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Colliers International

2024-03-29T11:55:01-05:00Categories: Architectural, Architecture, Commercial, photos, Portrait, Product, professional, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Architectural Photography in Winnipeg

We are often called upon by property managers, developers, investors, builders and more to capture beautiful photographs of their properties. Most often the final photographs are used as display images but often make their way into other publications. Architectural photographs are often for future use in annual reports, brochures as well as a companies website.

Planning is Important for Architectural Photography

Capturing a property to look it’s best, takes some careful planning, time and patience. Proper lighting is very important. Therefore we are often photographing buildings during sweet light hours. Sweet light is that time of day just before sunrise or just before sunset when the sky looks its best and the light is soft. Consequently we are often up in the wee hours of the morning to get that perfect shot. Therefore this requires some planning, forethought and flexibility.

  • Do the lights need to be on in the building?
  • Are all exterior lights working?
  • Will there be cars and do we want cars?
  • Is there a particular day of the week that is better?
  • Do we want people traffic?
  • Are there signs etc in the windows, on the street etc?
  • Is there a landscape and parking lot maintenance and cleaning schedule?

Real Life Example

Lets consider this. The client needs the downtown location photographed at dawn with no traffic and maintenance gets completed twice a month. Therefore our option to complete the architectural photography may be twice a month. Firstly, it needs to be a Sunday to keep traffic levels low. Secondly, with maintenance happening twice a month, we have two Sundays to work with. Then the unspeakable happens…. We get up at 3:30am to make it to the location for 4:30, just to find that it is cloudy and we will not get the clear sky we need.  Therefore we “plan” it for two weeks away. The next occasion comes and there is a large moving van parked on the street directly in front of the building entrance. Does this seem far fetched? While this may seem ridiculous, this is what we go through on a regular basis while photographing architecture in Winnipeg. Furthermore, I have not even brought up construction or our short season to get this completed.

Colliers International – Winnipeg Office

Last summer we photographed approximately 30 buildings where these considerations were in place. Some of these buildings were for a long time and valued client Colliers International.  Remember those scenarios I brought up, well they are real life examples of what does occur. Luckily the client did not need the images right away and we were able to plan for opportune times for the photography to take place. Therefore we chose the perfect time for each building, utilizing beautiful light with no cars.

Architecture photography Winnipeg

Architecture photographer Winnipeg

 

Artistic Impressions Photography – Commercial and Residential Architectural Photographer

Professional architecture and exterior photographer for builders, architects, property managers and investors.

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Architectural Photography, Winnipeg MB

2024-03-29T12:35:46-05:00Categories: Architectural, Architecture, Business, Commercial, Industrial, Interiors, Uncategorized|

Morguard, a fully integrated real estate company, recently contacted us to do some architectural photography of a number of their local properties. These properties ranged from industrial to office and retail spaces. Morguard was looking to have beauty shots done of both interiors and exteriors of their properties. Consequently the photographs are for use in their advertising, selling of spaces and leasing of buildings/spaces.

Each property requires a bit of research on our part in order to figure out what the “sweet light” is for each. “Sweet light” refers to the time of day that will show the building or property in the best light, which is usually in the period just before sunset or just after sunrise. As a result we continually check the weather forecast to ensure that the days we were shooting the sky was clear and no rain was forecast. This meant we had some very early mornings to catch the best of the light and the weather, as well as some weekends to be able to get shots with little traffic and parked cars.

Architectural Photography paired with Digital Retouching

As a result of the architectural photography shot list completed the second phase of the job began. Retouching. For the beauty shots, Morguard requires that certain items not be present in the final image. Retouching can be a time consuming process and takes a careful eye. Carefully retouching or removing the items but still retaining the professional quality of the shot. For instance in some photos all the power lines require photo retouching. And in others, power boxes, newspaper boxes and fences need attention. In some shots due to the time of day the street lights were on. This causes a colour cast on the building exterior which needs to retouching. This is a difficult process as windows are reflective which made it a lot more complex! Our experience in retouching issues like these can be see in all of our work.

architectural photography

Light posts, newspaper boxes and a building were some of the things that were retouched in this image.

architectural photography

Balancing the colour of the different light sources was the major thing that needed to be retouched.

architectural photography

Traffic lights, street lights, a person and lights in the windows were requested to be removed by the client.

We are great at what we do. Architectural photography is just one of the areas that we specialize in. Call us today for all your photographic needs! 204-831-8310

  • Architectural photography
  • Interior photography
  • Hotel and Hospitality Photography

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Photography Standards Document – Purpose and Creation

2024-03-29T12:00:30-05:00Categories: Business, Commercial, Executive, Headshots, professional|Tags: , , , , , |

What is a Photography Standards Document?

