New court building in Ghent – architectural photography classes

Hello there,

as promised, some images of the new court building in Ghent.

architects Stéphane Beel and Lieven Achtergael, opened in 2007

I had lent my tripod to one of my students, so these images are not ‘top notch’, but they are well enough to show.

Normally you should never do architectural photography without a tripod. The advantages of a tripod are multiple:

It helps in fine tuning your camera position, a 3 way head is optimum for this.

It helps when light levels get low, a stable tripod allows using small apertures, even at dim light.

It allows for multiple exposures or bracketing exposure series, when you need to handle a too large dynamic range in your scene.

It slows you down, which I think is a good thing in architectural photography.

I use a Berlebach 2042 report tripod, which has a ball joint just beneath the 3-way head. This ball joint is of immense help in leveling out your tripod head. Both tripod and head are a heavy pack, but in the same respect very stable. I have been using it for about 4 years now, and it shows no signs of wear. In the image below, you should clearly see the ball joint in the tripods base. Oh, and it is the most beautiful type of tripod I have ever seen, with its solid ash wood legs.