PhotoHistory

THE BARNET BOOK OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Architectural Photography

By John H Avery, 1898

For the majority of amateurs, the photographing of architectural subjects presents considerable, and in many cases apparently insurmountable difficulties. Undoubtedly there are difficulties to be grappled with, but they are neither so formidable nor so numerous, but that any ordinary photographer with the average amount of common sense can master them, be he so minded.

Unfortunately there are a great many who take up photography as an amusement to whom the slightest departure from the ordinary routine presents a difficulty. It is however to the amateur photographer who desires to be able to portray architecture, be it either of our cathedrals, churches, historic mansions, or places of personal interest, and at the same time wishes to be able to do the subjects fair justice, that it is hoped the following particulars may be of some service.

To the beginner taking up this or indeed any branch of photography, size is of course a great consideration either from the weight carrying or pecuniary point of view. Another reason is the fact that young photographic workers have an idea that the smaller the plate, the easier the working. Sound though this reasoning may appear, nevertheless it is not entirely correct.

As a matter of fact all things being taken into consideration the larger the plate up to 12 x 10 or 15 x 12 employed the more rapidly will the worker progress.

Large plates, especially in architectural work, tend to make the operator more careful and conscientious when out with the camera; and even more so when in the developing room. So much more can be done with a large plate than with a small one; the use of a large plate moreover checks the common failing so prevalent among amateurs of rushing work and recklessly using plates.

Taking all things into consideration, I would strongly recommend the whole plate or 10×8 camera to the student taking up this branch of our art.

In selecting a camera, purchase a front extending one with bellows only slightly tapering. See that it has both rising and cross movement to the front, and also that the amount of movement in each case is a not too restricted one. Makers, unfortunately, do not give sufficient attention to this matter, the usual rise allowed being very slight whereas it should be at least equal to one-third of the longest way of the plate; even more than this is advantageous if it can be obtained. By the rise I mean the amount of upward movement that can be obtained, the lens being in the center before starting.

The cross-front should have a movement of about one-quarter of the length of the plate each way.

It may be useful to know that a little more rise can be obtained by the placing of the lens above the center of the cross-front.

The swing-back should be a practical one, working from the center, and capable of being swung either to or from the lens.

In many of the cheaper front extension cameras it is not possible to use the swing-back when tilting the camera down, only when tilting upwards. The swingfront, although not an absolute necessity, is undoubtedly a movement possessing great advantages, especially when the front is raised rather high, and one is using a lens of limited covering power. This movement should be acquired if possible.

The camera should possess double extension, focusing by rackwork, and having a reversing back so made that it will fit on all ways; it is then possible to draw the slide shutter out in any position.

In selecting a tripod stand purchase one of the kind known as the sliding leg variety, two-fold is better than three, giving greater sliding power. The top of stand should be as large as possible; this is preferable to a turntable, as this piece of workmanship is seldom rigid after a little use, and some difficulty is experienced when trying to spread the legs out rather wide. A two-fold Ashford stand is as good as any on the market.

In the selecting of suitable lenses a great deal will depend upon the inclination of the purchaser and the depth of his pocket. There is such a great variety upon the market at the present time, that to the young photographer the buying of the right lenses is somewhat a difficult problem.

The Zeiss series are undoubtedly the finest obtainable and for architectural work are unrivaled, possessing great covering power, good marginal definition, and in fact very fine definition all over the plate. The lenses of this series, although quite new, have met with great favor amongst architectural workers.

They work at an aperture of f/18, but I understand that they can be opened to f/16 and numbered on the f system. As regards their relative working capabilities they give about the same picture at f/32 that the majority of wide-angle lenses give at f/64.

The Goerz anastigmats are also another very fine series but do not give anything like the covering power of the last mentioned, and moreover are nearly double the price. Their special merit is that one can work at f/8 or f/11, and get a picture sharp up to the edges. Taylor, Taylor & Hobson also make a good wide-angle lens, possessing great covering power and at a moderately low price. With one of their nine inch lenses I have covered a plate 12 x 10 inches.

For a whole-plate camera, a useful battery would be a 5 inches, 7-1/2 inches, 9 inches and 12 inches; for 10 x 8, 7 inches, 9 inches, 10-1/2 inches and 14 inches. The three last in each case are the most useful.

Having selected the lenses, another very important point and one not to be decided hastily is the question of levels. Four are required, two circular and two ordinary. They are placed as follows: Fix the circular levels, one on the baseboard near the front of the camera, the other on the top of the back part of camera. The other two should be placed one on the side of the back part and the other on the back of camera just under the reversing back. Care must be taken to purchase slow moving levels as some work so quickly that it is next to impossible to level the camera with them, and as this is one of the most important points in the whole business, too much care cannot be taken in selecting and fixing the right kind of level.

The focusing screen should be ruled. This will divide the screen into inch squares, working from the center, and will considerably assist the photographer in “sizing his subject up.”

