Looking Great

Looking great is not just about the work you do, but about how you present it. The success of your business rides on your ability to look great. With this in mind I have presented some great tips for regular people (meaning non-professional photographers) who need to take photographs of the interior of homes and buildings.

First Impressions

First Impressions are so important. If your photographs look amateurish people will assume you are an amateur. It doesn’t matter what a great job you’ve done remodeling or decorating a space if the photograph looks bad.

Equipment

1. Most modern cameras have all the functionality you will need, but you do need to understand how to use the camera, so read the manual. If you don’t have the manual any longer almost every manual known to man is on the internet so just Google it.
2. The second most important item is a TRIPOD. A tripod is critical to creating great, shake free, images. Do not trust your cameras “no shake” setting; it only goes so far.
3. Turn the FLASH OFF! You will see why we say this below.

Light

Natural light is the best (and only) light you should use. This is another why a tripod is a must. The human eye can distinguish the difference between the warm yellow of incandescent bulbs or the dull green of fluorescent light, but your camera cannot. Most photographers who take beautiful photographs learn to do so in natural light. If you slow down your shutter speed and put your camera on a tripod your camera will take all the light available in the room and translate it properly to the photograph.

Once you start taking photographs in natural light you will see how much more beautiful your photographs will be. Colors appear fresh and clean and shadows come from a natural direction.

Camera Settings

Set your camera to shoot RAW. JPEG files are considered “lossy” which means you lose a lot of information about the shot to save space. Shooting RAW gives you the most flexibility in post production. Even if you aren’t doing the post production work, your webmaster will appreciate the flexibility you have given them.

Shoot Straight

When you are in doubt of what angle to shoot something, just shoot straight on. Use the rooms architectural framework as a guide. If your camera has a view that overlays a grid on your screen, use it.

Move Items in the Room

Somehow, when you’re the photographer you feel invisible within the room and forget that you can actually move things around. A small space is difficult to move around in and you may find yourself backing into a plant or trying to avoid the chair in the corner. When this happens, just move the item. You can always put things back later. If you have to, try shooting the room from the doorway.

For heaven sake don’t forget to remove unsightly items. I can’t tell you how many photo’s I’ve seen with purses, garbage bags, etc. in the shot. If you can hide lamp cords then do so. Be on the lookout for purses, papers and remote controls and remove them from your shot. When you line up your shot and look through the lens and notice that a piece of furniture, like a coffee table, is only partially visible and not adding anything to the composition then move it for the shot.

Watch out for People

So, how many times have you seen this? Please be aware of people in the room. People should only be in the shot if you intend for them to be there.

Have Fun!

Of course my best advice of all… Have Fun!