DigaPixBlog

I am going to try to describe this as simply as possible without using my hands.  When photographing architecture with an SLR camera parallel lines have a tendency to taper together, what is call “key stoning”.  This is what happens when you shoot up at a tall building and the print looks like the top of the building is narrower than the bottom.  This is caused because the lens plane and film plane are always parallel.  “Key stoning” can be prevented with SLR cameras by not tilting the camera but keeping it perpendicular to the ground.  If you want to have true parallel lines in tall building shots you need to use a bellows camera with adjustable tilts and swings for the lens and film plane.

The photograph presented here is a good example of reducing “key stoning” while using an SLR.  The photographer has paid attention to the vertical lines and kept them under control.  The image is slightly under exposed but this gives a feeling of mystery while the architecture emits power and permanence, almost foreboding.  This is one of the cleanest architecture photographs I have seen in sometime.

There is one suggestion I would make.  Viewers are used to seeing some tapering of vertical lines but they expect the horizon to be straight.  Otherwise they consider the subject tilted.  In this image the stairs are the horizon and they are tilted about one half degree to the left.  It may be better to make these parallel to the bottom of the frame and let the verticals tilt a little.  Life is full of compromises.

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