You’re an aspiring interior photographer looking to take better, more stunning visuals for your clients. You might just be thinking of uploading a few shots of your room or apartment for Airbnb, or for a listing.
You’re thinking of how to bring your interior photography shots to the next level. You’re looking to wow clients with your interior photography shots.
Well, don’t you worry about that, because we will be bringing to you five simple, easy to follow tips for you to elevate your interior photography shots in this article!
Interior photography takes into account a multitude of aspects. From the composition of the shot, to the styling of the venue, down to the equipment of choice and the lighting, post-production and editing, there are many things that you can do to bring out the best in your photography! The 5 tips that we have for you are:
- Shoot on RAW
- Use a Tripod
- Height and Angles Matter
- Natural Lighting is the Best Lighting
- Try out Photo Bracketing for HDR Shots
1. Shoot On RAW
For our first tip, we strongly recommend photographers to shoot on RAW. The RAW format is a file format that is able to capture all the image data recorded by the sensor.
When compared to alternative formats such as JPEG or PNG, we note that higher quality images are produced with RAW. This is due to JPEG formats being compressed and flattened, resulting in challenges when editing details during the post-production process.
In fact, many cameras nowadays allow you to shoot in RAW, which means you don’t need a hefty full-frame DSLR to snap yourself some cool interior photos!
Aside from that, shooting on RAW also allows for greater brightness levels due to it capturing 12/14 bit as opposed to 8 for JPEG, giving rise to greater flexibility in editing the highlights, exposure, and shadows.
As JPEG files experience a drop in quality each time you resave and edit it, you can end up with a picture of a much lower quality as compared to what you first started out with. Finally, you also get a sharper, cleaner finish to photos that are shot in RAW, which is great for individuals who might be looking to print out their visuals.
2. Use A Tripod
Next, we look at the essential tool that is present in every photographer’s kit. A good, solid tripod. Don’t underestimate the power of shooting using a tripod, as you could be doing yourself a great disservice.
No pair of hands, however steady they are, can compare to the kind of quality shots shooting on a tripod can produce. By providing stability to your camera, using a tripod to shoot ensures minimal to no shaking, resulting in clearer, sharper photos.
This is especially important in interior photography where there is a great emphasis on the details of the room. A common beginner mistake is when individuals try to shoot handheld, giving rise to uneven or blurry shots.
As such, we suggest investing in a good tripod to elevate your interior photographs. Not to mention, they also allow you to better frame and adjust your shots due to the limited motion.
3. Height and Angles Matter
Moving on, the height and angles at which you shoot interior photographs matter greatly as well. Most experienced photographers would suggest shooting a room from a straight on angle.
This is also why purchasing a tripod is key in getting the perfect shot. Shooting good pictures straight on can be done using gridlines or compositional guides that one can find in the viewfinder.
Shooting at a mid-height is also strongly encouraged as this height tends to be able to capture everything in the image while presenting a pleasing angle to the viewer.
If you are shooting on a lens with tilt-shift functions, this can benefit you greatly as it can correct distortion from wide lenses (which is a common choice of lens for interior photographers) and achieve maximum focus on the subject. A popular recommendation online is the Canon’s TS-E 24mm f3.5L II!
4. Natural Lighting is the Best Lighting
We also consider lighting in our shots. We recommend natural lighting, during midday to shoot. During midday, we get enough indirect sunlight streaming in through the windows to light up the set without casting unnecessary shadows or causing overexposure.
Evening or morning sun can cause shadows to be cast by the furniture or other elements of the setup. As such, natural light is the best option. This makes the colours pop and appear much cleaner and untampered with.
In the event you decide to choose to switch on any interior lights, do take note that this could very well affect the temperature of the photo and the final outcome. Using natural light also helps with the white-balance editing during post-production as there will be less of a need to edit or retouch the photo’s settings.
Photographing on a bright, cloudy day is the ideal situation for interior photography, so make sure you check your weather forecast before heading down to shoot!
5. Try out Photo Bracketing for HDR Shots
Finally, we also strongly recommend bracketing as a technique to produce quality photos. Select the bracketing mode on your camera settings and the number of bracket shots you’d like. You might need 3-4 shots for post-production!
A common tool for bracketing is Adobe Lightroom. Click to select your brackets before merging them to form an HDR shot. This is important as the different photos with different bracket settings ultimately result in a greater dynamic range and a well-balanced interior photograph that is pleasing to the eye. There are plenty of YouTube and tutorials online available to go through photo bracketing step by step, so don’t fret if this may seem new to you!
All in all, these are our 5 best tips to help you achieve the best interior photographs, but don’t just take our word for it! We also offer interior photography services, which you can check out over here.
They say that a good interior photographer is a wise investment for businesses and individuals alike, and it is no wonder that people feel that way!
A professional interior photographer sees through the entire project from start to end, and can produce high quality, well-edited images that bring out the best from your rooms.
Feel free to read our article on 5 reasons why you should hire professional interior photography services here.
Check out more of our services here!
