Doors Open Denver - 2013

This year I decided to just see one venue; the Elie Caulkins Opera House in Denver.  This venue was remodeled a few years ago, and the architect did a great job.

Sorry to say, the opera house itself was off-limits this day, so I took some photos of the very nice lobby area.  This is a multi-level lobby, with bridge walkways, and a very large mural of Colorado history.

Thanks for taking a look.

Greg Sprenger
Constructed Images LLC
www.constructedimages.net

The Treehouse - Highland Haven - Evergreen, CO

Highland Haven is a B&B located along Bear Creek in Evergreen, CO.  It has a variety of rooms, most quite unique.

My wife  and I recently won a night's stay at their luxury suite called the Treehouse.  It was designed and built by Gail Riley and her husband Tom, based on their fascination with treehouses.  It contains lots of very interesting history and graphics related to treehouses.  It is a free-standing building, with various "tree" features.  The accommodations are built on the 2nd and 3rd story of this structure, and therein lies the treehouse reference.

I am always on the lookout for interesting architectural spaces, and this was certainly one.  I offered to photograph the Treehouse for my own portfolio, and provide the images for their use as well.  So here are the images I captured in a long afternoon and early evening of shooting.  I hope you agree it is quite a unique space.

Thanks for reading.

Greg Sprenger
Constructed Images LLC

3D Photography - Is it finally coming of age?

3D photography has been around for many years.  The essential part of it is taking 2 photographs at the same time, with 2 cameras separated by about 2-1/2", which is the average width of adult eyes.  This provides 2 images, which differ just a bit.  Then, you place one image in front of each eye, and you will then see "depth" in the set of 2D photographs. 

The historical problem has been how to get those 2 images in front of your eyes separately.  In the old days, you would use 2 small prints, with a separating paper between them.  More recently, we've combined the images into one image, and used special glasses.  The glasses are either polarized to mate with polarized prints, or different colored filters are used to mate with blue and red-colored sections of the print.  We even have lenticular prints, with the two photographs"separated" into thin alternating strips below a lenticular sheet lens.  This creates different images for each eye, as we look through the lenticular sheet, creating a number of graphic options, including 3D. 

Here is an example of the separated color image.

While all these attempts have been successful in their day, over the last few years science has offered newer methods.  With the creation of lasers, which use monochromatic light (light of one wavelength), the invention of holograms now offers new methods.  Holograms have been around for a number of years, with their use on credit cards likely being the most popular use.  The latest holograms offer 3D viewing without the need for special glasses, or even monochromatic lighting.  However, the hologram images haven't been created from photographs; up to now.

With the advent of 3D modeling software, the capability now exists to convert a set of photographic images into a 3D model.  Once we have that, there are now proprietary laser printers that can create a hologram from that 3D data set.

I'm investigating this newly developed capability for architectural photographs.  Of course, now with 3D computer modeling, most of  architecture design is done in the 3D computer world, but the finished building can only be captured in 2D now.   I think the idea of seeing 3D in a photograph of a COMPLETED building would be of great value to architects and others in the building industry. 

So, for now, stay tuned.  I'll update you with any positive news in the coming months.

Thanks for reading,

Greg

Mission San Jose - San Antonio

My wife and I recently spent a few weeks in Texas and New Mexico, over the Christmas holidays.  During that trip, we stopped by Mission San Jose, in San Antonio.
I used to live in California, and visited a number of the missions there; this one is similar in timeframe and architecture.

Below are some images my wife took while we were there.  I think she is coming along as an architectural photographer.

Thanks for taking a look at her work.

Greg Sprenger
Constructed Images LLC

Better Interior Photography using P&S cameras

I recently sponsored a joint event with Creston, an environmental controls company with a branch in Denver.  This event was targeted at interior designers.  My presentation focused on how to create better interior design photographs, using a few simple techniques that interior designers could use.

First, I provided some characteristics of good interior photography.  I offered some examples.  Then some camera suggestions to make it easier to utilize the techniques I would offer later.

Two techniques were presented;  Fill flash and HDR.

Fill flash is a technique to use the camera's flash to fill in shadows, and balance the lighting.  This gets a bit tricky, since many interiors have a mix of tungsten light and daylight coming through windows.  Here are a couple of slides from the presentation showing that.

Both of these photo series show how flash fill can provide better lighting to the dark shadow areas of the room.

I then moved on to the most powerful photography technique to come along in a long while:  High Dynamic Range photography or HDR.  This technique combines different exposure captures of the room, and combines them using software into one image, with proper exposure sections from the different captures.  The real intent of the technique is create a photograph that looks more like what your eyes see.  Here's a condo I photographed a few months ago:

Here you can see that the circled sections of each of the captures were used in the composite HDR image below.  So we ended up with a better exposed kitchen, along with the view out the window.

