Out of my comfort zone

I have been asked by our company to take some images of the work we have performed. The company I work for does metal panel cladding, metal roofs and metal siding. Not really in my comfort zone. Here are three images that I liked. Not sure if the company likes my style (if one could say I had one ...hehehe) ... thses images are supposed to be for our website, and critiques are most welcomed (how else am I going to learn?)

...here is #1, a car dealership

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8033/7...7fc2de38_b.jpg

#2, a hockey arena

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8447/7...25dd6aeb_b.jpg

and #3, a condo unit (weird, now it has a green tinge ... did not have that before i uploaded it to flickr ... in sRGB ... strange)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8461/7...15445ff5_b.jpg

shooting architectural subjects is best done with either a tilt/shift lens (nikon has two and there only $2,000+ each) or a mono-rail view camera that has tilt/shift/swing/rise and fall. With that said if you have a copy of Lightroom you can try to emulate the tilt and shift in the Lens Correction section under Manual -Transform to remove the various forms of distortion that is present in all the images.

If I lived near you I would have gladly met up with you and brought along my large format for you to have a to go with (you can still get colour film for it and processing is about $3 per 4x5 negative with digitizing extra at a pro lab).

I tend to agree with Ed. The fisheye look works well in in some situations, but I not sure about it for this commercial work. Perhaps you could rent a tilt-shift lens and give it another try.

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Originally Posted by asnow

I tend to agree with Ed. The fisheye look works well in in some situations, but I not sure about it for this commercial work. Perhaps you could rent a tilt-shift lens and give it another try.

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Yeah, asnow, I know a tilt shift would come in handy. But you know: they do not pay me for this, neither would they pay for the rental of a lens, so this is what they get. And they have not offered to pay for developing, either (on my own time -:shrug: ) so I am not going to go out of my way for this. I have fixed some of the pictures for my own sake with the perspective control filter in Photoshop, but I am loosing too much of the content. Was pretty tough to get all of the building in with my 12-24 ....

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Originally Posted by edG

shooting architectural subjects is best done with either a tilt/shift lens (nikon has two and there only $2,000+ each) or a mono-rail view camera that has tilt/shift/swing/rise and fall. With that said if you have a copy of Lightroom you can try to emulate the tilt and shift in the Lens Correction section under Manual -Transform to remove the various forms of distortion that is present in all the images.

If I lived near you I would have gladly met up with you and brought along my large format for you to have a to go with (you can still get colour film for it and processing is about $3 per 4x5 negative with digitizing extra at a pro lab).

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I appreciate this much, edG. And you are right, a tilt shift is the answer for this type of work. Actually, Samyang has one out, a 35mm one, that should be reasonably priced. So i am debating, since they come in handy for landscape work as well. Offers incredible sharpness on a longer focal plain. I suppose I have to save my quarters for quite a while, cause I am also looking at a D800e ... but that is also a dream at this time ...

Matt. I looked up just for reference (and I wouldn't mind renting one out sometime myself to give it a try), at Vistek here in Toronto a 17mm F4 Canon Tilt-Shift is $60 for the weekend. This is a $2700 lens. A quick scan (and I'm not familiar with Nikon lenses) didn't seem to show a tilt-shift.

I'm sure a a rental in Calgary would be a similar cost.

Seeing as they are not paying you, this would only be for curiosity and trying something new I guess, if you chose to do it.

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Originally Posted by asnow

... I'm sure a a rental in Calgary would be a similar cost.

Seeing as they are not paying you, this would only be for curiosity and trying something new I guess, if you chose to do it.

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Vistek has a lens in Edmonton, and the Camerastore has one in Calgary. 40 bucks a day. But alas, why would I do that if they are not refunding me the money from my workplace? Today I suggested that to them, and they said: the leaning images are just cool .. leave it .....grin ... I know architects would throw them all out ...

To help avoid the fisheye Matt ... try to shoot from further back so your subject is further away from all the scenes borders. That's where the most distortion is. Then crop in later.

The last shot is good to go if you ask me :)