Part 1: Abstract Photography for Students, All of my Mentees from Westlake High School
- At April 02, 2020
- By Johnny Stevens
- In Aerial photography, architecutral, austin architectural photographer, Austin photographer, camera control, commercial photography, dichotomy, Drone photography, editing, Fine Art, lifestyle photography, light painting, lighting, Photography education, Photography Mentor, portrait, portrait photography, professional, real estate, real estate photography, shutter speed, speedlights, spot lighting, student housing, student lifestyle, Tilt shift, tilt-shift lens, video, videography
0
Part 1: Abstract Photography for Students
All of my Mentees from Westlake High School.
Abstract Photography for Students is a challenge. I thought it was time to assemble all of the educational photographic projects I have done with my senior students of the Independent Study Program at Westlake High School over the last 8 years. I was surprised when I went back into my photography archives to see some of the projects that I have forgotten about. I am doing this in 5 Posts so the reader does not get overwhelmed. This first post is about our Abstract Photography exercises. So here we go.
When I agree to teach a student, I tell them that my approach to teaching is to expose them to as many different genres of photography as possible, so they can learn how to leverage the settings on their cameras, read natural light, learn how to control flash and strobe light, how to work with humans who hate to have their photos taken, and evaluate the environment for challenges.
The photography genres I like to introduce them to are:
- Abstract Photography
- Portrait Photography
- Still Life and Landscape Photography
- Architectural Photography
ABSTRACT PHOTOGRAPHY:
My first student 8 years ago was Elena. With her I learned how difficult shooting rising smoke is. We learned that having a flash at 90 degrees to a smoking piece of incense was better than having two flashes, one in each side. The contrast within the smoke was better and made it easier to identify an interesting moment within the otherwise chaotic billowing smoke. Then we edit the image mostly by eliminating surrounding smoke that did not lend itself to the formation we identified. More often that not (and this goes for painting too) we tend to identify with abstract formations that remind of some variation of human forms. Here are Elena’s images:
I had forgotten about this image, and today it is one of my favorite. It is whimsical and requires some time to process its intricacies.

Elena’s Abstract Smoke by Austin fine art photographer Johnny Stevens
This one I called Wisp of Elena. It clearly has some alien life forms that attract the eye….

Elena’s Abstract Smoke #2 Alien formation by Austin abstract photographer Johnny Stevens
My mentee Nolan shot this smoke image. Very often the way smoke rises and curls, it tends to show formations of vertebrae and human bones.

Nolan smoke abstract photography austin
And this one from my mentee Morgan;

Morgan abstract smoke photography by Austin photographer Johnny Stevens
For Jake’s Abstract Smoke Photography exercise, he created 2 edited versions from this first raw file.

Jake’s original raw file of smoke rising

Final edit of abstract smoke rising photograph

Final edit 2 of abstract smoke rising photograph
My mentee Krishan and I tested our reflexes at shooting water drops in a glass.

Krishan’s composition of 4 drops of water
After an hour of gruelling timing to pull the trigger at the right time we learned that we could not get the effect we were looking for which is achieved by buying a Pluto Valve Drop Regulator. It releases drops timed exactly with the shutter of the camera, but more importantly it releases 2 consecutive drops so that the upward splash of the first drop smashes into the one coming down and creates a beautiful mushroom effect. As seen in these two examples:

water drop 1 by fstoppers

waterdrop 2 by 500 px blog
To introduce my students to compositing in Photoshop, I will often give them the task of taking a series of images and composite parts of them into a master image. In this case I gave Nolan these images from my Mannequin folder of images to create a composite:

Mannequin for abstract photoshop compositing lesson Johnny Stevens Austin Photographer

Final composite by Nolan
Aerial Drone Architectural Photography
Aerial Drone Architectural Photography
Some recent good examples of Aerial Drone Architectural Photography show how getting up just 10 or 20 feet can make all the difference in an exterior of a building. These are both apartments complexes. The Lyndon pool is in San Marcos and the 959 Franklin images are from Eugene, Oregon. In those you can see that it was raining but I had just enough time to launch the Mavic Pro and shoot these two angles. The sky was ugly so replacing the sky in Photoshop was easy and necessary.

