Amateur Photography

Many professional photographers who specialise in architectural photography will lend their services to architects who are looking to build up a portfolio of images from projects they have been involved in. A great deal of architectural photography is often used in promotional materials for companies or businesses, particularly those who are looking to promote their unusual or unique buildings. A commercial photographer who specialises in architectural photography will often find themselves being commissioned to photograph buildings for a very broad variety of reasons, although they are most commonly asked to produce images for promotional purposes.

However, architectural need not necessarily be used for commercial purposes. Photographs of buildings can be highly artistic and there have been numerous examples of architectural photography in the past that has been bought for its artistic merit. Indeed, in some cases there have been examples of galleries putting on exhibits that exclusively contain examples of architectural photography.

Successful architectural photography requires the photographer to take into account several factors and make use of techniques not widely used in other areas of photography. The weather and time of day photographs are due to be taken must be carefully considered as light levels can have a profound effect on the finished result. Most architectural photography will require the photographer to use long exposure times, particularly if the photos are being taken in low light or at night time. Specially designed lenses may also be used in architectural photography