In our world of commercial photography, a photography standards document is for the sole intention of providing direction to the photographer or photographers in the lighting, composition and requirements of the company or person requiring the photography. Both large and small companies can benefit from the creation and use of a photo standards document. Firstly they will maintain consistency in their visual brand from photo session to photo session. Whether formally written out in a single page or a 100 page document.  The photography standards document should outline and illustrate the desired outcomes of the photography session. And secondly the steps to follow to achieve results.

For the purpose of this blog I will be discussing the creation of a simple one page document. The documents sole purpose is in achieving consistent head shots or executive portraits for a company website. However, Photography Standards Documents are common in many areas including one area that we do extensive work in as a hotel photographer.

The creation of the Photography Standards Document for an executive portrait.

As business portrait photographers we follow and create photography standards documents all the time. These documents are not always a formal document that is passed on from photographer to photographer. Sometimes the Photography Standards Document for professional head shots is very simple. They may include just a few notes we have on a client as to where the lights are placed, the backdrop that is used, and the pose required. This process is what we follow for all of our regular executive, sales and real estate clients. However for a larger or national client sometimes a document needs to be more formal. This provides photographers in different parts of the country a document to refer to when creating the photograph.

We created a formalized version of a standards document for a local client with national scope. They have offices across the country but required head shots that were uniform in appearance. Photography needed to adhere to their visual brand, to look good on their website when placed together. In the final images, we actually place a different background in for each member of the executive team. However all color backgrounds follow a specific colour palette. In addition we are also the ones to choose and coordinate with the photographers in other areas of the country.

The document we created provides a lighting diagram, photography tips and requirements and an illustration of how to achieve the desired photographic outcome. Also in the document is a sample of a final professional headshot. This allows us to provide our client with a consistent look to their corporate head shots no matter where their employees are. We handle all of the post processing, retouching cropping and sizing to ensure that consistency.

 

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Business Photography

2024-03-29T12:09:16-05:00Categories: Advertising, Business, Commercial, Executive, Head shots, Headshots, photos, pictures, Portrait, professional, Publicity|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Business Photos – Your first step in company recognition

Are your front line staffs’, managers’, owners’, business photos clearly on display on your website? Is your staff recognizable? Should they be? In today’s very social world of business, photography has become more important than ever.  Consumers, want to know who they are speaking with therefore the headshots play a large roll. Your staff shall be photographed in a manner that reflects you, your business and your brand.  Therefore proper attire, backgrounds and photo cropping are essential.

Do you have a casual workplace, or is it more formal? The wardrobe you choose for your staff reflects you, therefore you may not want your sales people in a hoodie or your dock personnel in a suit. However that will be determined by your workplace and who your target audience may be. If this seems to daunting to figure out, call us and let us guide you through the process.

Carbon Lock Tech – Company headshots

The feature business photos for today’s post represent what we did for Carbon Lock Tech. Since our initial session we continue to photograph all new hires for this exciting new start-up

These are only some of the things that we will do to achieve the perfect head shots or business photos for our clients. If you need us to come to you, we will do that too.

 

 

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Photography of Business Groups

2024-03-29T12:33:59-05:00Categories: Advertising, Business, Commercial, Executive, Head shots, Headshots, photos, pictures, Portrait, professional, Publicity|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Photography of Business Groups – Website, Annual Reports, Brochures, Publications

Professional photographs of your business groups, teams and executives is common place in today’s world. Businesses both large and small are seeing the constant need for exceptional photographs of their business professionals. Some companies decide to have their staff photographed in the office and some choose an outside location. While others choose to come into the studio to have the photography completed. No matter where you choose, it is important to discuss the reasons for the photographs and the desired outcome. Therefore, let me take a minute to discuss these points.

The reasons or uses for photography of business groups will vary widely. Some will choose it for an annual report, whilst others are looking for greeting cards. A company website is also an important area where the group photographs may appear. When photographs are to be part of a website then locations will be a large part of the discussion. Will there be more photographs in the future that utilize the same background? Do we need to maintain consistency in the background? If the background consistency is not important, then it can be nice to vary the images and choose different backgrounds. Sometimes images make up a part of a design on a corporate website where uniformity is important. Then careful planning will be in the layout and coordination of photography.

Outside Locations for Corporate Photographs

In the fall of 2023 we created some images for Trans Canada Wealth Management at Winnipeg’s historic Forks Market. The Forks is a beautiful location for photographs of your corporate or business groups. And in this instance the photographs will make up some of the images on their website and social media marketing. The photographs of the corporate groups and individuals are then available for any company advertising needs.

 

 

 

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