Photographing The Interior Of An Apartment: Tips And Tricks

Many people strive to make a career out of photography, and one of the most promising fields is interior shooting. Such photos are used on websites, magazines, and social networks, so this type has a lot of potential.

Of course, there is nothing difficult in taking a dozen photos of an apartment or a house. Still, if you are going to earn money with your images, their quality is fundamentally important. In addition, the professional must also skillfully process photos. For example, if you don’t know how to add a vignette in Photoshop, then your skills definitely need work. You’ll find all the information you need on Skylum’s blog.

Of course, it’s not easy to become a master of your craft. But nothing is impossible, so we offer you some tips to make really beautiful interior shots.

How To Prepare An Interior For A Shooting?

First and foremost, of course, you should think about tidying up and preparing the interior for the shoot. Discuss in advance who will be responsible for this task. This is what must be done necessarily:

• Tidying Up: Wipe off dust, and remove prints from mirrored, glass surfaces. Wash the floor an hour before the shooting so it’s clean but no longer shiny. In the kitchen, remove from the worktop all unnecessary appliances and too bright accessories that don’t match the color scheme of the interior. In the bathroom, hide all unnecessary things. Leave a couple of beautiful bottles that match the bathroom design. In the hallway, remove unnecessary shoes. In the rooms, try to hide all the wires that can get in the frame – all this unnecessary trash, which certainly will not give the photo beauty and harmony.
• Rearrange Furniture: Make sure that all the chairs are pushed to the table at the same distance, that all the office desks stand in line, and that all the glasses on the shelf stand at the same distance from each other. This will create symmetry, rhythm, and compositional harmony in the photo. Sometimes it’s worth doing a rearrangement to make the room look more advantageous for the photo. For example, you could move the couch away from the window, so it would not visually block the light and clutter the space. It is better to put a table with chairs, an armchair or a desk with a laptop by the window. Something you can move in the process of shooting.
• Adding Details: When you have removed everything superfluous, and the room seems to you sterile, you can add a little decor. Serving the dining table with beautiful dishes and glasses, flowers in vases, candles, posters in frames, an open book and a cup on the coffee table, a plaid with a pillow on the chair, a laptop, mouse, pen,, and notebook on the desk – all these details will help to create the effect of presence, but will not directly point to a specific owner.

After the preparatory phase, we move directly to the shooting. Now let’s talk about some of the nuances that need to be taken into account for the photos to be successful.

Natural Light Is The Key To Success

Turn off all table lamps and chandeliers; we need natural light. The artificial will create unnecessary yellow glare, and white walls will cease to be white.

Remember, good lighting is the key to a successful shot. Of course, many problems can be solved during retouching. But there is no reason to make it difficult and spend a lot of time processing photos if you can avoid it.

Also, try to shoot on a cloudy day. It may sound strange, but a photo of a room taken on a cloudy day will probably look much better than one taken on a sunny day. All because too aggressive sun creates a strong contrast of deep shadows and overexposed bright areas, while on an overcast (but not too dark) day, the lighting will be softer. That’s why the lack of sunlight often makes the frame better (of course, if only the sharp contrast is not your artistic intention).

Pay Attention To The Lines

Geometry is very important in interior photography. So make sure that vertical lines (walls, doors, furniture) and horizontal surfaces are strictly vertical and horizontal. Here it is important to keep the camera at right angles to the floor.

In addition, try to make sure that all the photos of different rooms were taken from about the same height – so the overall result will be more coherent and harmonious. A tripod will help you with this. This will make it a lot easier to frame the shot and get away from the camera to remove unwanted objects if necessary.

Wide-Angle Lens – Pros And Cons

When shooting indoor scenes, you want to capture the entire room at once. This desire is understandable, but a wide-angle lens can play a trick here.

First, it distorts the perspective – so if you do not want the walls to “float,” it is better not to use too wide an angle. Secondly, a small room shot with a wide angle starts to look bigger than it really is. If it’s not an artistic intent, and your goal is to show the place as truthfully as possible, it’s better to give up the wide-angle lens.

Don’t Forget About Post-Processing

Processing is quite an important and almost integral part of interior photography. Of course, on some shots, you will need to stretch the exposure, reconsider the shadows and light, and so on. You might go in to try some effects on your pictures. If you still don’t know how to add a vignette in Photoshop, read Skylum’s blog. And in general, try to learn as much as you can, look for interesting information, and go to interior exhibitions; that way, you will learn new things and develop your creative vision. We wish you good luck in this.