Some people consider architectural photography to be a little bit difficult to master simply because it often needs a special type of lens to get the best images. You also need to have a good appreciation of the structure you’re going to shoot as well as a pretty good aesthetic sense interior designers photographer. If you’re looking to find out what the best lens for architectural photography is, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article we’re going to share with you some of the best lens choices you can make.
Tilt-Shift Lenses
One of the best lenses for architectural photography is a tilt-shift, which is also referred to as a perspective correction lens. This type of lens is designed to let your SLR camera work like a view camera or bellows. One of the biggest problems you’ll encounter when taking shots of tall structures from ground level is that the top of the subject appears further away as it gets taller. The lens will help as it will introduce a sense of perspective in the image. The best way to capture the shot is to point the camera parallel to the ground. However, make sure you’re getting the top of the structure in the lens and not mainly the ground. A tilt-shift lens will enable you to position your camera perfectly horizontally while positioning the lens’ view upwards.
There are some excellent tilt-shift lenses on the market with these being among the best:
Canon: TS-E 24mm f/3.5L Tilt Shift Lens; TS-E 45mm f/2.8 Tilt Shift Lens; TS-E 90mm f/2.8 Tilt Shift Lens
Nikon: 28mm f/3.5 PC-Nikkor; 85mm f/2.8 PC Micro Nikkor
Fisheye lenses
If you’d like to create some special effects in your images you may want to try fisheye lenses. These types of lenses will create a totally new aspect in architectural photography. A fisheye lens will allow you to explore architecture as a series of shapes and patterns and let you distort them into creative photos. In fact, you may not be sure of what you’re looking at due to the new creative view of the structure.
Some of the leading fisheye lenses include:
Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens;
Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED AF DX Fisheye lens; 16mm F/2.8D AF Fisheye lens
Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye for Canon; 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye for Nikon; 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Diagonal Fisheye for Canon; 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Diagonal Fisheye for Nikon
Ultra Wide-Angle lenses
Since you may also be taking interior shots of small and narrow rooms or passageways you’ll need to use a wide angle lens to capture the entire area. In fact, an ultra wide angle lens may be the best bet. They can sometimes be relatively costly and that’s why most photography buffs may not own one. They’re more for professionals since the typical range is 14 to 21mm. There are some good makes of ultra-wide zoom lenses which may fulfill your needs if you’d rather spend the money on one instead of the wide angle models.
Some of the best of these are made by Tamron, Sigma, and Nikon.
If you have a Nikon or Canon camera these are some lenses that may interest you:
Canon: EF 14mm f/2.8L USM; EF 20mm f/2.8 USM; EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM; EF 17-40mm f/4L USM; EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
Nikon: 12-24mm f/4G ED IF DX; 14mm f/2.8D ED AF; 18mm f/2.8D AF; 20mm f/2.8D AF