Photographing  Bridges

30th December     Back to Brantacan       back to Photography    Bridges

Many bridges make attractive subjects, and it isn’t difficult to get a reasonable picture, except when there isn’t a suitable view-point.  In those cases a wide-angle lens might be needed, but care is needed to avoided distorting the proportions of the subject.  Ideally a picture should from a distance from which it fills exactly the same viewing angle as the original subject.  Then the image looks like the subject.  This would be difficult with an extreme wide-angle lens, and it would render telephoto lenses rather pointless.

One advantage of a wide-angle lens is the ability to move in closer, thus increasing the chance of eliminating unwanted objects, such as street furniture or trees.  Such a lens can be used to emphasise the size of the bridge if there is a person in the background.

This is not a good way to use a wide-angle lens.  The curves and proportions of this attractive bridge have been spoiled by the poor choice of lens and view-point, and the bridge has not even been properly framed.  Sometimes a view like this can work, for example with a linear concrete beam bridge, when it can emphasise the mass or the length.  In such cases a lens of shorter focal length might do a better job.

Here is an attempt to make such a picture, using a 28 mm lens.  Sometimes the illumination of the underside of a large bridge can be made interesting by reflection from water or even from general surroundings.  A picture like this certainly should not be too dark.

It is important to avoid sloping horizons or water levels, and equally important to avoid converging or diverging verticals, unless they are deliberately used.  With a wide-angle lens it is important to get the verticals right at the expense of composition, at least in cases where cropping can produce the required image. 

The camera was tilted upwards when this picture was taken, and so the verticals are sloping inwards.  The picture is about 38 years old, and has lost much of its colour, except the blue.  It is also dusty.  Definitely a poor effort, though there was no choice of lens, and no choice of view-point.

Lighting is very important, and studying a large-scale map may help in choosing the best time of day and time of year for a given bridge.  A 1:50000 or 1:25000 map will show whether access is possible using a right of way.  Don’t forget that a bridge has twp ends, and two sides, producing four basic nearby view-points.  More distant views may be modified by a bend in a road or a river.   A map may also show obscuring objects such as power lines or clumps of trees.  Trees, in fact, can make it necessary to photograph in winter, when at least they have no leaves.  Lighting can obscure or illuminate the lines of the structure, depending on its direction.  Masonry, for example, can be picked out more effectively with side-light.  Strong mid-day sun may well produce deep shadows under a bridge, while morning or evening light may be softer, and more able to light up the area under the bridge.  With suitable illumination, water under a bridge can provide useful fill-in lighting of the underside.

These two pictures were taken within a few seconds of each other, but they give quite different impressions.

To get a clear picture showing atmospheric damage to these limestone blocks, the photograph was taken when the line of the sun was only about ten degrees from the plane of the wall.  Frontal illumination would have shown very little.

Don’t forget the foreground and background.  Look all around the viewfinder for obtrusive objects that may spoil the result if noticed later.  Make sure that the camera is exactly horizontal – you do not want sloping horizons or converging verticals, unless you are aiming for a deliberate special effect. Always bear in mind that the picture may be cropped, so there is no necessity to fill the frame in all directions.  

With a camera, for example an APS type,  that can produce different formats, there is much scope for composition.  A 6 X 6 cm camera also offers great scope.  A 50 X 35 mm strip from a 6 X 6 negative or slide can be put it a 35 mm scanner and scanned in two parts.  The two images can be joined to make a panoramic view.  If the settings of the scanner are unchanged between the scans (don’t do a pres-scan for the second part) the result can be very good.  This was done in a number of cases in order to make use of existing photographs.

While a bridge is often an impressive sight, some human interest and a sense of scale can be added if a boat, vehicle or person should pass, or be posed,  underneath.  

The presence of the angler at the left makes a big difference to this picture.  What if he had been on the right hand side?  Would you have reversed the image?  To make a bridge look larger and more impressive, the person or object should be further away than the bridge.  

Waterfowl may also form a foil to the severity of the structure.  As shown above, angler using the shade or shelter of the bridge can also help. In fact, some fish may also choose the vicinity of a bridge, which is why the angler was there.

