Welcome back to another week of architectural photography. I want to highlight that when I first created this community, I was set on helping photographers of all skills and abilities in growing towards whatever they considered “the next level”. I had made friends with a number of photographers, primarily through photowalking and old photo sharing site called Zooomr. Some ended up being local (read: SoCal), and the rest were scattered around the US and even a few in other countries. Photowalking gave me the greatest opportunity to interact with different leveled photogs. As I reached out to learn something new from photogs I considered better than me, or at least more advanced, I learned how we all share our skills. As I grew, others started asking me for advice. And a concept began to form inside me.
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsNow, over time I began to realize that we also learn from those with less experience, lower priced gear, and even less artistic conceptions. This was when I think I became a real photographer, when I realized that my photographs, my art, wasn’t just me pressing the shutter button. Nor was it the 2D image I had conceived. It was truly the result of all who’d helped me grow, applying what they’d taught me. I was standing on their shoulders, creating art that they too contributed in creating.
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These challenges are sometimes difficult. Sometimes you know what you’re going to do, as you’re reading the theme’s post. For those of you looking for a severe challenge each week, I’d better not see you posting a lazy shot on Sunday afternoon. If you want to be challenged, THEN CHALLENGE YOURSELF to create a piece of art that meets the challenge’s theme, AND pushed you to your limits. Then hit one of the group pages and encourage all those other photographers shooting with limited skills, or equipment.
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsOK, on with the theme. Symmetry. I’d like to see a simple and clean shot of the exterior of a unique building. Please hear that last part, a unique building. I’m a sucker for entropy, so anything old and falling apart works. But there are other buildings too. Maybe even tell us your story about why this building is unique to you.
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A secondary part to this challenge is more about the processing part. The truth is that most of us will line up our shot, probably on a tripod, and shoot away. And without realizing it, our shot will be a little distorted. Several of my example photos are great examples. To challenge yourself further, bring your image into a photo processing app and simply repair the distortion. The article below explains what I’m talking about best:
“807/809”, by Trevor Carpenter
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsThat article will also walk you through fixing the distortion, or perspective, in Photoshop as the title says. I know there are plenty of us who can’t use Photoshop, or choose not to. I’m one of you. I use Pixelmator, a much cheaper app for the Mac. Others of you use GIMP. If you’re using something else, I can’t directly help you. Consider GIMP, if purchase price is a concern. GIMP is free, and quite good. I used it on an off for a few years. Here’s a tutorial for fixing the distorted perspective with GIMP. Side note, for those of you shooting these challenges with your iOS devices, there’s an app for that! It actually fixes perspective distortion.
“Where much is done…”, by Trevor Carpenter
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In Pixelmator, and almost all other photo apps, select your image with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M). Switch to the Move Tool (V). Next you right click on the selection and choose “Transform”. Right click again and choose “Perspective”. In other apps, you may have to choose Distort, and do it one side at a time. The last step is grabbing one of the top corners and pulling it wider, until your image’s perspective is repaired. If the building is on the taller side, you may need to stretch the whole thing taller, to fix it a bit.
One tip I’d like to point out, make sure that you give yourself enough width, surrounding your subject. Ultimately you’ll be stretching your image, and you’ll want some excess to crop out.
The rules are pretty simple:
- Post one original photograph (Your Image) shot each week per theme posted on this blog to Google+, Facebook, or Flickr (or all three). Tag the photo #photochallenge.org or #photochallenge2015.
- The shot should be a new shot you took for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
- The posted image should be a photograph, not a video.
- Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2015 Photo Challenge is fun and easy.
FEATURED IMAGE: The Wrath of the Norse Gods, by Trey Ratcliff
Canon RF16mm F2.8 STM Black
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