Houzz for Brands: How To Take Great Photos the Easy Way
Along with the tips, you’ll find examples that offer inspiration for your own photos.
Take Low Shots One really important compositional consideration is how high the camera is off the ground. I like to shoot with my camera about 40 inches off the floor. When your camera sits lower than eye level, your photos will look more like those you see in magazines.See how to take atmospheric garden shots
Shoot Straight On Try to set your camera straight and not tilt it up or down. When you tilt the camera, the vertical lines in the photo get distorted, which won’t look professional. For a strong composition, shoot straight onto an elevation of a room or building. To do this, you want the camera sensor to be parallel to your subject. The result is often a more pleasing photo that has a nice, graphic feeling.
Avoid Wide-angle Lenses This is slightly counterintuitive. A wide-angle lens makes items close to the camera appear larger and items far away appear smaller. This distortion feels unnatural. Instead, use a normal lens and step away from your subject to get as much as you can into the shot. I often prefer getting less in a shot by using a normal lens, rather than resorting to using a wide-angle lens and getting the distortion that comes with it.
Standing back and using a lens with a normal focal length and not a wide angle puts all the items in a comfortable proportion to one another. There is no distortion that a wide-angle lens would create. Of course, the trade-off is that we do not see the whole room, but we do get a nice feeling of the room.
Turn Off Your Flash Even basic point-and-shoot cameras are getting better at low-light situations, and your camera’s flash will never be able to light a room well. With your camera on a steady tripod, you can have a long exposure and a natural-light feeling to the photo without getting a blurry shot. If you don’t want the photo to be blurry during the long exposure, put the self-timer on and let the camera settle.Check out how to bring interior photos to life by including people and pets
The wonderful natural light is highlighted here without the use of the camera’s flash, giving this photo a soft feeling. Stylistically, note how the chairs feel natural around the table too; each chair was carefully moved as part of the composition.TELL US…Do you have any photos that you’re proud of? Share them in the Comments below.
Use a Tripod Putting whatever camera you have on a tripod allows you to steady the camera and be more deliberate in making your composition. With a digital camera, you can take a quick test shot and review it to make adjustments for the final shot.First, adjust the overall composition and what is in the frame by moving the camera or changing the lens — it really helps if your camera is on a tripod. Make the next adjustments by changing or moving the furnishings and objects in the room so they are most pleasing in the photo.
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