Every photo that is taken indoors is taken inside a room. However, most
photographers are interested in a subject, a person or an object, and not the
room. "It's amazing how little thought most amateur photographers give to
the way the room will appear in a photograph," notes NYI Dean Chuck
DeLaney. "That's too bad," he added, "Because with just a little effort
the room can be made much more attractive and enhance the photograph,
rather than detract from it."
Professional photographers who specialize in taking beautiful interior
images use a few basic techniques that can be applied to almost any
photograph taken indoors. This month, in conjunction with two upcoming
photo contests-"Attics and Basements" and "Interiors"-there is a complete
article on the NYI Website entitled "How To Photograph Interiors."
Here are a few simple tips to get you started:
Use a wide-angle lens. For most interiors, you'll want to take in the
largest possible area of the room. This is one aspect of interior
photography where the user of a single lens reflex camera will have the
advantage of a large selection of wide-angle lenses.
Decide what part of the room is most interesting visually and make that
your subject. You want to photograph the most interesting portion of the
room and compose your photo so that the key portions of the room are
highlighted in your photograph. Pay attention to where your frame ends.
Try not to cut furniture in half.
Watch out for clutter. Years ago a famous photographer observed that
photography is "ten percent creativity and ninety percent moving
furniture." It's as if the camera adds clutter. When professional
photographers photograph a room, they often take away a number of
accessories and pieces of furniture that would otherwise appear in the
viewfinder. Get the wastebasket out of the shot! Hide the telephone and
get rid of the porcelain figurines.
Keep vertical lines vertical. Nothing confuses your viewer more than
tilted vertical lines. When possible, also try to keep horizontal lines
parallel to the top and bottom of the frame. Try to keep your camera level
and don't tilt it up or down.
Avoid bright windows and streaming sun. For most interior photographs, if
the windows are very bright or if there is sunlight streaming into the
room, the bright windows or splotches of sunlight will draw the viewer's
attention away from the room's interior and may create dark, contrasty
shadow areas. Many times, particularly if the room has a lot of windows or
glass doors, the pro will wait until late afternoon or even twilight to
take the photo.
If you follow these simple suggestions, whether the room is your subject or
just the setting for a portrait photo, you'll be amazed at how much
improvement you'll see in your interior photos.
Published: September 6, 1999
Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
