technique - How to take nice shots of glass-facaded buildings?

I need to take photos of some buildings which have glass facades as a building shell. They have around 10 floors.

What lens, composition, lighting, time of day are appropriate for this kind of photos?

How to avoid ugly reflections on the glass?

What white balance for a glass facade which is dark blue?

The purpose of photos is to show architectural possibilities with glass facades.

Thanks

Answer

Soft light is going to work better for you than harsh light (you get less strong reflections and the contrast will be more manageable) so either early morning, early evening or an overcast day would be best.

A circular polarising filter will help control reflections: you may find you need to try different locations until you find an angle where it's really effective. Or alternatively, try a low angle so you only get the sky reflected instead of other buildings (if this is possible).

Unless you're able to shoot the buildings from far away, you'll inevitably be using a wide-angle lens. Shooting the building close up and straight on (i.e. shooting at a 90° angle to the façade) will usually result in a disappointing shot: the building will be "leaning backwards" very unnaturally. However, shooting at a bit of an angle can be really effective and result in a much nicer effect. Try standing nearer a corner of the building rather than square on. Either way, try not to zoom the lens any wider than you really have to.

As for white balance, the colour of the buildings is irrelevant: just set your camera to the prevailing weather conditions (sunny or cloudy). White balance is about removing colour cast to ensure faithful colour reproduction: to make sure whites appear white and, in your case, blues appear blue.