In this version of the same picture the swans have been turned around.  Does it make any difference?  Some of the pictures of bridges in this web-site have been given small adjustments, such as removing unsightly bits of paper and plants, and occasional lamp-posts, in order to present the bridges at their best.

This is a third attempt with the same image.  The images of the two swans have been moved.  Is this any better?  A couple of lamp-posts have been removed from these images to clean them up.

The type of film may be influential when creating pictures for a web-site.  The earlier pictures in this web-site were made using transparency film, mainly Fuji Sensia RA 135 100 ISO, which seems to produce fairly natural colours with good resolution: it is an excellent film type.  When the scenes had much contrast, there was difficulty in making good scans.  Older pictures made on Kodachrome II (25 ASA) were more contrasty still.

This image has far too much contrast, even though the scanner was adjusted to reduce it.  Contrast reduction can only go as far as the shadow tones allow.  The transparency should have had more exposure.  Bracketing might have helped.  The rower gives a good idea of the scale.  If you want to emphasise the size of a bridge, try to expose when the boat is a little further away than the bridge, but not so far as to give the game away. 

Later pictures were made with Fuji Reala Superia CS 135 100 ISO negative film, and it was found that contrast was more manageable.  Contrast can be a problem with pictures of bridges, when there are deep shadows.  This is not a criticism of Sensia film, which is excellent, and has been used for many of the photographs in this web-site.  A great many pictures have also been made with Jessops 100 ISO and 200 ISO negative film.

Details can often make attractive and interesting pictures, and a photograph of any labels or plaques can help you tell your story . Lighting is as important for plaques as for bridges.  Some plaques are too high to allow the camera to be held horizontally.  The image of the plaque will then be distorted.  Moving back and using a long focal length will reduce the distortion.  Another possibility is to fit a very lens with short focal length and move closer.  By placing the image of the plaque at the top of the picture it may be possible to get a good result.  In all cases the vital point is to make the plane of the film exactly parallel to the plane of the plaque, to avoid trapezium distortion.  If you do find that you didn’t quite get it right, cropping the picture to remove the edges of the plaque may make the effect less obvious.  You may be able to use software to make a correction if you are digitizing the pictures.

The type of camera is not very important for a web-site, as long as the resolution of the film and the lenses is adequate.  With an SLR type of camera, the vibration caused by the mirror may be a nuisance.  Many of the bridge pictures in this site were made using Pentax M42 Super Takumar or SMC lenses, mounted on a Spotmatic F body (negatives) or a Canon EOS 1000FN (slides).  There is little advantage in using a zoom lens, because the bridges are not likely to collapse while you change lenses.  On the other hand, lighting may change rapidly, and boats, birds or people in your composition may move quickly.  It may then be desirable to be able to compose and shoot quickly.

Whatever you do will not be improved by camera shake.  A tripod, monopod, clamp, or bean-bag can be used.  If none of these are available, bracing the camera against a fence or a wall may be tried.  With wide angle lenses, this problem may be less acute.

Many bridges make attractive subjects, and it isn’t difficult to get a reasonable picture, except when there isn’t a suitable view-point.  In those cases a wide-angle lens might be needed, but care is needed to avoided distorting the proportions of the subject.  Ideally a picture should from a distance from which it fills exactly the same viewing angle as the original subject.  Then the image looks like the subject.  This would be difficult with an extreme wide-angle lens, and it would render telephoto lenses rather pointless.

One advantage of a wide-angle lens is the ability to move in closer, thus increasing the chance of eliminating unwanted objects, such as street furniture or trees.  Such a lens can be used to emphasise the size of the bridge if there is a person in the background.

It is important to avoid sloping horizons or water levels, and equally important to avoid converging or diverging verticals, unless they are deliberately used.  With a wide-angle lens it is important to get the verticals right at the expense of composition, at least in cases where cropping can produce the required image.  With a sharp lens, a fine-grain film, and a tripod, a good result can be obtained from a surprisingly small part of the frame, especially if the final image is not going to be very big.

