Customer Reviews

How to Photograph Buildings and Interiors

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book would be more aptly titled, "Equiptment you could and should buy for photographing interiors". It's designed for amateurs who don't know anything about photography and want to be walked through the process of buying the right equiptment and then left in the dark as to how to properly use it. I know something about photography, and was looking for a book that would talk about photographing interiors and some exteriors. I was interested in uses of perspective, lighting to add drama, that sort of thing. The writer, once explaining the theory behind photographic principles, talks, not about how he was able to take successful pictures, but just that he did. He mentions the equipment he used and tells where he set it up, but for all his superflous text, leaves the reader with only the knowledge of how to re-create his shot in the same location under the same conditions.
It began as an interesting read, as he explained about what the pros use. Then he explained what the beginner could buy, but why it's not really as good. He showed a few examples of how lighting effects a scene and alters color, but in general, his "shooting by beginners on a tight budget" should be "shooting in these locations by beginners with several grand to spend on equiptment".
I was hoping for a book that talked about the uses of lighting, the uses of color, actually shooting something besides huge, open, commercial structures. This is my first return to Amazon.

I bought this book because I'm venturing more deeply into interior photography after many years of portraiture and architectural/travel work. This "updated and expaned" edition has simply tacked on a couple of cursory chapters on digital photography to a tired and outdated manuscript that needs reworking from top to bottom. You won't learn much here, with a lot of topics, almost all covered inadequately. The author appears to know whats he's doing (judging from the sample photos) but he's revealing very few secrets. I've learned a lot more through trial and error. If you're interested in interior lighting, for example, consider John Freeman's Lighting for Interiors. It's dramatically more useful.

This book is an introduction to architectural photography for professionals and talented amateurs who want to break into the field. It is also intended for architectural firms who would like to designate someone to function as an in-house photographer. The book contains chapters about how to work with a professional photographer, where professional architectural photos can be marketed, and the diary of an architectural photographer when working on a project. In addition, there are chapters on types of cameras, film, lenses, lighting, and where to buy equipment. Aesthetic considerations for architectural photography are covered in a few chapters. The organization tends to jump around a bit- -sometimes it seems like the chapters are presented in an almost random order. The book includes a short section of color plates and a glossary, in addition to the index.

This book is intended for people who already have some skill in photography. I like to take pictures of houses as a hobby, and I picked up this book with the hope of learning how to make my pictures look better. After reading the book, I am better able to spot some obvious mistakes in my house photos, but I didn't learn that much that will help me on the hobbyist level- -a book for beginners would have been better for my purposes. On the other hand, professional photographers may find much of interest in this book.

I bought this book about 2 years ago and it still is one of the best written books on architectural photography. The book is written with film in mind, but IT DOES go into some detail about digital photography.

To me, it disn't matter if it was film or digital because I shoot digital and was much more interested in the techniques and principles of architectural photography.

This book is a complete course. Just about every topic is covered to some extent. It does cover equipment used by the author and other professional arcitectural photographers and why. This topic is covered in good detail.

Other topics also incluse things like best persepectives for interior or exterior shots, architeural details (interesting), what publications look for, what potential clients really want and need (enginneers, architects, magazines, etc).

The techniques showed and discussed in this book are very useful, even in the digital age. As I write this (Oct. 2006)don't let the fact that this book was written with film mostly in mind deter you. It's about the techniques used that are more important. Transpareny film is still much perferred by all the major architectural magazines and large format cameras are discussed because that is what is being used in Professional Architectural photography. Having said that, I don't use large format cameras (don't know how). My clients are not as particular about correcting distortions as a magaine editor might be. But the proper lighting techniques, camera positions, equipment, etc. do matter. And this book just about covers it all.

This book is an easy read and well illustrated with plenty of photographs and diagrams.
It would be at an advanced level.

If you are looking for a book that tells you how to mimic shots, rather than to explain the key concepts behind shots in order to let you apply this knowledge in a way you prefer, then this book may not be for you. It's not really about "cookie-cutter photography".

I'm an experienced semi-professional photographer, with a combination of formal education and several years experience in film and digital photography. I've read many books on photography and this one is very good.

I also understand that the author is shooting more digital now and is a Canon Explorer of Light.

I hope this helps someone.

I returned this very outdated and sincerely, not up to calling it self "Updated and Expanded Edition" of a book. If you are looking for a HOW TO book for back when your parents where still young and the microwave oven was a fantasy to many, then this might be the history lesson you are looking for. But for anyone who is interested in learning how to shoot buildings with today's (2007) equipment, well you may want to look elsewhere.

This is a fabulous book. It's not an intro to photography, and it won't tell you how to, say, light interiors. Instead, it's strength is in the wealth of detail about the author's daily practices and how individual photos were made, his well-reasoned opinions about equipment, his advice for dealing with editors and architects, and his enthusiasm for the digital future. You'll need to know how a view camera works to get the most from the book.

This book is written when film was used as medium but now we are turning towards digital imaging so i found that most information was not applicable for my particular need. I was looking for more of interiors photography techniques after remodeling a house or redoing the interiors. Focus of this book was different than my interest. But lots of good info there.

Gerry Kopelow, in this book, gives lots of helpful hints about the way to shoot astonishing photos of Building and interiors, keeping in mind the main "client" of this kind of photos: Architects, Designers and so on. The most useful hints in this book are the ones about the way you can save money, correctly choosing lights, materials, compositions ... a very good book, both for the beginner and the pro.