When You Need a Pro for Photos
By Linda Merrill
The last class I took in design school was a business practices course that included the creation of our business name and logo. I also created my own first website as well. A designer needs to show samples of his or her work to prospective clients and for new designers, that becomes a classic chicken vs. egg dilemma. How do you get clients without a portfolio and how do you develop a portfolio without having clients?
For most of us, we start by taking photos of our own homes, or homes of friends we’ve done, and using those. That first dilemma quickly gives way to a second, which is when to step up to using a professional photographer. I think it’s the rare amateur photographer who is capable of taking really decent architectural photographs. I’ve always been a decent amateur photographer, but without professional lighting and a truly high quality camera, my photographs could only be average at best. When I started my business nine years ago, there were few designers who even had portfolio websites, so I was ahead of the curve right away. Nowadays, nearly all professionals from newbies to old-pros have a website or at least a Facebook page. There are many, many websites available where we can upload images of our work with the hopes of appealing to potential clients or media outlets. Amateur photography will simply no longer do compared to professional images.
While the day rate for a professional can start at $1,500 and more, there is no getting around the fact that a good pro can turn a simple vignette into a work of art. Think of it this way, as designers, we all know the value of good lighting. If a room is poorly lit, then no matter how expensive the materials or beautiful the color palette, the room will not look anywhere near as good as it will under proper lighting conditions. This is the same for professional vs. amateur photography. A professional knows about scale and proportion and how to shoot your space to bring out the best. A photograph is a 2-dimensional representation of a 3-dimensional space and is already “flat”. Professional work brings great life to the inherent flatness of the still image.
Of course, the price of a good professional is daunting to most of us, and totally out of the range of possibility for some of us in the early stages of our careers. In addition to using professional images as a sales tool for signing new clients, they will help sell your space and work to media outlets like magazines and newspapers. You will also need professional images if you want to enter your work in design competitions. I struggled for years on my own photography skills, but when I wanted to enter my work in a design competition, I knew I needed to bring in a professional. In this case, I was able to barter his services for mine and agreed to promote him on my blog and anywhere else I could. I did not win the competition, but six months later, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine ran a feature story about my project, using my photographer’s images. The room didn’t change, but my presentation of it did and it made all the difference. So, figuring out a fair exchange of services is always a potential option, so long as you’re offering equally fair level of exchange.
That said, you still do need a decent quality digital camera (point and shoot is fine) to document the entire before and after of your project. I did a kitchen makeover for my own kitchen and documented every step I took. My photographer agreed to shoot the final images pro bono because he felt that my documentation of the process would make the project much more interesting to publishers. He was right. It appeared in The Boston Globe weekly, several large and popular websites, and was picked up by the national magazine Country Woman, who hired my photographer to re-shoot the kitchen to their specifications. Another win-win. Without the first set of professional photos, the kitchen would never have received the media attention it did.
A word about stock photography: stock images are those that are sold by photographers for use by advertisers, book publishers, etc. It may be tempting when you're still building your own portfolio, but you should never use stock images on a portfolio website. I’ve seen it done and it’s a deceptive practice, unless you are willing to attribute the image to the actual designer and admit that it is an “example” only of your style, but is not your work. If you can’t say that, you shouldn’t use the image. No one visiting a website expects to see work that isn’t the designers own, even if it’s shown using amateur photography.
If you absolutely must do your own images for the time being, take the time to study the work of architectural photographers, other designers’ portfolios and the images you see in shelter magazines. Learn the angles and types of shots they are doing and do your best to copy them. And, invest in a couple of photography lights – you’ll be glad you did!
___
Linda Merrill is a residential interior decorator based in Massachusetts. Linda's design style can be described as "comfortable luxury" and she believes in working closely with clients throughout the entire design process. Her clients are mainly located between metro-Boston and Cape Cod and the Islands. Linda writes a nationally regarded design blog called ::Surroundings:: and is the host of the design podcast series The Skirted Roundtable.
