Using Reflections in Architectural Photography

Video Transcript

"In this segment we are going to talk about using reflections in architectural photography. Now this is a photograph of Philip Johnson's classic glass house in New Canaan Connecticut. And this was designed in nineteen forty nine, sold to the national trust, owned by the National Trust for historic preservation. And you can take a tour there. Now this has been photographed by all the great Architectural photographers of the last century, Julius Shulman, Ezra Stoller, and many of the other greats. But when I went there last year I've never seen it photographed from across the swimming pool here. Now this is the swimming pool which lies, actually about thirty yards away from the building. But what I've done is I've crept down really close to the edge of the water, used a twenty four millimeter tilt shift lens and shoot this just as the sun was coming up. This is about five thirty in the morning. And the night before I arrived I asked the national trust to put on the lights which they did, and we got this amazing reflection, not only of the glass house in the water but all the trees surrounding it as well. Shot at dawn, pre dawn, about five thirty in the morning. Always remember that if you can use water in your architectural photographs, you going to create an awful lot of depth in the picture. Which is a very important part of architectural photography."