Construction Photography
March 4, 2008
Optima Engineering's newly designed web page has a feature that shows the construction progress of our new office. I have the pleasure of being responsible for taking the photos of our new office on a weekly basis and have since realized the importance of photography in the construction world.
I have been involved in photography for 25 years now and have photographed a variety of subjects. Top fuel dragsters, professional football and baseball, and, my main passion railroads. All of the aforementioned require a great deal of knowledge of the particular subject and anticipation in order to get the perfect shot. When asked by Keith Pehl and Cathy Sealy to take on the task of photographing our new office along with projects Optima has done in the past, I accepted without hesitation.
Photographing a building being constructed or the installation of it's mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems is relatively easy as it does not involve subjects moving at a high rate of speed. However, composing the image with emphasis on depth of field (f-stop) is important. A quick definition of depth of field is the distance in front of and beyond the subject that appears to be in focus.
Today's Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras are far superior to their film predecessors. Nikon offers DSLR models from 6.1 megapixels up to 12.4 megapixels. Canon offers DSLR models from 8.2 megapixels up to 16.7 megapixels. The images produced by these high resolution cameras can provide details not visible to the eye, especially if your subject involves a lot of details.
F-stops are a measurement of the aperture of the lens. The higher the f-stop setting the smaller the aperture which in turn requires a longer shutter speed if less than favorable lighting conditions exist. A high f-stop setting (ex. F22) will yield an image that has everything in focus. To put emphasis on a particular subject, a lower f-stop setting (ex. F4.5) is preferred. The subject would be in focus but everything in front of and behind would not be in focus. This is important if you would like to see a particular item located high in a ceiling space.
Photographs are an important part of the documentation process, and also tell a story. Knowing when to apply and adjust the proper settings will ensure your images will tell the story without an explanation.