Lighting is very important, and studying a large-scale map may help in choosing the best time of day and time of year for a given bridge.  A 1:50000 or 1:25000 map will show whether access is possible using a right of way.  It may also show obscuring objects such as power lines or clumps of trees.  Trees, in fact, can make it necessary to photograph in winter, when at least they have no leaves.  Lighting can obscure or illuminate the lines of the structure, depending on its direction.  Masonry, for example, can be picked out more effectively with side-light.  Strong mid-day sun may well produce deep shadows under a bridge, while morning or evening light may be softer, and more able to light up the area under the bridge.  With suitable illumination, water under a bridge can provide useful fill-in lighting of the underside.

Don’t forget the foreground and background.  Look all around the viewfinder for obtrusive objects that may spoil the result if noticed later.  If you will be scanning the picture, you can sometimes remove unwanted objects by editing.  Make sure that the camera is exactly horizontal – you do not want sloping horizons or converging verticals, unless you are aiming for a deliberate special effect. Always bear in mind that the picture may be cropped, so there is no necessity to fill the frame in all directions.  

With a camera, for example an APS type,  that can produce different formats, there is much scope for composition.  A 6 X 6 cm camera also offers great scope.  A 50 X 35 mm strip from a 6 X 6 negative or slide can be put it a 35 mm scanner and scanned in two parts.  The two images can be joined to make a panoramic view.  If the settings of the scanner are unchanged between the scans (don’t do a pre-scan for the second part) the result can be very good.  This was done in a number of cases in order to make use of existing photographs.

While a bridge is often an impressive sight, some human interest and a sense of scale can be added if a boat, vehicle or person should pass, or be posed,  underneath.  To make a bridge look larger and more impressive, the person or object should be further away than the bridge.  Waterfowl may also form a foil to the severity of the structure.  An angler using the shade or shelter of the bridge can also help. In fact. some fish may also choose the vicinity of a bridge.

The type of film may be influential when creating pictures for a web-site.  The earlier pictures in this web-site were made using transparency film, mainly Fuji Sensia RA 135 100 ISO, which seems to produce fairly natural colours with god resolution.  When the scenes had much contrast, there was difficulty in making good scans.  Later pictures were made with Fuji Reala Superia CS 135 100 ISO negative film, and it was found that contrast was more manageable.  Contrast can be a problem with pictures of bridges, when there are deep shadows.  This is not a criticism of Sensia film, which is excellent, and has been used for many of the photographs in this web-site.  A number of pictures have also been made with Jessops 100 ISO and 200 ISO negative film.

Details can often make attractive and interesting pictures, and a photograph of any labels or plaques can help you tell your story . Lighting is as important for plaques as for bridges.  Some plaques are too high to allow the camera to be held horizontally.  The image of the plaque will then be distorted.  Moving back and using a long focal length will reduce the distortion.  Another possibility is to fit a very lens with short focal length and move closer.  By placing the image of the plaque at the top of the picture, and cropping later, it may be possible to get a good result.  In all cases the vital point is to make the plane of the film exactly parallel to the plane of the plaque, to avoid trapezium distortion.  If you do find that you didn’t quite get it right, cropping the picture to remove the edges of the plaque may make the effect less obvious.  You may be able to use software to make a correction if you are digitizing the pictures.

The type of camera is not very important for a web-site, as long as the resolution of the film and the lenses is adequate.  With an SLR type of camera, the vibration caused by the mirror may be a nuisance.  Many of the bridge pictures in this site were made using Pentax M42 Super Takumar or SMC lenses, mounted on a Spotmatic body (negatives) or a Canon EOS 1000FN (slides).  There is little advantage in using a zoom lens, because the bridges are not likely to collapse while you change lenses.  On the other hand, lighting may change rapidly, and boats, birds or people in your composition may move quickly.  It may then be desirable to be able to compose and shoot quickly.

Whatever you do will not be improved by camera shake.  A tripod, monopod, clamp, or bean-bag should be used.  If none of these are available, bracing the camera against a fence or a wall may be tried.  With wide angle lenses, this problem may be less acute.  If you are going to use the pictures only in a web-site, a faster film may give adequate resolution and reduce the effects of camera shake.