Building Photography by Sarah Fox

Building photography (architectural photography) is a field I find very exciting. That's probably because my father was an architect, and I grew up in the commercial building industry. I have an almost pathological reverence for great building and regard them as almost having souls. In fact I consider buildings the very embodiment of that which is noble in mankind. It is my love of buildings that helps me to be an excellent architectural photographer. However, being a good (or excellent) architectural photographer requires more than enthusiasm for the subject matter.

One of the trickiest aspects of interior photography (which is the bulk of architectural photography) is the lighting, particularly when reflective surfaces are visible. Most photographers, even professionals, achieve their lighting with direct, on-shoe flash, which created harsh shadows, hard reflections, blacked-out backgrounds, and uneven/unnatural illumination overall. Although I could mount up my Canon 550EX and do the same, I prefer using indirect, multiple-source, off-shoe lighting, triggered with Wein infrared slaves. The workhorses of my outfit are four Vivitar 285hv units -- powerful strobes with few bells and whistles, celebrated by professionals the world over. I position these units inconspicuously to achieve even lighting throughout the interior. Finally, using a technique I maintain as a trade secret, I am able to control surface reflections (e.g. in bathroom interiors) to render a very warm and natural appearance.

Another critical factor, at least in interior photography, is that of the optics that are used. Most interior shots are taken with ultra-wide angle lenses are notorious for distortion and chromatic aberration, as well as ghosting, poor peripheral sharpness, and vignetting. They are also very "fussy" in the manufacturing process, and many, if not most, wide angle lenses fail to meet specifications. A photographer must know how to research wide angle lenses and test them for image quality. My lens of choice for interior photography is the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG Aspherical HSM, which is the widest full-frame rectilinear lens ever made (tied with an older Voigtlander 12mm prime that is of lesser optical quality). This thousand-dollar lens, in Sigma's professional lineup, is an engineering marvel. In fact it could probably only have been developed by Sigma, which pioneered the wide zoom when all other manufacturers thought it was optically impossible. The design is so revolutionary and so important that it was awarded the coveted EISA lens of the year award in 2004-2005. That's because when mounted on a full frame camera, this lens makes it possible to photograph all four walls of a room with little or no distortion and little or no chromatic aberration. Unfortunately Sigma is notorious for its quality control issues, which are especially apparent for an ultra-high specification lens such as the 12-24. (Even Canon and Nikon struggle with quality control on these sorts of lenses.) There are very few copies of this lens that even come close to living up to specifications. After rigorous testing of several copies of the lens, I managed to find a rare one that is of exceptional quality. Compared with my (professional) Canon 17-40mm L lens at 17mm, it achieves less distortion and chromatic aberration, equivalent absence of vignetting, almost the same sharpness, and slightly more ghosting (to be expected in a wider lens). In other words, this particular lens (i.e. the copy that I own) could easily be a coveted Canon L lens. No other photographer can shoot a wider undistorted picture than I can, because the equipment doesn't exist, and few other photographers can match the optical quality I can achieve.

I bring many strengths to architectural photography, including enthusiasm, technique, experience, and superb equipment. My work is far more labor intensive than what would be done by the typical real-estate photographer, but the results are far superior. My work is targeted towards higher-end residential and commercial sales and rentals, hotels and resorts, and the home improvement industry.

Let me bring my excitement for architecture and photography to your project. Please contact me to set up an appointment to discuss your architectural photography needs.