From the technical point of view and equipment, photographing doors and windows do not require inventing anything, but some recommendation comes handy. Previously, we have discussed How to Take Beautiful Photograph of Doors as the first part of this article. First of all, if you want to immortalize doors and windows in their entirety, perhaps in the context of a facade, you should use a focal length which is not high, but not wide-angle .
Too short focal length that would lead to distortions of the straight lines, a peculiarity of this kind of photo. A lengthy one too high will probably force them to move away from the subject too far, not finding enough space or interposing some other element. If you want to photograph the details, then you can resort to the higher focal lengths. A macro lens might be for you, but it really becomes necessary only if you want to photograph the most minute characteristics of the materials. Usually the details of doors and windows are large enough to not require shooting distances very small.
Beautiful Photograph of Doors : Basics
If you just can not avoid using a wide-angle focal length, you will definitely end up with distortions on the edges. The former can be corrected in post-production. The latter are difficult to adjust and when you can involve cropping the image. Therefore, you should hold the camera as much parallel as possible to the wall that houses the doors and windows you want to photograph.
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Typically this kind of photo involves the framing of a flat surface, exactly parallel to the camera. Therefore, in theory, any opening is fine, because everything will be on the same plane of focus.
However, if you use an opening too wide and you are not perfectly parallel or some object leaves the surface in a clear manner, you’ll get unwanted areas of focus. To avoid the falling lines, there is definitely a permanent solution is very expensive: tilt shift. Obviously, buying a lens just to photograph doors and windows makes little sense. Rather, consider it if you plan to indulge intensely to architectural photography.
Therefore, if you shoot at a focal length under 50mm, make sure you set an aperture of f/4. If the lighting conditions you allow it, poin to f/8, so that you can feel comfortable. If your are shooting at an angle, then set the aperture depending on how you want it blurry.
Read which settings need to be used dependent on situation.
Beautiful Photograph of Doors : Composition
As we have mentioned, while photographing doors and windows in many cases you will find yourself having to be placed exactly parallel to your subject. In this way you’ll get an abstract composition that highlights the two-dimensional forms.
The easiest approach is to photograph a single door or window positioned in accordance with the rule of thirds, surrounded by the negative space of the wall that hosts it. If the subject is in itself interesting, for example, thanks to the materials and colors, you can get a good photo already in this way.
In other cases, the composition takes meaning framing combinations of doors and windows, which are balanced in a single image. At the other extreme, there are the shots that cut more frequently the subjects, making only see a part of the image and thus create almost cubist.
If you do not enter multiple doors and windows at the same step, often still get most significant compositions by introducing additional elements. Think for example, house numbers, mailboxes, street furniture or even people passing by, maybe blurred by the shutter speed of a little longer.