One other thing required is a set of clamps for binding the tripod legs together. These are, I believe, made by George Mason, of Glasgow, but any dealer will procure them for you.

The use of the right kind of plate constitutes a very important factor in the production of a satisfactory negative, particularly in this branch. Owing to the greater difficulty experienced in developing extra rapid plates, one generally sees the slower variety recommended. No hard and fast rule can however be laid down. To gain the best result, the plate must be suited to the subject.

For instance, in a very dark interior in which heavy black shadows predominate, many of them appearing much darker than they really are owing to their close proximity to a strong light, the quicker the plate used the better. This tends to break down the harsh contrasts, and at the same time the shadow detail is considerably better rendered.

On the other hand, working in a light interior or one which is flat, owing possibly to the large amount of light present, a slower plate can be used with advantage, and providing the exposure is sufficient the result will be all that is wished for.

Exteriors, particularly those in sunshine, should be photographed on a fairly quick plate. Slow plates, although good, do not yield nearly such good negatives, and unless very fully exposed give excessive hardness.

Taking this class of work all round, the quick plate is the more useful of the two and is undoubtedly the best for interior work, particularly such interiors as one meets in our English cathedrals.

For all subjects possessing strong highlights, such as windows, stained or otherwise, rapid plates combined with a suitable backing composition yield the best results, and I would impress upon the reader the fact that no plate should ever be placed in a dark slide without being covered at the back with a suitable composition for the prevention of halation.

Having obtained all the apparatus and materials, a very good subject to begin on and one giving good opportunities for the exercise of the various movements connected with the camera, etc., is a general view of the choir in some cathedral or church near at hand.

Having erected the camera, the next thing is to decide upon the most pleasing point of view. Speaking from my own experience I would advise the shifting of the camera either to the right or left, so that the center aisle is thrown slightly in perspective. This tends to give a much better and decidedly more pleasing effect to the resulting photograph. Of the two sides, moving to the right seems to be the best. The next item is the fixing of your ground line, this must be so arranged that it is quite clear, not obstructed by the backs of chairs, etc., which look very badly if left standing. Personally, I have generally found it necessary to move one or two rows of chairs so as to make the ground line myself.

In adjusting the height of the camera from the ground it is well never to exceed six feet. Five feet to five feet six inches is the most useful height. This will give a photograph in which the point of sight is the same as that of the person actually viewing the subject.

The placing of the camera on step ladders, chairs, or other supports, so as to overlook objects in the immediate foreground is a practice to be condemned, giving results very rarely pleasing and always bad from the sight seer’s point of view.

Having settled upon the point of view and the lens to be used, the student should then roughly focus the image. Notice the amount of subject on the plate and how much rise is required.

If having a camera such as described, the rise is easily accomplished and the camera can then be truly leveled up. Care should be taken over this as unless you have the camera exactly level you cannot expect a true picture. The bubbles of the levels should be exactly in the center, a little bit out will not do.

If it is found that the rising front fails to give the amount of subject required, recourse must be made to the swings, and it is here that the swing front triumphs over the swing back. To swing the back necessitates the shifting of the camera and tripod stand, and at once throws all the levels out of gear. Then comes re-focusing, etc. Sometimes this will have to be gone through five or six times before the desired amount of swing has been achieved. Owing to the re-focusing required every time the camera is moved it is very difficult, especially for the beginner, to rightly estimate the amount of rise required.

With the swing front the desired amount of rise is attained easily and quickly, and it can be worked with the head still under the focusing cloth, which is a great convenience. At the same time the baseboard and back of camera always remain level.

After gaining the correct amount of rise the sides of the subject should be considered. A golden rule to remember in this class of work is when you show a column, show the base of it, and always start the sides of plate with either half or three-quarters of a column. It looks very queer to see the bend of an arch wandering away out of the side of the picture without any apparent support. In arranging the sides it is usual to have a preponderance of subject on the opposite side to which the camera is, and to start that side with a column. Sometimes the subject fails to fit the plate nicely, in that case it is better to trim the print than to have uninteresting features present.

Of course a great deal depends upon the personal taste of the worker, what one man considers right another will rebel against; so although I advocate the use of columns to fill the sides of the plate it does not follow that that is the one and only method of photographing these subjects.

The student having carefully gone into these matters and arranged the subjects to suit his own satisfaction, the question of what point to focus for arises, and indeed in very dark interiors the question of focusing anything at all comes in. A method I use myself is to roughly divide the distance from the camera to the farthest object in half, and then to focus midway between the camera and the middle of the subject. Then stop down the lens until the most distant object is sharp. In practice I have found this rule so good that I can recommend its adoption for all subjects, and if carried out correctly will always result in the production of crisp negatives.

