What's wrong with this picture?
This is my neighbor's house. I'm using it as an example because my own house is only one story and I needed a taller one to illustrate my point.
The camera is on a tripod. The lens is a 35mm full-frame equivalent. The setup is perfectly level, with all the vertical lines vertical, but the highest part of the roof is cut off. I could have tilted the camera to include the roof, but then, the vertical lines would no longer be vertical.
This photograph was taken at the same time and from the same position. Notice that all the vertical lines are still vertical, but now the entire roof is in the picture. What did I do? I used a shift lens, a very important tool for architectural photography.
During the years when I was doing a good bit of architectural photography I had a Canon TS-E 24mm shift lens, a very fine piece of equipment. However, I changed to Fuji cameras and lenses because they were smaller and lighter, and since Fuji did not offer shift lenses I bought a shift adapter to fit my cameras.
The photo above shows my Fuji X-T20 camera fitted with a shift adapter, which is the odd-looking bit of equipment between the camera and the lens.The lens, by the way, is an Olympus 24mm from my Olympus film camera set. On the adapter, it functions as a 35mm lens.
This photo shows the shift adapter at full rise, which is what enabled me to make the photo of my neighbor's house with all the roof included and all the vertical lines still vertical.
I photographed many old homes, churches, courthouses, and other historic buildings for my books by using the techniques previously discussed in this series and seldom needed to use a shift lens. But when you need one, you need one.
I miss my days doing architectural photography. Above is a picture of the Chattanooga Public Library that I did for the architects with my Canon shift lens.
Of course, the very best way to do architectural photography is with a view camera. But if you know how to use a view camera, you don't need any help from me!
About the photos: The top two photos were made with a Fuji X-H1 camera with a Fotodiox shift adapter and an Olympus Zuiko 24mm f2.8 lens. The close-ups of the adapter were made with the Fuji X-H1 and a Fujicron 16-80mm f4 lens. The library was photographed with a Canon 5D Classic and the Canon TS-E 24mm f2.8 shift lens.
Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia
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Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/ Looking is free, and you might find something you like.
Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.
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