The importance of photography for interior designers
Everyone has a camera now. It is estimated that ten percent of photographs ever taken were taken in the last year. More photographs were taken in the last two minutes than in the whole of the 1800’s! And approximately 140 billion photographs have been uploaded to facebook. So, with this huge pool of imagery, it’s obviously important that if you want your business to stand out, you need to have decent photography done.
Everyone has a camera now. It is estimated that ten percent of photographs ever taken were taken in the last year. More photographs were taken in the last two minutes than in the whole of the 1800’s! And approximately 140 billion photographs have been uploaded to facebook. So, with this huge pool of imagery, it’s obviously important that if you want your business to stand out, you need to have decent photography done.
And as an interior designer, great photography is part of your brand. You have a website, a social media presence and a portfolio of images that you would like to use in magazines and even books. Those images need to really show off what you do. It’s no use having a set of pictures that are wonky, badly processed and too small for printing in the best magazines. You have put huge time and effort to design the space with beautiful furniture, fabulous colour schemes and thoughtful decisions made about height, light and texture. You have done your side of things, now you need a photographer who can present that in the best light.
Why can’t you do it yourself with your (admittedly excellent) iPhone? An interior photographer has a proper set up of lenses and a camera that can record very high resolution. The sensor on my camera can record a range of light levels, from they darkest corners to the brightest window highlights, and in post production I can blend images to create natural pictures that show the viewer just what the room looks like to the human eye. So, the equipment is up to the mark. What about the rest of the job? An experienced interior photographer will also know how to set up that fantastic camera and position it so that
the image is level. Verticals are vertical (!) and the viewpoint is natural and doesn’t look too fake with overly wide angle distortion (what I call estate agents photography!)
The images are properly exposed. Those high and lowlights need to be properly recorded so that in post production they can all be combined and blended seamlessly to create the perfect exposure.
Composition. A beautifully designed room needs to be shown off. It should be natural looking, ideally not ‘into a corner’, and it should show the main points of the rooms design… and combined with various ‘details or vignettes’ that compliment the main image the photographer can build up a true impression of your work.
The images are sharp! As mentioned earlier, the lenses of today are incredible, and a decent interior photographer can ensure that the lens is set up so that the image is sharp from front to back... or NOT! Sometimes a little soft focus in the right places can look lovely, but a good practitioner should know when to use this technique.
Post production is key to a days photography. It will take nearly as much time on the computer as on the actual shoot to create beautiful work, and a good interior photographer will be fully conversant with various software to ensure that unsightly blemishes are seamlessly removed, colours are correct and balanced, highlights are dealt with and lampshades straightened!
I have been shooting interiors for 25 years, working with every magazine and many of the best designers, hotels and developers. I shoot with top end digital kit and am expert in photoshop and lightroom software. I can style the shoots myself, or am very happy working with stylists or designers in creating beautiful images. I will give you a quote for one day or many, ensuring that you know exactly how much the shoot is going to cost.
Please take a close look at my website and drop ask if you have any queries. I am happy to send more images if you would like a closer look at what I can do.
with thanks to Kitesgrove, Mandarin Stone, Kelling Design, Sophie Peckett Design and Kitchenhaus for the wonderful shoots I was privileged to do!
Kutchenhaus Kitchen in South London photographed for Boutique PR
I recently photographed a kitchen designed by Kutchenhaus in London. Amazingly good value, sleek and modern, easy maintenance and well made
Kutchenhaus Kitchen photographed for Boutique PR
I recently photographed a kitchen designed by Kutchenhaus in London. Amazingly good value, sleek and modern, easy maintenance and well made ..thats the kitchen, not me ;-). Shooting a kitchen is a rather specific type of interior photography, and because of all those shiny, sometimes mirrored, surfaces its really important to start off with a completely clean and tidy room. Once its clean, I will style the room, (usually a bit of food on the surfaces, some nice crockery and maybe a cook book), then I will do the ‘big’ shots. These are the shots of the whole room from various angles and should show how it relates to other rooms; easy in this kitchen as shots through the Crittall windows were stunning. Then I’ll do some ‘mid’ shots to show surfaces and decoration, and finally some details (this is when you see marks on the surfaces unless you have spent time cleaning!).
I loved this little kitchen and was so impressed with what the owner had done and what the makers, Kutchenhaus, had achieved with the units and surfaces. Kitchen photography is time consuming and a little fiddly, but with a little care, the results can be stunning. Looks alright doesn’t it?!
Kutchenhaus Kitchen photographed for Boutique PR
New Portfolio for Mark Bolton Interiors Photography
My new portfolio! Mark Bolton Photography
I'm happy to announce that I have a new portfolio of my interior design photography. Please do get in touch if you'd like to get a copy. If possible I would like to drop it off in person, but am also happy to post to you if preferred. Full of gorgeous houses, amazing design and sumptuous spaces, it looks and feels like a magazine... and on another note, I am about to send out my first newsletter for a while, so please do contact me if I can put you on my list. I promise it won't be a deluge of posts, just a quick email once every few weeks... thanks!
Kitesgrove Interior Design Photography
Two day shoot for the fabulous 'Kitesgrove' interior design company, in an enormous apartment in London. Their work is wonderful, easy to photograph, meticulous in detail and well finished... also a great palette with soft tones. Luckily we had some good weather, so the sun was able to light those HUGE interiors! A joy to work with them again.