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Need help shooting walled houses
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Dec 14, 2016 08:26:29   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
I want to photograph the houses in some old Korean villages; most of them are walled houses like these. I feel like these photos lack depth. I think I want to show depth between the walls and the houses. Many of the places have very limited space between them there is not much room to maneuver. Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on how to take better photos under these conditions. I have a 16mm on a full frame. Thanks.


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Dec 14, 2016 09:01:18   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
waegwan wrote:
I want to photograph the houses in some old Korean villages; most of them are walled houses like these. I feel like these photos lack depth. I think I want to show depth between the walls and the houses. Many of the places have very limited space between them there is not much room to maneuver. Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on how to take better photos under these conditions. I have a 16mm on a full frame. Thanks.


Wait for someone to open their gate! Or ask if you can come on to their property for a photo of their home. Shoot down from a hill. With permission shoot from a ladder or taller building.

I wish my home were surrounded like that. It would keep the dogs in and salesmen and religious crackpots away from my front door!

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Dec 14, 2016 09:19:22   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
lamiaceae wrote:
Wait for someone to open their gate! Or ask if you can come on to their property for a photo of their home. Shoot down from a hill. With permission shoot from a ladder or taller building.

I wish my home were surrounded like that. It would keep the dogs in and salesmen and religious crackpots away from my front door!


I want to capture as much of the walls as I can as I feel like they are an interesting part of the houses. I'll consider carrying a ladder with me and will probably break down and do that. If I get too far back I get a lot of power poles and power lines in the photo that have to be taken out in PP or they spoil the photo. Still I don't fee like I'm getting the concept of distance between the walls and the houses shooting straight on.

When I was in Texas I had a silhouette target with a 4 inch six shot group in the face and one in the heart and wrote on it in 4 inch letters "357 Magnum, 6 inch barrel, 50 meters, windy day" time and time again I'd see someone come down the sidewalk and take one step towards the house and see my sign and turn and high-tale it out of there. :D

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Dec 14, 2016 11:12:13   #
Rongnongno Loc: FL
 
To create depth that is not really there you have one option... In PP reduce slightly the luminosity of what is in the background.

Also your images as presented are over saturated killing most of the natural existing depth.

Shoot raw for better potential when using PP.

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Dec 14, 2016 11:35:46   #
ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA
 
Elevating your camera would help. Put it on a monopod and hold it up so the camera sees partly the inside of the wall. Or, get a drone.

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Dec 14, 2016 15:37:56   #
Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska
 
waegwan wrote:
I want to photograph the houses in some old Korean villages; most of them are walled houses like these. I feel like these photos lack depth. I think I want to show depth between the walls and the houses. Many of the places have very limited space between them there is not much room to maneuver. Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on how to take better photos under these conditions. I have a 16mm on a full frame. Thanks.

Fabulous scenes, well worth the effort to get the most out of. The significant parameters are distance, which is related closely with the focal length of your lens, and the viewing angle of the camera, i.e. the height that you can shoot from.

You very reasonably want as much of those fences in the image as possible, but to emphasize the distance between the fence and the buildings means getting as close to the fence as possible. A wider angle lens would facilitate that. You have 16mm, which is quite wide for a full frame sensor, and while I'm not particularly aware of wide angle lenses, I don't know of any that are wider and not a fisheye design. You might just want to try a fisheye lens and see what you can come up with!

Otherwise as has been suggested by others a ladder will help. But I'd also look into an extension boom, and tethering the camera. You could probably manage shots from 15 feet up, maybe more.

I can just imagine some of the scenes you showed if they were shot with a fisheye lens and the camera were 20 feet in the air!

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Dec 14, 2016 16:21:20   #
G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK
 
If there is a corner shoot from there to give perspective. Gain height in some way or even move back and higher and create a landscape of several houses using a longer lens. Seeing the actual distance from house to wall is quite small you would need to be at almost 45 degree or higher to capture what you are wanting.

Hope you get a solution

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Dec 14, 2016 17:43:22   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
Rongnongno wrote:
To create depth that is not really there you have one option... In PP reduce slightly the luminosity of what is in the background.

Also your images as presented are over saturated killing most of the natural existing depth.

