Physical Obstructions. When you are out photographing you should always be looking for obstructions that cover areas of your building. Some obstructions might be part of your external landscaping and therefore an element of the buildings' character, many other obstructions will be unwanted additions to your photographs. Keeping all unwanted obstructions out of frame is not always possible. Traffic obstructions (anything that is moving) can be overcome by simply picking the right moment to take the photograph. The same goes for movable objects that can be temporarily repositioned out of frame. Permanent obstructions such as lamp posts, railings, street signs, trees etc. offer a different challenge to the photographer and the model maker.

Permanent Obstructions With permanent obstructions you need to use different techniques at the photographic level to reduce the need for extensive post-production PhotoShop work (PhotoShop is software we use to remove obstructions from the image). The less obstructions in the photograph the better the photo-textures we can produce for the model. One of the simplest ways to overcome obstructions is to change the angle you take the photograph from, as shown here. If an obstruction like a lamp post or sign is still visible from all angles then make sure you take photographs from multiple angles. Altering the angle like this means that the obstruction is never in the same place twice, allowing us to clone the surface that is being obstructed (cloning is a PhotoShop technique we use). It's worth spending a bit of time planning your photographs and eliminating as many of the obstructions as you can, "if we can't see it we can't build it"

'If all else fails' If, no matter what angle you take the photograph from you still have a fixed obstruction then we suggest you use the following techniques. The first technique is to make sure that any obstruction you do have is photographed with a low detail area of the building as a backdrop. A plain backdrop allows the area around the obstruction to be sampled and cloned by us in post-production. Cloning is a PhotoShop technique we use to carefully sample the material around the obstruction and than layer this sampled material over the obstruction, thus removing the unwanted element.

Over The Fence Some obstructions, such as fences and railings are a little bit more difficult to deal with. No matter where you position yourself the obstruction will always sit in front of detailed areas like doors and windows. The only thing you can do in this situation is to take additional detailed photographs of what is behind the obstruction so we have unobstructed photographic reference of the detailed area. If possible take these additional photographs in a forward facing position. This will allow us to join photographic elements together during post-production and create final textures which eliminate permanent obstructions.

	Warning: Photographers and motor traffic don't mix. Please take great care when out photographing your building, you can guarantee that the perfect photograph will involve you standing close to traffic.
	Look carefully at the area you are photographing and make sure you are not recording obstructions unnecessarily.
	When photographing where motor traffic and pedestrians may be passing between you and the building be patient and pick your moment carefully.
	If obstructions can be moved while you are taking photographs then take time out to get them moved. This will reduce the overall cost of creating your model.
	Remember that you should take photographs from different angles. By changing the angle of your photographs many smaller obstructions will not appear in the same place twice. This allows us to sample the surface of the building that is being obstructed.
	If you do have permanent obstructions try to take photographs where the obstruction is in front of low detail areas of the building. Try to keep the obstruction away from detailed areas like doors and windows.
	If you have permanent obstructions like fences or railings that appear in front of detailed areas no matter where you position yourself, you need to take additional close-up photographs of the area behind the obstruction.

Page 4