The Architecture Project
📸 Photo Assignment 9
Hey photographers! New photo assignment for this week.
This one is all about architectural photography. It’s a genre that focuses on photographing buildings, interiors, and other structures.
Here’s what’s inside today’s post:
✨ The assignment itself
✨ Creative guidance
✨ Workflow
✨ How to submit
Let’s get started. Welcome to The Architecture Project.
Your challenge this week is to take a photo where a built structure is the main subject. Let the design, form, or presence of the space lead the frame.
That could mean showing how a structure sits in its environment, or isolating something small (a material, a connection, a shape) that stands out.
You have one week to submit your photo to the community gallery. Check the section “How to submit” for more info.
Creative guidance
Architectural photography relies on photography fundamentals like composition, light, perspective, and timing. What you include in the frame — and just as importantly, what you leave out — can change how the structure is perceived in your image. Even small shifts in position can affect scale, depth, or the way lines interact.
There’s no single approach that works for every building. It depends on what stands out to you, and how you choose to work with it.
If you’re not sure where to start, the ideas below can help spark an approach or point your lens in a new direction.
Low angle
Photographing architecture from a lower angle can emphasize height and scale. This approach often pairs naturally with wider lenses, especially when you want a more dramatic sense of presence.
Symmetry
Many buildings are built around balance: centered doors, repeated windows, mirrored staircases. Symmetry can create a calm, structured image. Small breaks in symmetry can also add a bit of energy, while still keeping the frame organized.
Shapes
Architecture is full of abstract forms: rectangles, curves, grids, blocks, cut-outs. When a photo leans into shape over “place,” it can feel more graphic and less literal — more about form than location.
Fill the frame
Filling the frame with a structure (or a part of it) can simplify the image and shift attention to pattern, texture, and form. Context fades away, and the architecture itself takes center stage.
Lines
Buildings often create strong lines that naturally pull the eye through an image. Streets, corridors, staircases, and facades can all lead toward a vanishing point, giving the photo a clear sense of direction and depth.
Perspective and scale
Architecture can feel abstract without a reference point. Including a person or a familiar object can instantly communicate scale, showing how large a space really is.
Workflow
Here’s a short workflow to guide your week with architecture:
Start by noticing: Look at how the structure is built. Notice shapes, lines, surfaces, and how the architecture sits in its surroundings.
Explore angles: Eye-level, high, or low viewpoints all change how architecture reads. Pointing your lens up or down can introduce scale, tension, or clarity, depending on the scene.
Compose with intention: You might show the entire building within its environment, or focus on a detail that stands out. Think about how it interacts with lines, light, and space.
Refine: Ask yourself: Does every element add to the story? Remove distractions, or give these “distracting” elements a compelling reason to be there.
How to submit
We host the community gallery via Padlet. You’ll need a (free) Padlet account to submit your photo.
Click the button “Submit photo” below.
Log in with (or create) a free Padlet account.
Upload your image and include a short caption if you want.
Hit publish and you’re in! 🎉
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That’s it for this week’s assignment.
We’re looking forward to seeing how everyone approaches architecture, and how different the results can be when we all start from the same theme.
As always, if you have questions, ideas, or just want to say hi, you can reach us at hello@camerasetup.co.
Best,
The CameraSetup Team