apdawn Loc: New Orleans, LA

I've recently started working for a construction company shooting their homes and businesses during and after the building process. I'm looking for advice and tips for dynamic architectural photographs and a wide angle lense option for my Nikon D5100. Thanks so much!

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Google - lots of info - here is a sampling after putting in "Architectural Photography Tutorial" in the search bar...

http://digital-photography-school.com/architectural-photography/

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/top-architecture-photography-tutorials-18972

http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Architectural-Photography-Interiors/122453-2.html

http://www.fotoblur.com/blog/1/architecture-photography-tips

http://www.lightstalking.com/architecture-tips

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cameras-photography/tips/5-architectural-photography-tips.htm

Sorry - no help for a wide angle lens, but I'm sure Google will point you in the right direction -

Good Luck :)

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

What is your budget? An 18-200 f/3.5 is a good lens and will give you a range of options. Good luck.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Lots of good info in these threads: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/search.jsp?q=wide+angle+lens&u=&sr=true&s=1

An alternative mentioned by Gene51 in one of those discussions is to shoot multiple overlapping photos with a longer lens, then stitch them into a panorama. Less distortion and more natural look. A good free program for that is Microsoft's ICE.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Dawn, for inspiration, you can always google Julius Shulman. :thumbup:
SS

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

If you are documenting the building process, besides shooting from various angles and views, you might consider having a fixed point of view location and shoot the timeline of work.

For exterior views, you don't need an ultra wide lens if you are able to move back and around the building. 24 to 35mm will give you a good view with little distortion.

I know a lot of people swear by an ultra wide for interior shots, but you really have to be wary of the side edge distortions inherent in wide angles.

In my interior shooting, I tend away from that distortion by using a 16-35mm (on a full frame) at the mid to long range, if possible. You can also stitch a pano and use a more medium length lens.

When I shoot a small room, I will also use a T/S lens and do 2 shots. One shifted extreme left and one extreme right. There is no problem stitching these 2 together as there isn't any change or distortion between the 2 files.

OF course, a tripod is an absolute essential piece of gear for doing architectural, especially interiors. You easily can work on your composition on a tripod and think through what you are capturing.

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

A wide-Angle with 'Tilt & Shift' would be a usefull asset. I don't suppose you want to invest in a 5 x 4 mono-rail outfit. That would solve many problems you might encounter with a small digital camera.I have worked for construction companies, and in the main, they did not like fish-eye, and grossly distorted images, they prefered good perspective, undistorted images.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

To build on this, Pablo8 recommends a PC-E lens - a great idea. If you can't justify the cost of a Nikon, the Rokinon 24 mm F3.5 tilt shift lens is a decent alternative. You should have a superwide lens in your bag, but you should use it sparingly, because of its tendency towards unnatural perspective.

Be careful with superzoom lenses, they tend to have distortion which needs a good lens profile to correct in software. Also, the resolution is not going to be good enough for rendering crisp details especially in the corners and edges.

http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests/716-tamron182703563pzd?start=1

crimesc324 Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

for interior shots, I use a 10-20mm and for exterior, the same lens will work but I usually use my 18-270

amehta Loc: Boston

If you use a lens like the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 DX, you can use software like DxO Optics Pro to straighten the lines.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

How would you fix the front to back perspective distortion (expansion of linear perspective) that you get when you use a superwide lens? A comment I hear often from RE agents is that their prospects complain that the rooms look way bigger in the photos than in real life - which is an undesirable result of using superwide lenses.

HarryBinNC Loc: Blue Ridge Mtns, No.Carolina, USA

Since you have a 1.5 crop sensor, I would highly recommend the Nikkor 12-24 f4 lens - that has been my workhorse lens for architecture through my last 3 cameras - I still use it a lot with my D800. My other favorite lens is a 24/f3.5 PC lens that tilts and shifts. I don't think that will work on your D5100 though, because of interference with the viewfinder overhang.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

With the PC-E lens you still move the camera, otherwise you get parallax error. You have the choice of either shifting the lens then moving the camera laterally by the same amount, so the lens ends up in the same location, or you rotate the lens around its nodal point.

http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/s.nl/sc.27/category.17072/.f

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

Surprised no one has mentioned software that can be used to correct for a multitude of distortion problems as well as contrast, color, white balance and even focus. For interiors, a good multiple lighting setup can be very helpful.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Pay attention to light sources! Here's an excellent example posted by Bret a few months ago with different type light bulbs in different rooms and some good corrections in post processing.
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-165132-1.html