Help on a paid photography project

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Quack18

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Hello!!

A friend has a requested me to photography 15 buildings for an architectural company. they want to put the pictures on billboards, websites, and magazines.

Although i have been into photography for 3 years , i havent doen something like this before, so am hoping osme of you here can give me some advice. The project is paid for, so i want to provide them wiht something really good.

1) I have a sony alfa 350, with 18-70mm and a 75-300mm lens. Do i need any other lens?

2) They want photos of the buildings form the inside and the outside. does anyone have any suggestions as to how to take them? What angles to use, and whats the best time to shoot a building. Morning, day, or afternoon?

3) How do i charge, they want a quote from me, but i have no clue what price to give for suich a project, and how to charge.

Thanks alot for your help, its greatly appreciated
 
From what you say I don't think you have the equipment or experience to undertake this work. Maybe you should pass?
 
Sorry to sound negative but have got to agree with AWP.

1) Tilt/Shift lens and camera with larger sensor (as end product for billboard) interpolation could be done but not same quality.

2) Nothing beats a compass, sun chart and a good old recce to each site beforehand.

3) Under the circumstance I'll leave that to your discretion.
 
Please don't be put off..... we all have to start somewhere :)

Why not look at it as a 'project' and only charge if your clients / friend is happy with the results?

I've found early morning, or late afternoon work better for me, and if you can get a beautiful blue sky - all the better :)

you'll need a tripod without any doubt, and you may have to spend a whole day at each location waiting for the right light - so a recce beforehand is very helpful!

good luck.
 
I agree with HopefulM, if they want you to do it and want to pay you for it then do it. Do your homework, get out there today and practice, practice, practice find out what works and what doesn't, forget all the negativity on here you'd probably be best using Google for advice.
 
Best advice I can give is to look at the architectural company website and see what style they like the pictures.
The work I do for architects is usually done on a 1dsmk3, 24tse or 16-35 with images stitched together.
Looking at where/how they want to use the images the pictures you supply should be at least 40mb before any interpolation.

Price for this should be £750+ day and expect the project to take longer than you plan due to the weather, vans double parked and people asking you what you are doing ;)

No opinion if you should do it, just make sure they are happy with the images.
 
Another one who's opinion is that you are woefully underequipped in terms of both equipment and experience. You need to understand how to photograph buildings. Unless you are Spiderman and can get into a position half way up them you have to shoot them from the ground. That means finding the right angle and being able to deal with converging verticals (That's where tilt shift lenses are used) It stops the building getting awfully narrow at the top.

Also you mention interiors. That's very specialist work, you need to know how to light an interior, how to colour balance different light sources, i.e. gelling flashes to blend with fluorescent or tungsten and have the capacity to use multiple remote flashes indoors.

The files size is also a concern, as previously mentioned you need to be able to provide files in excess of 40MB to be able to blow up to billboard size. Yes there is software available to help with upsizing to a degree but not the the degree you would require.

Hope that helps to explain a little of WHY I think you might need to consider this very carefully.
 
Congratulations on getting the job!

I did something similar sounding a while ago, probably half the amount of locations and external only. Took me around 45 hours in total with editing and I hired a lens.

What I did before the job, to ensure they would be happy with the quality and style of the shot was to go out and shoot one of the locations and supply one watermarked high-res shot. Made sure they were happy with that, then asked for a PO.

I agree with TrevDR and AliB, a tilt-shift lens would be essential for the outdoor shots, they're not going to want to see verticals converging (too much). Also, as AliB says, you'll need lighting for the internal shots. I dunno where your based but ProCentre in London are reasonable and you can hire a 2 head Profoto kit in a bag (2 x 500 heads, umbrellas stands and leads) with remote for around £35 a day (hefty deposit needed unless you are a Ltd company).

I personally wouldn't worry about the sensor size. I've sold a cropped shot from an 8mp sensor for a billboard before and the client was happy. I used Photoshop to upscale the size but Genuine Fractals works better.

Good luck, hope it goes well :thumbs:
 
Can't be much of an architechtural company if they are asking omeone who has no idea to do this job.

I am NOT an architectural photographer - I have been a full time professional for over 20 years, but there is no way I would take this job on, even though I probably have more idea of what is involved than it sounds as if you do. They wouldn't be able to pay me enough for the hours it will require - or lets put it another way, if they did they could get one of the top flight architectural photographers for much the same and have far better results.

There is a certain amount of luck involved, with regard to the locations and weather patterns, but like any branch of photography, those who practise in that field have learned how to play their luck and use it to their advantage.

You will need to know how to balance contrast for a start (hard shadows falling across HALF a frontage for instance).

How to avoid hot spots from your lighting in the glass of the interiors.

There is a great deal of thought goes into good architectural photography and it is quite a technical and invloved specialisation. You also need to understand building construction, architectural features and design. Otherwise, how will know what to photograph - or were you just thinking a picture of a building in good light would be good enough?

Go and type ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY into google an dlook at some galleries to get the idea of what I, and others, am trying to say.

If the company is happy with mediocre pictures - then that only reinforces my first statement.:thumbs:
 
I reckon with the right skills, the kit you have - although not ideal by any stretch of the imagination - would be up to the job as long as you accept it's limitations and more importantly know those limitations.
If you have a very clear idea of the images you want and how to take them, then the kit will only limit you slightly in achieving that...

Work out by walking round the buildings at different times of the day what light works best on what aspects of the buildings - interior and exterior - then plan your shoot accordingly.
Work out a timetable for getting each image - don't just assume you can turn up and do all the shots in 30 minutes. Allow a couple of hours at a minimum for each shot you plan, as some might have to be taken at the same time of day, necessitating a multi-day shoot.
Once your timeframe is worked out, work out a quote based, I'd say given your level of experience, at no less than £500 per day with a minimum of a 1.5 day shoot planned.
 
If it were me I'd go for it ! we all have to start somewhere

I personally would charge enough money to make hiring a lens or two affordable , I'd then be googling and getting ideas of what makes a good architectural shot , I'd then go and practise on some other buildings so when I turned up for the shoot I looked like I knew i was doing !

Nothing ventured .......................
 
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