Aerial Drone architectural Photograph of 959 Franklin angle 2

Aerial Drone architectural Photograph of 959 Franklin

Aerial Drone architectural Photograph of The Lyndon San Marcos
Photographing Student Housing with the drone
Photographing Student Housing with the drone
How many times have I just wanted to get the camera up 10 feet to really showcase the exteriors of some of the student housing properties I have shot? Photographing aerial Student Housing with the drone is the simple answer because the drone allows me to get a different perspective on the property. Usually I noticed that I do get some keystoning distortion simply because I am often shooting down. This is easily corrected with the vertical perspective tool in Camera Raw in Photoshop. Here an example of the difference in perspective from ground photographs off the tripod and similar ones from the drone. These are both the same property by American Campus Communities.

Ground photo from tripod of the pool at Townhomes at Newtowne in Lexington

Aerial Drone photo from Mavic Pro drone of the pool at Townhomes at Newtowne in Lexington
Architectural photography for new Student Housing in San Marcos
Architectural photography for new Student Housing in San Marcos
I was asked to provide some professional architectural photography for new Student Housing in San Marcos. The student apartments is called The Lyndon. It services Texas State University. One of the feature amenities is an amazing pool with a jumbotron TV system that really rocks. I love the portrait of LBJ in the entry of the great room. My client was Berkadia out of Philadelphia, and the current management of the property is by Asset Campus Housing out of Houston.

Aerial drone Pool Exterior and Jumbotron at The Lyndon Architectural photography in San Marcos by Johnny Stevens

The Lyndon Architectural photography in San Marcos by Johnny Stevens
Architectural photography for RollFab
Architectural photography for RollFab
I was recently asked to do some Architectural photography for RollFab in Austin. They are based in Phoenix. RollFab makes metal panels that look like wood. They offer a full line of the highest quality metal roofing systems, siding and metal wall panels for architectural, commercial, industrial, and residential projects of every kind. Architects, contractors and installers appreciate the quality service from their professional staff. They are ready to answer any question, and help devise custom solutions to individual project needs. This project is located at the Village at the Triangle in Austin. It is pretty cool stuff so I thought it would be nice to toss in a few drone shots of the building too because actually getting up an additional 15 feet higher was very helpful in showing the vertical side panels of the RollFab product on the building.

Architectural photography in Austin for RollFab

RollFab products installed at Village at Triangle architectural photography Austin
The Mavic Pro drone perfect perspective
The Mavic Pro drone perfect perspective
How many times have I been shooting architecture from a tripod and wishing I could get just 10 feet higher? The Mavic Pro drone adds the perfect perspective for those situations. The drone does not have the vertical perspective adjust-ability as the TS-E 17 lens does, but once you are up 10 or 20 feet, you don’t need it because the verticals are true at those heights.

Aerial architectural photo with Mavic Pro photographer Johnny Stevens

Aerial architectural photo with Mavic Pro Austin

Aerial architectural photo with Mavic Pro Johnny Stevens
Aerial Drone Photography and Videography
How many times have I been shooting a structure and wishing I could get just 20 feet up rather than shooting from the ground?

ThinkEast Apartment Aerial architectural photo with Mavic Pro 2 Austin
Alas, this is just what the drones offer us. Not only do they offer a different perspective on a structure, but we can add video to leverage aerial motion and feature the surroundings. Add a bit of moody music and you have a very compelling representation of a property. My drone of choice is the DJI Mavic Pro 2 with the Hasselblad camera simply because I can pack it in my photo bag and travel with it on planes. The camera delivers a superior still image as well.
Drone Photography and Video by Johnny Stevens
FAA Licensed Drone Pilot
FAA Registration FA3347KRKA
In The News
- At May 23, 2015
- By Johnny Stevens
- In abstract, Aerial photography, aerial video, architectural photos, areial video, art for sale, austin architectural photographer, Austin photographer, canvas prints for sale, Drone photography, Drone Video, Fine Art, HDR, hot rods, landscape, light painting, Photography, Photoshop, portrait, portrait photography, professional, protrait, real estate photography, rust rapture
0
Johnny’s work has recently been featured in the following publications. Click on any image to view each article!
Clients
- At February 09, 2015
- By Johnny Stevens
- In aerial, aerial video, american campus, architectural photos, art for sale, austin architectural photographer, Austin photographer, canvas prints for sale, Drone photography, Drone Video, Fine Art, headshots, landscape, light painting, Photography, Photoshop, portrait, protrait, real estate, real estate photography, rust rapture
0
BizFilm Media, LLC
Johnny Carino’s Italian Restaurants
Mason Health Care
Oxford Commercial Real Estate
Paul Mitchell Systems
Pauly Realty
Premier Partners Homes
Regsiter Dixon Homes
Riverplace Country Club
The Natasha Group Keller Williams
The Roby Institute
Threshold Agency
Wayport
Will Mokry Designs
World Class Capital Group
Todd Associates
Architectural Photography
- At July 22, 2014
- By Johnny Stevens
- In Aerial photography, american campus, architectural photos, architecutral, austin architectural photographer, Austin photographer, commercial photography, drone, Drone photography, Drone Video, HDR, hotel, light painting, Photography, professional, real estate, real estate photography, Tilt shift, tilt-shift lens
0

