Michael Muraz
Photofocus
Toronto, ON, Canada
Contact Michael
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Past articles by Michael:
Seven tips to photograph architectural exteriors
Learn how to deal with and plan for the light, weather, people, cars, other buildings and more when photographing architectural exteriors. → Read More
Five tips to photograph architectural interiors
Interior images have a few goals. Here are five tips for photographing architectural interiors to help you create better images. → Read More
Photographing through glass
Photographing through glass cannot sometimes be helped. In some instances, it is the only way you're going to get the image. → Read More
Photographing architecture in winter
Does it mean I never shoot in winter? Not at all! There are some shooting opportunities in winter, like interiors and shooting with snow. → Read More
Exploring different ways to photograph architecture
Architectural photography is a pretty wide genre. Let's dive into the architectural world and discover ways to capture architecture. → Read More
Seven tips to photograph fireworks and architecture
With summer comes national holidays (July 1 in Canada, July 4 in the US and July 14 in France) and fireworks. Chances are, many of you will be going to see fireworks and will want to photograph them. If you’re in a large city, it’s worth planning your shots to get some interesting architecture or… → Read More
Architectural photography: Capturing angles for 3D renderings
A lesser-known facet of architectural photography is creating images for 3D renderings. When an architectural firm designs a building, the client often needs 3D renderings of the building to market it, whether it is condos, rentals, offices or even public buildings. To make those renderings more realistic and to provide context, they’re often inserted in… → Read More
Interior photography: Lighting an impossible bathroom
When photographing residential interiors, I sometimes use extra lighting to improve the final images. Today, I want to go through how I shot an impossible bathroom and solved my issues with some creative lighting. To start, here is a frame with just the ambient light. My main issue was that the bathroom was literally surrounded… → Read More
Licensing images for murals in commercial and office spaces
In the past few years, I had several inquiries from companies who wanted to license my images for murals in commercial or office spaces. Since it’s a pretty specific use, I thought some of you might be interested in the process. First, in those situations, let me explain how licensing works. I licensed the right… → Read More
Commercial architecture: Photographing office spaces
Some of my favorite photoshoots over the past year have been office spaces. It’s pretty incredible what some of these new offices look, nothing like what I experienced when I had a corporate job. Not only is the design usually great, but I also get to collaborate closely with my client’s team during the photoshoot,… → Read More
Improve your architectural images with symmetry
Symmetry is pretty common in architecture. Many buildings have symmetrical features since it’s often the most efficient design. So, naturally, symmetry becomes an important tool when photographing architecture! You hear many rules in the photography world, and symmetry is not always well regarded. If you think about rules like “don’t put your subject in the… → Read More
How to stitch cityscape panoramas with Lightroom Classic
In my last article, I shared five tips to photograph cityscape panoramas. It’s now time to talk about the post-processing part! Fortunately, if you’re using Lightroom Classic, the process is very easy. No need to use dedicated software. First, when you are in the Library module, select your images. You don’t need to do any… → Read More
Five tips to photograph cityscape panoramas
Panoramas are a great tool to capture cityscapes, especially when shooting sweeping skylines that cannot fit in the usual 3:2 or 4:3 ratios. Another benefit is that the added resolution that comes with stitching a panorama will also allow you to create massive high-quality prints. Shooting a panorama can be more complicated than it seems,… → Read More
How to get different moods for cityscapes
While you can definitely shoot great images in the middle of the day, the time of day is a key element of shooting cityscapes. My favorite time is around sunrise or sunset. The light is softer and the city just looks more interesting. What’s especially interesting to me is how much the light changes during the… → Read More
Using the transform tool to straighten verticals in architectural images
When shooting architecture, you quickly notice that if you point your camera up or down, the vertical lines of a building will converge. It’s just perspective, and while it happens with any genre of photography, it’s more noticeable with architecture. In some cases, it can be a great tool to create drama, but in other… → Read More
Using negative space to improve your architectural photography
When photographing architecture, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. This is why I like details and abstracts so much, as it allows me to simplify my compositions and isolate certain features of a building. One tool I use a lot and that can really help with your composition is using negative space. What is negative space?… → Read More
Guide to Facebook Ads, part eight: Instagram ads
For this last installment of my series about Facebook Ads, I had to talk about Instagram! The social media of choice when it comes to photography, Instagram should definitely be part of your marketing strategy. There are two ways to create ads on Instagram. You can either use the Ads Manager, where you can choose… → Read More
Guide to Facebook Ads, part seven: Additional tools
In the last article about Facebook Ads, I went through how to optimize your Facebook Ads to get the best results. By now, you should have a solid strategy for your Ad Campaign and following its performance. Today, I want to talk about a few more tools that Facebook gives you to really customize your… → Read More
Guide to Facebook Ads, part six: Advanced optimization
It’s time for another installment of my Guide to Facebook Ads! So far, you’ve learned about the basics of ads, discovered the Ads Manager interface, learned how to create a campaign from scratch, how to use the Facebook Pixel and explored the analytics side of ads. It’s now time to improve the results of your… → Read More
Guide to Facebook Ads, part five: Analytics
Last week, we talked about the Facebook Pixel and how to set it up. Now that you’re all set up and that you know how to run ad campaigns, it’s time to start talking about analytics. Running ads is one thing, but you need to analyze how they’re performing to make sure you’re not wasting your… → Read More