In the age of Instagram, it’s not an overstatement to say that killer interior design photography is a requisite for a savvydesign business. “Quality imagery of your work is a must,” affirmsSummer Thornton, owner ofChicago-based Summer Thornton Interiors. “Without it, how canfuture clientssee the caliber of your craft, your creativity, or your attention to detail?”
So what does it take to get the kind of photos that attract clients in droves? We asked designer Thornton, a sought-after architectural photographer, and anInstagramdesign star for the secrets to their best shots. Here’s what they had to say.
Shoot for social.
John Stoffer, of Chicago-based Stoffer Photography, started shooting interiors when his mother, kitchen designer Jean Stoffer, asked him to photograph her work. In the years since, both Stoffers have seen their stars rise—in no small part due to the elder Stoffer’s Instagram account, which to date has 124,000 followers. “We’ve been very intentional about photographing her work, and all of our clients’ work, for Instagram,” Stoffer says. His advice for Instagram-friendly photos? Use bright, airy images, brand your content with a consistent photography style, and take up as much real estate as possible. “Post as many things as you can in portrait orientation, or using the 4 x 5 crop, so it takes up more space on people’s phones,” he says. “If you shoot landscape, it takes up half the amount of space and makes less of an impact.”
As for content, Stoffer finds that full-room shots and wide angles outperform close-ups or vignettes.
Get clients on board early.
Hiring the best photographer in the business won’t help your cause if your client isn’t on board with the shoot.
”We typically talk to clients about shooting their homes before we agree to do their project or have a contract in place,” says Thornton. “It's a requirement for us, otherwise we don't take the project. We'll pour thousands of hours into a project and photography is the final accomplishment that shows all the hard work in its best light.”
而桑顿发现她的大部分客户是快乐的to oblige, she does run into occasional pushback from high-profilehomeowners. “In those cases, we work through it with them to ensure they feel protected and that their privacy is maintained while we are still able to showcase our work,” she says. “We also include a section on photography and promotion in our contract. It references the need to photograph the project and how it can and will be used by our firm in promotion, as well as language that helps the client understand that we won't exploit them by using their name or any identifying details without their written consent.”
Find a photographer you click with.
Amber Lewis, founder of Amber Interior Design, Shoppe Amber Interiors, and the blog All Sorts Of, regularly shares photos of her work with more than a million fans across her three Instagram accounts. Key to her success has been finding a photographer she clicks with. “I started using professional photographers pretty early on, and I’ve actually been working with the same photographer on almost all my projects over the last five years,” Lewis says. “She kind of just gets my aesthetic, and her photography style and my general vibe work well together.”
Thornton agrees. “When you’re choosing a photographer, you want to make sure you share an aesthetic vision, and that the work they create is the style that you'd like yours to be captured in,” she says. “Is it light and bright or is it dark and moody? Do they shoot head-on at the subject most often which is more graphic or at angles which feels softer?”
Maximize shoot day.
Shoot day is a true collaboration between designer and photographer. “I make it a priority to be at every single shoot—no matter how busy I am,” says Lewis. “These photos live on forever. If I spent years designing it, I want to make sure the shots are perfect. I am all about getting every single angle and close-up shot of quite literally everything in these homes, and it takes a long time.” A full day is to be expected, but to maximize the number of shots you get, style the space in advance, says Stoffer. This lets the photographer work through the home without any downtime, and frees up the designer to be in the room making final adjustments and approving shots.
How to Shoot It Yourself
Every source AD PRO spoke with confirmed that there’s no substitute for professional photography, but if it’s simply not in your budget or you’re using your phone to capture behind-the-scenes shots for social media, thereareways to make sure your DIY snapshots are top-notch, says Stoffer.
1. Set it up right.
Clean off your lens, turn off all the lights in a room, let in as much natural light as possible, and turn on your phone’s grid lines feature to get a shot with straight lines.
2. Shoot from the hip.
“Get a power stance going and shoot from a little bit above your belly button,” he says. “This makes a space feel more grand and invites people into the room.”
3. Expose for the highlights in a room.
Before you take a picture, tap the brightest spot on your phone’s screen (often a window or open door), says Stoffer. This exposes your photo for the highlights in the room. Your raw photo might look dark, but you’ll be able to brighten it up when you edit without creating blown-out highlights.
4. Always edit.
Editing will have a major impact on the look of an iPhone photo. Stoffer swears by the popular VSCO app. “I always sharpen things just a little. Plus-two on the sharpening scale adds a lot to phone images, and the human eye loves when things are sharp,” he says.