by Jim Zuckerman
Finding strong graphic design when you are shooting architecture and cityscapes is a lot easier than when photographing nature and wildlife. Architects are very much aware of beautiful lines and shapes as they design their buildings.
Indeed, architects work to incorporate strong graphic design in the doors, the windows, the facade, and the overall shape of the structure. Buildings built on a tight budget usually have to sacrifice the beauty of an elegant or captivating design, but many older works of architecture as well as modern engineering marvels are truly stunning. And they make our pursuit of beautiful graphic design easy.
Even though a building or skyline is graphically dynamic, the way you compose the photograph still has to be carefully considered. You don't want to include distracting elements like power lines, out of focus trees in the foreground, and unattractive shadows. I feel that too much concrete or asphalt is a problem as well. Don't include a lot of the street in the foreground so it dominates the picture. Our attention should be drawn to the lines of the building.
I like photographing architecture a lot, and I have thousands of examples I could show you that exhibit strong graphic design.
In the five that I've included here, notice not only the subject itself and the beautiful lines, but how I photographed it. Pay attention to what I included and what I didn't include in the frame.
Look at the camera angle I used, the time of day, note how I used a wide angle lens and a telephoto. All these things go into making a great shot of architecture with a strong graphic design.
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