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on site so I can ask if it’s okay to stand in a particular spot or
climb onto something. You cannot have a fear of heights in this
job, or dislike getting dirty.”
Photo tips
Beyond documentation and publicity, there is the potential
for art in industrial photography, as the work of Australian
photographer Wolfgang Sievers attests. Cross loves Sievers’
work, and says that industrial photography, made to look heroic,
lends itself to art. Sometimes the sheer scale and repetition in
industrial photography is artful.
Schuringa agrees and says Sievers turned what is normally
considered a boring subject into works of art using black and
white photography, detail, and movement.
When you’re learning any genre of photography you need a keen
eye and some patience for trial and error, says Schuringa. She also
offers suggests some basic tips for anyone starting out “Generally,
if I’m hand-holding my camera without a tripod, my rule-of-thumb
is the length of the lens is typically the time exposure required to
make certain the image is not blurred through movement. If I use
my 70-200mm and my length is 100, I need to have the timing set
at one-hundredth of a second. Generally I don’t like to shoot under
one-sixtieth of a second if hand-holding. A tripod is important if you
are using slower shutter speeds to capture movement, for example,
equipment, people, or pouring liquid. I only ever shoot in RAW
and make adjustments in Lightroom before converting to a TIFF
file and making further adjustments, if required, in Photoshop, for
example to perspective and sharpening.”
Emma Cross advises photographers to be aware of light and
repetition, and to shoot a range of exposures to capture shadows
and highlights. Mostly you won’t be able to return to a site for a
reshoot, so make sure you have enough exposures to be able to
