7 Photography Tips and Tools for Interior Designers

By Melissa Michaels

I am a completely amateur photographer, but I do know that quality images are essential to the business and portfolio of any designer. I have experienced the frustration of designing a room or wanting to show off a project that looked lovely in real life, only to have it appear dark and dreary in my photograph.

Short of hiring professional photographers (which is worthwhile), how can you best showcase your work through photographs?

Here are 7 simple photography tips or tools I have found helpful:

1. Room design and photo staging are two different things. A room may need to be staged differently for a photo than it is in real life. You may need to add a bright pop of color in an accessory, or rearrange furniture to get the best possible composition for the photo.

2. Learn how to get the best pictures from your camera. I recently bought a new Canon EOS Rebel T2i. While I still don’t know what all the settings are, by reading my manual, researching photography tips online and experimentation with the dials, I’m learning how to adjust my settings in different light to capture better images. It is amazing how much better my photo can look with the flip of a dial!

3. Different times of day and different weather will affect the quality of your images.  Pay attention to what time of day your lighting is best in a particular room. You may have to reschedule photo shoots if the weather is not cooperating, but the end result will be worth the inconvenience!

4. Experiment with angles. Try to take photos from a variety of places in the room to see what looks best. Sometimes I have to get down lower to the floor or stand up on a stool to get the best shot. Other times I have to show off only one corner of a room. Focus in on some of the fine details like a pretty vase or vignette, as well as capturing wider angles and furniture groupings. The more angles you try, the better chance of ending up with a few magical photos!

5. Try and try again! After you shoot a few photos, upload them to your computer and look at them with a careful eye. Do you see anything distracting like electrical cords? How is your composition? If you aren’t pleased, go back and move things around in the room and try it again. Good photographers take dozens of pictures to get one great one, so keep trying until you get that perfect shot.

6. Use a good photo-editing program. You can’t always capture the perfect lighting, color or angle in a room, but you can oftentimes enhance your photos later with a few editing tricks! An easy online editing program I use is called Picnik. You can brighten or enhance photos, crop, add a frame or even add text to the image. The basic program is free! I use the professional version in order to access all the features, but it is still very affordable. With a little photo editing practice, you’ll be amazed by how much better your photos can look!

7. Size matters. It is nearly impossible to appreciate a photo that is the size of a postage stamp. If you will be putting your photos on a website or blog, make them large enough to enjoy, but not so large that they take too long to load. My personal preference is to see images that are from 450-600 pixels wide, but that may vary depending on the site your pictures will be featured on.

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Melissa Michaels is the creator of The Inspired Room, a popular design blog dedicated to inspiring readers to embrace the home and life they have. Each day The Inspired Room delivers fresh and affordable ideas to make a house a home. Read by over 100,000 people each month, The Inspired Room has been featured on HGTV.com, Apartment Therapy, Re-Nest, The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, The Oregonian and other publications.