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The complete guide to modern photography
When you’re shooting architecture, start with a wide establishing shot and then work your way in to isolate the details.
Marcus Hawkins
Photographer and writer Marcus is a former editor of Digital Camera
Shoot the urban landscape with your camera
From skyscrapers and street signs to reflections and symmetry, there’s a lot to train your lens on in the city. Here are some tips to make the most of your time
Taking pictures in cities and towns can be incredibly satisfying, thanks to the architect-designed nature of the place. Clean lines, symmetry, bold colours and the contrast between the old and the new can all be used to build interesting scenics, abstracts and vignettes of urban life. You don’t need a lot of kit, either. A standard zoom lens – such as 24-105mm on a full-frame camera, or the APS-C equivalent – will give you just enough reach at either end of the scale to capture everything from wide skylines to building details. Add an ultra-wide lens and a longer telephoto lens to expand your creative options, although travelling light with a single zoom will be easier on your shoulders and make it easier to be more spontaneous rather than spending time considering which lens would be better for a particular subject.
In some situations it can be a little daunting to bring your camera up to your eye if there’s a risk of security guards approaching to see what you’re up to – or even attempt to prevent you from taking pictures. If you’re on public land, then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, but it’s worth bearing in mind that a lot of private property isn’t clearly marked. It can sometimes be hard to discern where the division between the two lies, and know when you’ve literally crossed the line. With this in mind, it pays to be cautious and courteous, but confident when you’re sure of your rights.
Take a new look
Which lenses are well-suited to city scenes?
You can cover a lot of ground in an urban setting using nothing more than a standard zoom lens, but a telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens will enable you to capture images that go beyond the normal views.
A telephoto lens is perfect for picking out details and avoiding some of the visual clutter that city settings are notorious for. Something in the region of 70-200mm or 70-300mm for a full-frame camera, and the equivalent on a camera with an APS-C sensor is ideal. Because you have to shoot from further away with a telephoto lens, it creates a compression effect, where background details look closer to foreground details. This is useful for creating densely packed city scenes.
Wide-angle lenses are great for making tall buildings appear even more towering. Get close to a subject, tilt the lens up and embrace the distortion these lenses create.