Most architectural photography is shot either early morning or late evening; this time is also known as magic hour. Shooting photos at this time has many advantages; the lighting is dramatic, but shadows are soft enough you don’t lose detail, and maybe most importantly the outside of the building is fully lit, but the light is dim enough it doesn’t blow out the interior light, allowing us to see the insides clearly. Henry Sorensons comments about never wanting to see windows filled in with black comes to mind. Below are some common examples of magic hour photography.
http://www.collaborativedesignarch.com/
Architectural rendering is very similar to architectural photography in many respects, but until recently I hadn’t been applying the ideas of magic hour to my renderings on a regular basis. I for some reason always defaulted to mid day shots, but now that I have been thinking more about magic hour photographyI find that I have switched to doing about 80% of my renderings as magic hour images. Here are some some examples.
Great post!
the magic hour shots are much more dramatic then the 1’oclock shots. I actually dont do as much as you do, but I think I should switch to more magic hour shots. You are right, its nice getting more of the interiors exposed. They are better than night shots as well because if your building isnt properly lit then you wont see everything. I also like how you can express some of the exterior lighting while not having to illuminate the whole scene artificially. I really like the attention to detail on the image with the community space with the houses. I like how you have the shadow of the tree on the house in the foreground. It adds nice texture to what would have been a blank wall. The glow ouw of the shopping center shots on the concrete are really nice too! i really takes your eye in towards the architecture.
I’ve added 2 of my own.
Really like the sun setting on the second image, that is a great effect that really gives a ton of feeling and atmosphere to the image.