Professional architectural photographs have one thing in common: they almost never have people in them. Browse any architectural magazine and you'll notice this, rather weird thing. Why is that?
I've come up with some explanations for the lack of humans:
- Architectural photographers are expected to present the architecture at its best. People are not in the leading role this time.
- Architectural photos have long exposure times. People should not move a bit unless you want to use fuzziness a special effect.
- It takes time to come up with a good composition. People should be at the right place at the right time, and that's not easy.
- People steal the attention. Look at any picture with an individual in a built environment. Do you admire the architecture first?
- Are passer by ready to be shown in published photos? You could use models, but it might look a bit fake.
There are, of course, reasons why people should definitely be in these photos:
- Architecture is for people, not the other way round
- A person is a good yardstick, making the dimensions of the building comprehensible
- People demonstrate how the building or environment actually works
It is interesting to see that computer-generated 3D visualizations of buildings often include people. It is much easier to use virtual persons since you can place whoever you want, wherever you want. In real life that's more challenging.