Here is the same kitchen as above, comparing the fill flash with the HDR composite:

The HDR image looks pretty good, and eliminates the flash artifact on the refrigerator door.  These HDR composites were made post using computer software.

Well, the amazing thing now is that HDR can be done automatically IN THE CAMERA now.  Using a camera setting, new P&S cameras will take a quick sequence of 2-3 captures of different exposures, then blend them together in a split second, to create an HDR composite that looks quite good.    Here is an example:

Note the light fixture and view out the windows;  we get detail in both now using the HDR blend.  And the amazing thing is that the children in the lower left are still sharp in the HDR blend!  HDR is an amazing thing!

Now, you may ask why would I show interior designers how to take better photographs themselves?  Doesn't that take business from me?  Well, not really.  Many (most?) interior design projects don't really have the budget to afford a professional photographer, so that really isn't business I'm losing.  And really, we professional photographers just like good photography, rather than the "good enough" photography that seems the standard these days on the web.  And maybe they'll think of me when they have a bigger project.

I think the presentation was welled received by those in attendance.

If you want a copy of the full presentation, just email me;  I'd be glad to send it to you.

greg@constructedimages.net


Again, thanks for your reading and interest.

Greg

Moire in Architectural Photography

I suspect most of you don't have a clue what "moire" is.

Well, it is a result of the digital age and digital cameras.  As most of you know, photosensors in most digital cameras are made up of pixels, light gathering spots on a sensor.  Pixels are usually arranged in a rectangular pattern.  (FYI, Fuji has a history of creating pixel arrangements that are not rectangular, with some diagonal, and a recent camera that has a "random" arrangement.)

When the subject has a repeating fine pattern, such as some fabrics, this pattern can interfere with the pixels in the camera sensor, creating images with strange patterns.  These image patterns are called moire.

Recently I had my first real experience with moire.  I was photographing an iPad screen, which was used by an environmental control system.  As most of you know, computer displays are also made up of small pixels, in a rectangular pattern.  As I photographed the iPad screen, I couldn't see the moire well on my small camera display, but when I got back to my office and examined the captures on my computer display, OMG, was it bad!  You can see it here, especially in the detail view.  I have circled the section of worst moire.

Original with obvious moire

Detail of the moire

I attempted to fix it, in Photoshop, using a few standard techniques.  However, because the image contained only moire in the right side of the image, none of them worked well.  I had to reshoot the screen.

The reshoot had to focus on eliminating the interaction of the pixels on the iPad with the camera pixels.  I also had to eliminate any reflections, which had other complications.  The easiest way to eliminate the moire was to tilt the camera, and orient the 2 sets of pixels at a large angle.  Sure enough, this worked great.

Here is the 2nd image:

Final image, captured at an angle

Now, you can see that I have an extra step in post-production; I have to straighten out the iPad.  Since we have a moire-free capture, tilting it back straight keeps it moire-free.

Straightened moire-free final image

So this solution was easy.  And now I'll be much more conscious of that nasty beast called moire.

Thanks for reading.

Greg Sprenger
Constructed Images LLC
www.constructedimages.net
greg@constructedimages.net

People in Architectural Photographr - Fad or New Direction?

Historically, people were NOT included in architectural photos.  Most of the photographers in the past, including Julius Schulman, did not include people.  Schulman even did much of his work in B&W, to
eliminate the element of color.  His work was a cross between beautiful images and documentary of those buildings and rooms.  He knew that people can be a distracting element in a photo, where the intended focus is on the building or room.  Clothing fashion styles also date the photo, preventing its use beyond a decade or so.

However, the trend of including people continues.  Many architects want to highlight HOW the building is used by people.  After all, that is the function of buildings; to be used.  People can also show the scale of interior rooms.  Blurred people have been used for many years.  Some photographers, such as Iwan Baan, go so far as to suggest that buildings are "backdrops" for the people; even though his buildings are elegantly photographed.  Architectural Digest photographers will include even pets at times. 

Norman McGrath, a well respected architectural photographer, suggests that it may be best to photograph with and without people, to offer clients the option, depending on use.  That is generally how I approach my work, when possible.  A recent client wanted mostly images without people for the exterior, but wanted normal users of the building included for the interiors.  The exterior images also included some people, to "drop in" as needed via Photoshop. 

Here is a set of recent images from a university shoot, of a lecture hall.  Which do you prefer?

The additional complication of people in the photographs is the need for model releases, and even perhaps model fees.  Any recognizable face requires a release, so that the photograph can be used by the client as they wish.  The images above, a recent day at the Colorado School of Mines, required almost 50 releases for students in the photos.  That added quite a bit of additional work on that shoot.

I think that the trend will continue; people add a dynamic element to architectural photographs.  Let's just make sure that the architecture doesn't "fade into the background".

Greg Sprenger
Constructed Images LLC