Architectural Photography

Challenge #14 in the Prime Subjects of Photography series. Hosted by Mark Scott Abeln.

Challenge has finished

Submit a photograph of a building.

Show full rules

Announced:

Thursday, 4th August, 2011 (GMT)

Submissions:

Thursday, 11th August, 2011 – Wednesday, 17th August, 2011 (GMT)

Voting:

Thursday, 18th August, 2011 – Wednesday, 24th August, 2011 (GMT)

Processing rules:

Minimal post-processing. This challenge is mainly an exercise in straight photography.
Naturalistic HDR and exposure blending acceptable.

Capture date rules:

No restrictions.

Additional rules:

Submit a photograph with a building as your primary subject.
Use the composition of the building itself as a guide to your own composition.
Dawn and dusk are classic times of day for architectural photography, especially when the light of the sky precisely balances artificial lighting in the windows of the building.
Perspective distortion can be particularly displeasing. Keep the sensor plane of your camera precisely vertical; you may have to shoot from a greater distance, or use a wider-angle lens, or shoot from a higher position.
Camera tilt will look good if you are shooting up the side of the building.
Perspective control lenses and tilt-shift camera movements are classic methods of keeping the vertical lines of the building vertical in your image; alternatively, you can correct for distortion in post-processing.
A high camera position can look particularly good, especially half the height of your subject.
Note: a future challenge of this series is architectural interiors.

Maximum number of entries per user:

Maximum number of entries in challenge:

Not restricted

submission
phase has

ended

481 entries

voting
phase has

ended

6592 votes

Voting results: 481 entries Slideshow of 34 30 Page: 4 Rows:

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30 / 34

Sample entries

These entries were provided by the challenge host(s) as samples and cannot be voted on. Upload sample image.

Saint Louis State Hospital, in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA - view at night

Downtown Clayton, Missouri, USA, at night 2

Challenge comments

Total comments: 9

Disappointing results. Follow the rules and you're screwed.

"Submit a photograph of a building." - clear as daylight. Not photographs of small parts of the exterior, interiors, stairs, windows etc.
"minimal post processing" - I thought the goal was to make the photos as realistic as possibe. if so too many went overboard and were rewarded for it.

2 upvotes

So, by following your processing rules and additional rules - my highest placing entry was 245th.

What does "Submit a photograph of a building" qualify as? Just another suggestion? 191st place looks like a bleachers. 184th place could be origami for all I can tell.

But those who broke the rules - say using HDR to the point of 'no way on earth is this realistic', or entering images I can't even tell if they are actually a building (like the winner), or excessive post processing to force something that isn't there - isn't a composite picture excessive pp?

At least one of the completely unrealistic HDR entries is in the top 90.

Please explain what part of all this crap (that gets you a higher ranking) is an exercise in 'straight photography'.

Rules are rules - put your 'suggestions' in the comments.

1 upvote

Notice: I've gotten a number of complaints about images of architectural interiors. These are acceptable for this challenge, even though I do plan on having a future challenge dedicated to interiors.

0 upvotes

Far too many entries! To do a decent job of voting on such a large set of photographs would take hours. Surely it would be more sensible to limit the number of entries, and then run the challenge again in a few weeks time?

1 upvote

Joe,

In dpreview's voting system, any given voter can rate as few or as many images as they want. They use Bayesian scoring which takes account of voting irregularities. You can vote for as few images as you please, and it won't affect the validity of the final ranking. Viewing and voting on these images ought to be an enjoyable pastime and not a drudgery!

I typically want these challenges to appeal to a broad audience and to allow wide participation. I know that I get frustrated when a desirable challenge fills up quickly.

Remember, it isn't necessary to vote on each image.

0 upvotes

Yeah, but I want to at least look at all the images properly, not just flick through the thumbnails. It's the looking that takes the time, not registering a score...

1 upvote

I agree there were too many entries. In order to give a fair chance to all and vote fairly took at least several hours.

0 upvotes

So, the vertical sensor plane rule is more of a suggestion?

0 upvotes

What I have under the "Additional rules" sections are mainly hints for beginners. There is not enough room for these in the challenge description section. Feel free to ignore these suggestions if you think that you can get a better image otherwise.

0 upvotes

Total comments: 9

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