I recently got my first ever paying job as an "architectural photographer". This is a field that I would very much like to get in to. The shoot was for a pool house (inside and out), a squash court and some other outside things. I just sent the clients a round of photos for them to choose which ones they want me to edit. I haven't done any final edits yet. Except for this one which I did for my self. This was one of my favorite one's from the shoot. I would love to get any kind of feedback on this image. I hope to use this as part of building my portfolio. Thanks!
Hi Kyle. Architectural work is a fun field although it's changing rapidly with 3D renders and now AI.
Any feedback I share is an opinion only, backed with about 12 years of Architectural work and 30 years of shooting professionally.
I think you chose a good placement for the camera although in this case I might have reduced the chairs to only three or four and had them all in the frame.
Most of the issues I see have to do with post production. The trend these days is away from heavy saturation, especially when it makes colors artificial like the sky and pool. Of course the biggest issue is the HDR or exposure blending you did for the fire. The highlights got knocked down so much the fire doesn't look real. If you take a look at my portfolio there is an image of a Hawaiian house with two fire pits on either side of the door. I used exposure blending but worked hard to make it realistic.
Hopefully you'll post some more images as you keep shooting.
Thanks for the feedback. I actually really appreciate it. I've been shooting for about 10 years now mostly as a hobby. I've mostly been doing landscapes/cityscapes but I have found that I really enjoy shooting architecture and I am trying to get a foot in the door in the industry.
When I was done with this image the first thing I thought was "I wish I'd have gotten rid of some of those chairs!" haha.
I edited this basically the same way I would a landscape/cityscape image. That's just my instinct at this point. When I see a highlight like that fire I have to tone it down. Yes, I used an underexposed image (probably -2 stops) to paint in that fire.
As far as the blue in the sky/pool goes. Maybe it was a mistake to use the Sony camera matching profile in LR. I used the vivid profile I believe. And that's because I liked the colors. The pool however, is really blue. Like in real life I mean. I think due to the lights. I've attached an unedited RAW image to show the color of the pool and it honestly doesn't look that different than my edited image to me. I've also attached a toned down version of this photo and wonder if you think this looks better?
I've also attached one of my other favorites from this shoot. I'm still waiting on the client to pick the photos they want to have edited. In the mean time I've been picking my favorites and editing them for a portfolio.
If you have time I'd love to know what you think. I'll take all the feedback I can get! Thanks again.