Exposure is not a very difficult thing to overcome. Arrange the focusing cloth well over the head, open the lens out to its largest aperture and remain under the cloth until you can see the image distinctly all over the plate. Then without uncovering the head proceed to slowly stop down until you can only just see the image all over the plate. Now using a plate of the rapidity of Barnet extra rapid, an exposure of ten minutes will yield a satisfactory fully exposed negative.

The varying exposures for other plates and stops are easily obtained. For instance you find the image can just be seen all over at f/32 and you wish to use f/64. The exposure will be forty minutes.

After having used this method for over seven years, and having invariably found it correct, I can unhesitatingly recommend its adoption, and if used with a little common sense the worker will seldom suffer from his plates being either badly under or over-exposed.

In photographing side aisles, transepts, or long rows of pillars, the worker is often troubled by the unnatural way in which the floor runs up. This is more especially noticeable when there are no prominent objects in the immediate foreground. A considerable amount of this can however be overcome by the lowering of the camera to about three feet from the ground. It is here where the sliding legs of the tripod stand become of service.

I would ask the student always to use the longest focus lens possible, consistent with the effect desired. The use of extreme wide-angle lenses has had a disastrous effect upon the public taste in respect to architectural photography due principally to the abortions one sees exposed for sale in the shop windows of our cathedral cities.

It should be seldom necessary for the amateur to use very wide-angle lenses. Of course, when it is a question of getting a detailed photograph in a confined situation a wide-angle lens is of great service. But it is when you see the whole length of a cathedral photographed on a whole plate with a five inch lens that the fault is so noticeable.

In photographing exteriors great care should be taken in the placing of the camera in a suitable spot. Try and so arrange it that the short side of the building does not run off too violently, indeed, it is often much better to leave out a portion of the subject rather than to cram the whole subject upon the plate.

General views are much better if photographed when there is a little sunlight. This gives to the subject a sharp, clean-cut appearance.

Details on the other hand are better if photographed in a subdued light and slightly over-exposed.

In focusing very high subjects some difficulty will be found in getting bottom and top in focus at the same time, especially if the lens be strained by either altering the back or front of the camera.

The best place to focus is a little way above the center of the screen, so that when stopped down the bottom of the building is quite sharp. A slight softness towards the top of the subject is scarcely noticeable in the final print.

The exposure of exteriors varies between three seconds at f/64 to ten minutes, and no correct guide can possibly be given. To the beginner a Watkins’ exposure meter will here be of some service.

If people are continually passing and re-passing stop the lens down to 7/64 and give as long an exposure as is possible; this will as a rule completely obliterate them. I have found that an exposure of from ten to twenty seconds entirely destroys all trace of moving objects.

Another method of making an exposure where there is much traffic past the building, and perhaps people standing about whom you cannot very well ask to move, is to break the exposure as many times as possible. Expose for two seconds, then wait until the traffic has somewhat altered; then give another two seconds and so on until finished. By this means I have been able to photograph buildings in the center of a crowded street or thoroughfare without a trace of anybody showing.

It is often interesting for the student to be able to successfully tackle the photographing of drawing-room, ball-room, or other apartments either of his own or friends’ houses. This work is considerably more difficult than it seems; and it is in such subjects that the taste of the operator becomes manifest. A great deal depends upon the point of view chosen and also upon the arrangement of the furniture.

If a long room, the camera should be placed at one end at about a quarter of the width of room away from one side and from the end wall. Keep the camera parallel with the sides of the room and use the sliding front so as to obtain more of the opposite side of the room. This will give the ceiling a true square appearance and the side of the ceiling will not run off with an unpleasing effect.

In some subjects it is perhaps necessary to include one or more windows. This can of course be accomplished by the aid of backed plates, but it is always better to block those particular windows out. This is usually done by covering the outside with black cloth or brown paper or pulling the sun blinds down. To get the effect of the windows you must remove the paper or cloth at the end of the exposure for a few minutes, three minutes being generally sufficient. By this means it is possible to show the landscape as seen from the window. Do not place your camera too high. Four feet to four feet six inches is quite sufficient. If the camera is higher you look over the immediate foreground objects, touching the ground past them, which is undesirable.

In arranging the furniture be careful that round or oval objects are not placed so that they appear on the edges of the plate which gives them an exaggerated appearance.

In exposing on all such interiors I would strongly recommend a very full exposure, the object being to flatten the subject. A great thing to study in this branch of work is the careful lighting of your subject. This can be largely varied by the use of the inside blinds, also by the sun blinds found outside many windows. It is not advisable to draw the blinds up to their fullest extent. By so doing you accentuate your cast shadows thrown by tables, chairs, etc. In fact, the softer the light in the room coupled with a corresponding exposure, the better the result. Another point to notice is that a comparatively dull day is often the best for interior work, the light being much softer and subdued. As a slight guide to exposure I would suggest that an additional twenty-five percent be added to that recommended for church work.