and side to side.

Beg or borrow a bigger camera. Nothing looks better than medium format or 4x5 for buildings.

[boxofrocks]

Not to sound sracastic, but if it's a paid gig, you may want to do it from the air. You can get an hour of "flight instruction" for about $100, and they can take you over it--probably fairly low depending on the area.

I did that once in Florida on a big boring building like this, and it worked out great.

[srwatters]

There will also be aerial work done and that's not what the intent is for the ground level images. I'm thinking that MF would be much better because at f/16 I'm losing resolution due to diffraction.

I may just suggest that he hire a professional for this job. It's just too far out of my realm. I'm better at this:

[adirty1]

you might want to try dusk/night for this location. The sun is in the correct spot to get a really nice color in the sky and along the building.

[MicWayWal]

Originally Posted by venchka

Nope. It's photo tips.

It was in City Life last night when I responded. Or was I up too late?

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by MicWayWal

It was in City Life last night when I responded. Or was I up too late?

I moved it early this AM. You're not imagining it

[MicWayWal]

Good to know I am not going crazy.
Wish I could help you. I am just a portrait guy like you.

[venchka]

Rats! I would almost volunteer the services of The Beast & The Big Dog & Miss Goldie*. Alas, I'm too far away.

(* a.k.a. Pentax 6x7, 4x5 Speed Graphic, 4x5 Zone VI with assorted lenses)

[venchka]

I'm really glad that Michael and I aren't crazy!

Scott, treat the gig like an informal enviornmental portrait session.

Polarizer! The camera will record reflections that your eyes filter out.

Get closer.

[Graydon]

in reference to thinking about taking shots parallel to the building for stitching... I would not suggest trying. There isn't a software made that I've found that can support that type of stitching... and while some get close, it requires extensive work in photoshop playing with layers and blending. (it can be done though... http://www.connorphotography.net/orthographic.html or google "orthographic pano" )

What can be done more easily though is to back up away from the building and get a little elevation (to clear shrubs, fences and occasional traffic) and shoot a pano with a telephoto. You'll still need to setup and rotate around the nodal point of the lens for best results. If you are too close to the building and do a pano, you'll end up with a flat building that looks curved... and if you use some perspective correction to fix, the distortion at either end of the image can get gruesome.

Getting up in the air would be good.

You could also use a scissor lift or cherry picker to gain some elevation. I think that would work good for something from one of the corners... get about midway up and shoot down the side, while picking up a portion of the adjoining side.

Getting up on a lift also will help if you don't have a wide enough lens to get the entire height of the building while pointing level with the camera.

[venchka]

One of these..............

[Graydon]

I want one of those so badly some days.

[venchka]

You can rent them. Delivered and picked up when your finished.

I think a pair used in some Sci-Fi death duel scene would be awesome.