Jim Lowe

Architectural Photography

£45
Level: Peer






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The difference between Peer & Expert levels

Both Peer and Expert levels provide:

  • Video lessons led by an expert tutor
  • Downloadable lesson notes
  • Practice assignments
  • Group learning in a 20-student online classroom
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes, and classroom

The Expert level additionally includes:

  • Personalized feedback and coaching from your tutor
  • Private messaging with your tutor
  • Certificate of completion
Level: Peer

Course overview

Award-winning international photographer Jim Lowe teaches you to take professional and creative architectural photos.

Do you love travel and want to take great photos of buildings inside and out? Architectural photography is more than simply choosing a subject and pressing the shutter-release button; it's more than just documenting a project.

An architectural photograph shows the form and appeal of a building far better than any other medium.

With the advent of the digital photographic workflow, architects, developers, and interior designers are discovering exciting new opportunities to present and market their work. But what are the ingredients for a successful architectural photograph? What equipment do you need? How can you improve your images in your digital darkroom? Which are the best architectural photography lenses? Why does a building look different in reality than in a photographic image?

In this photography course with acclaimed photography lecturer Jim Lowe, you will find the answers to these questions and much more.

You'll learn

  • equipment needed for architectural photos
  • best lenses for taking photos of buildings
  • how to improve images in your digital darkroom
  • why do buildings look different in photos from reality
  • how to capture outstanding images of buildings, inside and out
  • composing architectural shots
  • working ambient and artificial lighting

Requirements

Basic equipment for architectural photography;

  • Camera: Wide angle 17mm
  • Architectural Photography Lenses
  • Standard 80mm or a good quality zoom lens 17mm to 85mm
  • Long focus 180mm
  • Tripod
  • Cable release
  • Spirit level
  • ND Graduated filter
  • Polarisation filter

This course is a step-by-step guide to architectural photography for both the aspiring amateur photographer interested in architectural photography and the professional photographer wanting to expand their skills in this domain.

Time to complete this architectural photography course:

Every student is different, but in general we think the whole course will take around 13 hours and 35 minutes to complete, including:

  • Video lessons: 1 hour 35 minutes in total
  • Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
  • Assignment: at least 2 hours per lesson
  • Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
  • tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson

The course includes:

  • On-demand video lessons - presented by Jim Lowe
  • lifetime access to the video, notes and interactive class
  • flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
  • downloadable lesson notes
  • practical (optional) photography assignments
  • access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
  • small interactive online classroom chat online to students from around the world

Ready to get started?

You can add the course to your basket above. Then, choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Jim on your photos.

If you have any questions? Please click on the orange speech symbol to contact us. We'd love to hear from you.

Lesson summary

The history, equipment and basic techniques of architectural photography
This lesson introduces you to the ethos, history, equipment and basic techniques of architectural photography. Architectural photography at its best represents something attractive to the viewer and hopefully makes them more aware of the buildings surrounding them. In architectural photography, the artistry needs to be imaginative, but it should be backed up technical knowledge, as while creativity is largely a personal affair, it can be difficult to achieve without good technique. In this opening lesson I try to make you think more about photographing buildings and how you can create sticking and visually powerful images.
Exteriors - Photographing buildings both at night and day
Architecture has made fascinating subjects for photography ever since the invention of photography and in the world of art over the centuries before that. This lesson will show you how to approach and develop your technique of photographing buildings both at night and during the day. Most competent photographers are able to photograph a building from the usual set elevations but not everyone has the ability to capture the essence and aesthetic ‘feel’ of a building creatively. In this lesson I will demonstrate how the choice of camera, focal length of the lens, exposure, angle of view, perspective and time of day all come together to achieve exciting images.
Interiors - Lighting, styling, where to position the camera and how to stay creative
Interior architectural photography can be as diverse as public spaces, auditoriums, industrial units, offices, residential complexes and as such can be more challenging to the photographer. In this lesson I show how to approach lighting, styling, where to position the camera and how to stay creative, as well as the general principles of capturing the evocative interior photograph. Even though interior photography can be technically challenging it does offer you, the photographer the opportunity to control many aspects of your assignment in the endeavour to make the final interior images look as natural as possible.
Planning and Post Production
In the age of contemporary digital photography both planning and post productions techniques are key elements for successful architectural images. With the advent of digital cameras it has become too easy to take the ‘machine gun’ approach to photography, where they hope that by taking many exposures they may get lucky and achieve a couple of usable ones; whereas the professional or more serious architectural photographer will plan out their assignments with a view to successfully completing the shoot for their client. In this lesson I show how it is more cost effective, especially in terms of time for the photographer to take their time and contemplate the photos they are shooting. Post production is a term for all stages of production such as photo-shop occurring after the actual end of the photographic assignment. If carefully done post production can give your images some spark or flair to the final image that adds that extra special interest to your photos

