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Camera settings for capturing buildings pictures on your travels
Techniques
24 October 2007 14:39
From modern city skyscrapers to tumbledown cottages, the differing architectural styles can be among the most defining elements of the sites on your travels. When shooting buildings, it’s important to use different settings for capturing interiors and exteriors,
For interior shots, you’ll need a steady platform, ideally a tripod. You can always rest the camera on a wall or table to combat camera shake. If you don’t have a remote release use the camera’s self-timer to ensure you don’t move the camera during the exposure.
Shooting between ISO 200 and 400 is the best compromise between getting a reasonable shutter speed and high quality results. You should also use the long exposure noise reduction feature in the camera settings menu.
You’re likely to encounter a variety of light sources when shooting interiors, often with two or more together, so the automatic white balance setting will give the most accurate colours.
The aperture-priority exposure mode is ideal for shooting exteriors of buildings, as it gives you complete control over your image’s depth-of-field. Choose a small aperture of f/16 or f/22 to keep as much of the scene as sharp as possible.
If you’re shooting buildings in bright conditions you should use the lowest ISO setting on your camera for the best quality. The majority of D-SLRs offer a lowest ISO of 100.
Just as you can with landscapes, you can make the most of the colours in the scene by increasing the saturation controls in your camera’s shooting menu.