Critique Welcomed The New Hyundai Building

[Brian Moore]

I've been watching as this building has taken shape over the last year or so. Last night I set out to get some photos and try my hand at architectural photography with the 7D and my Tamron 18-270 and Tokina 11-16.

The building has been built alongside Interstate 405, a major thoroughfare that cuts through the counties of Los Angeles and Orange in Southern California. Its almost finished, but not quite.

There happens to be bridge that serves as an overpass for the 405 and for months I have been planning to get a photo of the Hyundai building from the top of that overpass.

I found however that the chain-link fence atop the overpass prevented a decent shot. (Most chain link fences here have holes of roughly 3 inches square between the links--which I thought would be plenty room to give me a view of the building.)

However, atop the overpass, perhaps for security reasons, the holes in the fence are smaller--roughly 1 inch square.



Descending from the overpass there is section where the chain link fence ends and a railing fence begins, but as you can see below, the foreground is not ideal.



So we (Caiti, my eldest, was with me; she was my getaway driver) went around the other side of the building and I got a few shots.





A security guard was on patrol but he kindly allowed me to approach the building and get some images.



What has long attracted me to this building is the magnificent lobby area, which is basically a giant atrium.



The lobby:


I have an idea to try to get a shot from the overpass again. I may try it this evening.

I have discovered (anew,...it happens every time I shoot with the 7D) that I need to learn how to use a digital camera. Its more challenging for me than shooting a mechanical film camera.

Any thoughts about the images would be appreciated.

 

[Pete Askew]

I like the set Brian and especially the last two. I like the compositions very much but the white balance is way off (I actually like it but I guess you were aiming for realism!). I suspect you might have to get one of those weird thingies with 3 legs to get the most out of these shots so you can use a lower ISO and longer exposures. My favourite of the set is the second where you have stumbled upon a nest of motor-homes!

 

[Brian Moore]

I like the set Brian and especially the last two. I like the compositions very much but the white balance is way off (I actually like it but I guess you were aiming for realism!). I suspect you might have to get one of those weird thingies with 3 legs to get the most out of these shots so you can use a lower ISO and longer exposures. My favourite of the set is the second where you have stumbled upon a nest of motor-homes!

Well Hell's Bells! How do you tell the white balance is way off? See, this is what I mean about digital photography--it's too damn difficult for li'l ole' me. Thanks, Pete.

 

[Pete Askew]

The greys are yellow! In LR click on the dropper at the top of the Develop panel, just below the histogram and then click on the paving or the grey facia it the bottom of the building. This will tell the software that this should be a neutral tone. All the white balance does is to try to guess what the frequency distribution of the light illuminating the scene was. In this case I guess it was lit by sodium lights and the camera 'thought' it was daylight, hence the odd colours.

 

[Brian Moore]

Than

The greys are yellow! In LR click on the dropper at the top of the Develop panel, just below the histogram and then click on the paving or the grey facia it the bottom of the building. This will tell the software that this should be a neutral tone. All the white balance does is to try to guess what the frequency distribution of the light illuminating the scene was. In this case I guess it was lit by sodium lights and the camera 'thought' it was daylight, hence the odd colours.

Thanks, Pete.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Love this angle Brian

Pete has tagged the WB piece - easy enough fix now you know where to look in LR

That short window between light and black dark is tough to get - you pretty much have to pick your spot and stay in place to get it - tripod and minimum ISO would be my set-up for this sort of stuff

Bridge shot - try taking off the lens hood, opening up the lens to widest aperture, put lens on the wire, and focus on manual past the wire to the building.

Super shallow DOF can make the wire vanish this way.

 

[Brian Moore]

@Chris Dodkin ,...thanks for the advice. Appreciated! You too @Pete Askew! (I don't care what the others say about you Pedro,...you're A number 1 in my book! )

How's this for WB?

 

[Pete Askew]

Definitely closer. Where did you sample from?

 

[Brian Moore]

Definitely closer. Where did you sample from?

I changed the white balance to "fluorescent." I tried what you said Pete. I used the eye-dropper to sample the gray, but the whole picture then turned a very greenish. I am sure I'm doing something wrong. (Damn digital camera technology!)

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Looks good to me - fluro would be the lighting type most likely to be used so a good call

 

[Pete Askew]

I just tried clicking the dropper on the darker areas of the grey panels at centre right and that worked OK. How odd.

 

[Pete Askew]

The paving worked too - slightly better in fact.

 

[Brian Moore]

The paving worked too - slightly better in fact.

Can you post itr up, Pete?

 

[Pete Askew]

 

[Pete Askew]

Could do with warming a touch / adjusting to remove the slight magenta cast.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Fantastic set Brian. I particularly like the last three, WB or not. A great form and angles.

 

[Brian Moore]

Could do with warming a touch / adjusting to remove the slight magenta cast.

Thanks, Pete. Appreciated!

 

[Brian Moore]

Fantastic set Brian. I particularly like the last three, WB or not. A great form and angles.

Thanks a lot, Julian. I appreciate that very much.

 

[Brian Moore]

Looks good to me - fluro would be the lighting type most likely to be used so a good call

Thanks Chris.

I drove past the building this morning @Pete Askew and realized that the lower parts aren't gray, they're actually more of a brown tone. I wonder if that had anything to do with the eye dropper color confusion?

 

[Pete Askew]

Yes it would. I got the best correction from the paving.