Choose how you want to learn

Expert-level

Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition:

  • Start the course whenever you like
  • Tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
  • Certificate of completion and CPD learning hours
  • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
  • Lessons with expert videos & notes
  • Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom

Peer-level

Get the most from shared knowledge and community study:

  • Start course whenever you like
  • Practise what you learn with your peers
  • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
  • Lessons with videos & notes
  • Course assignments
  • Group chat & direct message classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom

meet the expert

Jim Lowe

Photography expert turned visionary educator transforming conservation storytelling through pioneering courses.

Read more

Why choose Learning with Experts?

Start whenever it suits you, and immerse yourself in motivational lesson tutorials with expert guidance.
Enhance your learning and personal growth with lesson assignments. Each course includes an optional assignment at the end of every lesson.
Drop a friendly message or respond to your assignment feedback. Our world-class experts are just a click away, ready to help you!
Stay informed about your own progress and those of your peers, and take joy in celebrating achievements along the way.
Chat and share ideas with passionate communities of learners from around the world.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between PEER and EXPERT levels?

At Peer and Expert level, you get access to the same core content and features:

  • Video lesson tutorials led by your expert tutor
  • Downloadable lesson notes
  • Option to practise what you learn with lesson assignments
  • Group learning within an online interactive classroom of up to 20 classmates
  • Lifetime access to videos, notes and classroom

If you choose Expert level, you get all of the above plus the following:

  • Personalised assignment feedback and coaching from your expert tutor
  • Opportunity to interact with your expert tutor through a private messaging system
  • Certificate of completion.
What is an online classroom?

Our online classroom has been developed to allow you to learn from our experts in a sociable environment alongside up to 20 other students. After each video tutorial led by your expert, you will be encouraged to practice what you have learned with optional assignments - these can be seen by the other students in your class, who are free to share their own thoughts and questions with you.

You will be encouraged to take part in an ongoing class discussion where you can discuss ideas, post images or work, and comment on each other’s assignments. It’s a great way to learn from other like-minded people who share your passion from all over the world.

This means not only do you benefit from people who are outstanding in their field, but also from a close-knit group of like-minded people whom you can learn alongside. Group learning has shown to greatly improve not just the experience of studying, but also how well you retain the knowledge, and we have built our classroom experience around this fact.
When can I start my course and how long will it take?

You can start your course any time within 12 months after receipt of your purchase confirmation email. Once you start, you’ll have lifetime access — meaning you can revisit the lesson videos and notes whenever you want.

Our courses are designed so that you can study at your own pace, some prefer to binge learn while others like to spread their studying over a longer period of time - it’s completely up to you. To give you a rough time frame, each lesson video is approximately 30-40 minutes long, and we recommend that you spend around an hour on each assignment.
How often can I speak with the Expert?

If you opt for the Expert version of your course, the time you have to interact with your tutor is limited to course length. You will have one week per lesson to chat to your tutor and to have your assignments marked, and during this period you can ask them as many questions as you would like.

To find out the length of each course, head to the product page and look at the Course outline to see how many lessons it contains. e.g. a four lesson course assumes that you will have completed the assignments within four weeks.

Your tutor interaction period will start as soon as you enter the classroom. If you find that you are struggling to complete the assignments in the allocated time or you wish to put this function on hold, just get in contact with one of the team via the support button and we will help you out.
Support and full FAQs

If you need any help with a course, be it one you’ve started already, or one you are looking to purchase, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support email address, or view the full FAQ’s here.

You can also use the orange speech bubble on your page to start a conversation with us.

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Awards and accreditations

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