Quality

Sharpness. Color Accuracy. Magazine Worthy.

You have the design eye. Your clients hire you because they want the best. Showcase your interior design projects with superior photos!

When hiring a professional interior design photographer you have numerous choices. Take note of the quality of the pictures in the photographer’s portfolio. Are the photos sharp and crisp? Do the colors appear accurate? Do the photos look magazine worthy? Let’s take a look at some examples to see what to look for when hiring a photographer.

HDR

From the start of my real estate photography business in 2010 I have produced images using an HDR technique. It’s a process of taking multiple exposures for each frame, followed by blending on the computer later. The huge benefit of HDR is speed! Time is minimized on-site so appointments are quick. With home sellers taking off work, or pausing their daily agenda to meet you for photos, the HDR method allows us to get in and out so they can get back to their day.

Photos taken via HDR look fantastic. Realtors love them as the end result is a photo that is far better than a photo taken from a phone, or even a professional dSLR camera. But unfortunately for someone with a keen eye, the downsides of HDR photography can really be off-putting.

Because of the big windows in the space, the furniture facing the camera is in shadow. It creates a grungy, dark look and it’s hard to see the sofa and decorative pillows clearly.

The windows are mostly blown out. This is fine in most cases as there usually isn’t something worthwhile to see outside (we ARE focusing on the interior after all…), but it would be nice to have a cleaner look.

The walls and framing to adjoining windows appears muddy/dirty/dark.

The flooring is overly blown out, both the rug and the hard woods.

The kitchen in the background has a drastically different color temperature due to the different lighting between the two spaces.

Upon first glance, the image appears rather sharp. However it is washed out due to the high dynamic range of the scene and we would like a crisper, sharper looking photo.

Flash

So what can we do as an architectural photographer to fix some of the issues we face when using the HDR method? Use flash! A flash provides clean light, allowing us to artificially boost up in the interior space to match that of the exterior. The end result is a much more pleasing image that accurately showcases the space.

The shadows are much more controlled now! We can actually see the true color of the sofa and those decorative pillows look fantastic! The space now shows true to color.

We still don’t have a really dark window scene, however because we can control the window view strength it’s a much cleaner view and not as washed out.

The walls and framing surrounding the windows is very clean and no longer an eye sore.

The rug and hard woods are not as washed-out as before. The fire place is washed out, but that’s expected due to the bright natural light shining in through the windows.

The kitchen space is neutralized so the color difference is not as drastic between the adjoining spaces.

Overall, because supplemental flash was used, we end up with a crisp, sharp image. And most importantly, it looks natural!

Did you notice a difference? High-quality interior design photos are so important when selling your services to your clients, whether you are a designer, apartment complex renting units or a builder seeking to finalize the biggest financial transaction a buyer faces in their lifetime.

Rates

How much does it cost to hire a professional interior design photographer, and what do you get?

In the photography world the rate you pay is generally based off the usage of the photos. A photo being used by a national furniture rental company to help sell their product will carry a heavier price than the same photo a stager needs to showcase their services to local Realtors. Although photographers rarely give up copyright of their photos, we do license the photos to suit our clients’ needs.

For interior design we understand you need un-tethered marketability of the photos, so we want to provide you will full usage. Post the photo to your website, to social media, to design magazines… Our licensing has your best interests in mind.

Rates start at $275 and we look forward to hearing from you to let us know about your project and get an accurate quote for our interiors photography.

Check out more of our work below to see how our attention to quality can help you market your business.