U Pointe on Speight Student housing architectural exterior real estate photograph
Johnny’s expertise in light painting, spot lighting, blending techniques, and special tilt shift camera lenses allow him to reveal the inherent beauty and detail of a space or building. Johnny’s student housing and commercial work, with companies like American Campus Communities, CTA Architects Engineers and Noack Little Architects take him across country to capture images that are displayed on the pages of dozens of premier commercial real estate sites.
Post Processing


From the Photographer: Architectural Photographer in Austin, Johnny StevensThere are as many way to photograph architecture as there are to shoot portraiture. Choices in photographing architecture or real estate include adding light to the scene or just shooting in natural light. Should I add models and actors or photograph without? Shall I shoot with a normal lens or photograph with wide angle lenses? Must I pay the price for tilt shift lenses or not? Must I photograph on a tripod or make the mistake of not doing so. What kind of camera do I need? What resolution images should I shoot? Raw images or jpeg? Do I need to balance the color in the room with filtered lighting or do color correction later in Photoshop? Do I need to hire a set designer or move things around myself?One of the key considerations for my architectural work is composition and perspective and that is why I use tilt shift lenses. These are referred to sometimes as perspective shift lenses. Not only do they let you tilt the lens to create selective focus – or a sense of shallow depth of field (used for miniaturization photography) they also allow you to shift the lens up and down on a vertical plane that honors the vertical walls of the building, house or room you are shooting. It is not uncommon for photographers to forego the expense of these tilt shift lenses and shoot with a 14mm to 28 mm lens for wide shots, and then fix the perspective or the convergence of parallel lines (the walls) in Photoshop later by transforming the image, but there is a critical point at which Photoshop transformed rooms or building begin to look spooky and abnormal because the top or bottom of the image has been stretched in to emulate a truly vertical image.The added value off the tilt shift lenses is that it gives you the opportunity to photograph a vertically true lower shot and then shift up on the room to shoot an upper version of the room and then photomerge them together in Photoshop to render an image with lots more real estate (no pun intended) – a much larger area than the SLR camera shoots in a single shot. So now an image that comes out of the camera with a native 3 x 2 aspect ratio gets closer to a much taller 1 x 1 aspect ratio. It offers my clients more latitude in cropping the image the way they please, depending on the space requirements of their print layout, or web page.Another consideration for photographing architecture is high dynamic range (HDR) versus using lights to light the room. I use both techniques and often blend the two. HDR makes traveling and shooting much more efficient but it also presents some issues that have to be corrected later. I bracket my shutter speed 5 exposures – 1.5 stops apart – one normal exposure, over 1.5 and over 3 stops and under 1.5 stops and under 3 stops. This is why you have to use a tripod. Exposures climb up to 30 seconds for exterior night time scenes. The faster shutter speeds in this wider bracket renders more detail in the windows after fusing them in Photomatix. My settings in Photomatix are my secret sauce but have found a setting that can render a scene looking very normal rather than with the excessive surreal effects that HDR can often produce, and the yellow and orange cast that are often rendered. I often will photograph a scene with HDR and then go around the room and spotlight areas (especially if they are backlit by a window making the foreground dark) that need an exposure pop and then mask in those areas later in Photoshop, after color correcting both the HDR image and the single exposure images.