I've been working right across the road from this building for nearly 3 years, and often looked up at the pattern formed by its undulating balconies, but only yesterday decided to take a picture of it. I wanted a tall thin vertical format that was focused simply on the shape of the balconies without the context of a building around it. Standing at ground level and looking upwards from just the other side of the street obviously gave me a perspective problem - with the verticals converging towards the top of the image as you can see in the 'before' image on the right..
So I used the 'perspective' correction tool in Photoshop to widen the top of the image until the vertical lines formed by the left and right ends of the balconies lined up with vertical ruler lines. Of course, the image was now a very strange shape and twice as wide at the top as the bottom, so I then cropped the image to just the balconies. I carefully excluded any part of the ends, so the finished article could be just a small section in a huge sea of these oddly shaped balconies - the viewer doesn't know that they are only 2 balconies wide (unless they live in Sydney, and know where the building is).
Looking at the shapes in isolation like this reminds me of a Banksia seed cone. I wonder if that was the inspiration for the architect?
Hiya, Kate here,
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to take a shot on the street in front of this building, slightly out towards the road, looking up so that you see the alternating undulations on nearly every level?
You may not fill the shot this way, but I would be interested to know if the effect is as interesting as the pic I imagine it to be in my mind... :)
Hi Kate,
ReplyDeleteI think I understand what you mean. I'll give it a go and post it in a few days.
Thanks for checking out the blog.
Grumby
Woohoo! You are welcome, I just find it cool that you take my suggestions seriously!
ReplyDeleteI really find your information and advice great, and I know nothing about photography, except what I like! I'm spending more time now thinking about why.... apart from the colours! So thank you for thinking about my suggestion, I have no idea if it will work :)