Shoot raw for better potential when using PP.


I have RAW versions, I have my camera set to store RAW and JPG at the same time. These shots are straight out of the camera. I understand in JPG there is no such thing as straight out of camera as the camera processes the JPG as well as the photo viewing software on my computer. I'll take a look at my camera settings and try the RAW versions to see if I can make them look better. Thanks.

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Dec 14, 2016 18:19:26   #
Rongnongno Loc: FL
 
waegwan wrote:
I have RAW versions, I have my camera set to store RAW and JPG at the same time. These shots are straight out of the camera. I understand in JPG there is no such thing as straight out of camera as the camera processes the JPG as well as the photo viewing software on my computer. I'll take a look at my camera settings and try the RAW versions to see if I can make them look better. Thanks.

Another way to make thing look 'away' is to use a wide-angle... It maybe too late but for the next time?

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Dec 14, 2016 18:30:41   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
ecobin wrote:
Elevating your camera would help. Put it on a monopod and hold it up so the camera sees partly the inside of the wall. Or, get a drone.


Number 2, 4 and 5 were shot with a tripod with the camera at about 6 feet high. #2 was pretty much straight on but #4 and #5 are a little downhill from the subject. I'll have to figure out how to get more reach and keep it steady. Thanks.

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Dec 14, 2016 18:58:01   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
Rongnongno wrote:
Another way to make thing look 'away' is to use a wide-angle... It maybe too late but for the next time?


I've got plenty of time/opportunity, I live here. The lens I was using is a 16-35 on a full frame, that is pretty wide. I can see on #2 and #4 where I could have used a wider angle and more height in the camera. Thanks.

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Dec 14, 2016 19:02:17   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
Apaflo wrote:
Fabulous scenes, well worth the effort to get the most out of. The significant parameters are distance, which is related closely with the focal length of your lens, and the viewing angle of the camera, i.e. the height that you can shoot from.

You very reasonably want as much of those fences in the image as possible, but to emphasize the distance between the fence and the buildings means getting as close to the fence as possible. A wider angle lens would facilitate that. You have 16mm, which is quite wide for a full frame sensor, and while I'm not particularly aware of wide angle lenses, I don't know of any that are wider and not a fisheye design. You might just want to try a fisheye lens and see what you can come up with!

Otherwise as has been suggested by others a ladder will help. But I'd also look into an extension boom, and tethering the camera. You could probably manage shots from 15 feet up, maybe more.

I can just imagine some of the scenes you showed if they were shot with a fisheye lens and the camera were 20 feet in the air!
Fabulous scenes, well worth the effort to get the ... (show quote)


My concern with going too wide with my current lens or using a fisheye is getting too much distortion. But I think I will invest in a lightweight three legged orchard ladder. They are plentiful and inexpensive around here. Thanks.

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Dec 15, 2016 05:20:04   #
Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis
 
waegwan wrote:
I want to photograph the houses in some old Korean villages; most of them are walled houses like these. I feel like these photos lack depth. I think I want to show depth between the walls and the houses. Many of the places have very limited space between them there is not much room to maneuver. Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on how to take better photos under these conditions. I have a 16mm on a full frame. Thanks.


My suggestion would be use a wide angle lens, won't help for these but may help in the future.

Reply
Dec 15, 2016 06:04:54   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
G Brown wrote:
If there is a corner shoot from there to give perspective. Gain height in some way or even move back and higher and create a landscape of several houses using a longer lens. Seeing the actual distance from house to wall is quite small you would need to be at almost 45 degree or higher to capture what you are wanting.

Hope you get a solution


I think I'm going to have to get a ladder. If I get to far back I will get a lot of power lines and poles that I think are distracting. I've tried to take them out with PaintShop Pro object remover but that leaves an ugly scar. The intention is to document the houses individually as opposed to a group. Here are a couple of photos that show the power poles and other distractions.


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(Download)

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Dec 15, 2016 06:08:21   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
Manglesphoto wrote:
My suggestion would be use a wide angle lens, won't help for these but may help in the future.


16mm on a full frame is pretty wide. I might try a fisheye but I'll have to get one first. I want to avoid distortion as much as possible.

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