Results 1 to 11 of 11

Thread: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

  1. #1
    Moderator Manfred M's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    22,257
    Real Name
    Manfred Mueller

    Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    The Custom House was set up near the wharves in Salem (not much of a surprise here) as the the trading ships from all over the world, but especially the Far East would land their goods in Salem. The customs duties collected at this site were apparently the single largest source of revenue for the young USA.

    My aim for this shot (taken with the Nikkor f/3.5 24mm PC-E lens) was to get a straight on view, so the sides of the building did not show at all; i.e. a very two-dimensional view of the building. The converging lines of the two side streets meet somewhere behind the building. The building is built on a hill , with the right side slightly higher than the left side of the shot.

    The inspiration for the framing is a principle known as Orthopgraphic Projection, where engineering (and architectural) drawings show a face on 2-D view (as well as a top and side view; not something I attempted here).


    Custom House, Salem -  Orthographic View

    The chimneys and some of the columns show where the engineering world and optical world do not align perfectly...
    Last edited by Manfred M; 5th July 2015 at 12:42 AM.

  2. #2
    Cantab's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Canada (west coast)
    Posts
    2,053
    Real Name
    Bruce

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    I've enjoyed looking at this photo.

    Everything is absolutely dead on -- except that the city did not centre the dip in the road (and the planters) with the stairs of the building!

  3. #3
    Digital's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Carrollton, Georgia (USA)
    Posts
    2,757
    Real Name
    Bruce

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    Manfred, this is a very nice photograph.


    Bruce

  4. #4
    Shadowman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    36,716
    Real Name
    John

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    Nicely captured.

  5. #5
    gregj1763's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Launceston Tasmania
    Posts
    1,929
    Real Name
    Greg

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    A very interesting image of a grand building, I like what you have achieved with the 2D feel to it and I love the colours throughout the photo

  6. #6
    Moderator Manfred M's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    22,257
    Real Name
    Manfred Mueller

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    Quote Originally Posted by gregj1763 View Post
    A very interesting image of a grand building, I like what you have achieved with the 2D feel to it and I love the colours throughout the photo
    Greg - doesn't is seem slightly ironic that we are discussing how something looks 2-D on a flat computer screen?

    I think we photographers are so busy trying to achieve depth in our 2-D images, it seems counter-intuitive to actually try to achieve a flat image of a 3-D object that actually looks like it is 2-D.

    On that note, maybe I should sign off for the night, before my head explodes thinking this through.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    northern Virginia suburb of Washington, DC
    Posts
    19,064

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    Thanks for sharing both the narrative and the photo. I really like how the side streets frame the building.

  8. #8
    IzzieK's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Chesterfield, Missouri/Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    17,827
    Real Name
    Izzie

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    If I am to critic this shot, Manfred, it will be for the clean-ness of the image...or should I say, very engineered? Nice study for me...

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    North West of England
    Posts
    7,178
    Real Name
    John

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Buckley View Post
    Thanks for sharing both the narrative and the photo. I really like how the side streets frame the building.
    My thoughts too. That's a nice and an interesting image.

  10. #10
    Moderator Manfred M's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    22,257
    Real Name
    Manfred Mueller

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    Quote Originally Posted by IzzieK View Post
    If I am to critic this shot, Manfred, it will be for the clean-ness of the image...or should I say, very engineered? Nice study for me...
    Thanks Izzie - my intent with this shot is to create tension by concocting an image that doesn't look quite "real". The two mechanisms I chose are both the way I photographed it (straight on) and the fact I've made it look "sterile" and lifeless by excluding any people or animals.

    That was a bit of a challenge as there were lots of cars driving by it and lots of people walking along the street in front of it, so standing around and waiting for everything to be "all clear" took a few minutes. A tourist town has lots of tourists...

  11. #11
    Moderator Dave Humphries's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Windsor, Berks, UK
    Posts
    16,749
    Real Name
    Dave Humphries :)

    Re: Custom House, Salem - Orthographic View

    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver View Post
    Greg - doesn't is seem slightly ironic that we are discussing how something looks 2-D on a flat computer screen?

    I think we photographers are so busy trying to achieve depth in our 2-D images, it seems counter-intuitive to actually try to achieve a flat image of a 3-D object that actually looks like it is 2-D.

    On that note, maybe I should sign off for the night, before my head explodes thinking this through.
    Hmmm, curses ( ), now I have been 'infected'.

    You got me thinking, then possibly remembering, let me explain ...

    I was thinking that to do this 'properly', you could shoot 5 shots; one directly in front of each 'bay' of columns, then panorama stitch the resulting shots together in to a single image to remove much of the parallax issues that this shot shows.

    It may be that more than 5 shots are needed, in fact perhaps the stitching, or manual clone combining of the images from different layers, would be better done 'up' the columns themselves.

    Then (I think) I remember that Frank Miller (FrankMi) may have already tried something like this on his trip to Rome a few years back.

    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver View Post
    That was a bit of a challenge as there were lots of cars driving by it and lots of people walking along the street in front of it, so standing around and waiting for everything to be "all clear" took a few minutes. A tourist town has lots of tourists...
    In fact it was precisely this reason that I believe Frank started doing it for - so two birds with a handful of stones


    How long do we think before Photoshop CC has an Orthographic tool?
    (or perhaps it does already)

    Time for me to sign off yet?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •