• Projects
  • Design
  • Picks
  • Stories
  • Travel
  • Projects
      • Projects

      • Home Reveals
      • Get The Look
      • Before & After
      • View All
          • Home Reveal: Rancho Santa Fe P.3
          • Home Reveal: Rancho Santa Fe P.2
          • Home Reveal: Rancho Santa Fe P.1
          • Home Reveal: Nellie Gail Back Exterior
  • Design
      • Design

      • Roundups
      • E-Design
      • Perfect Pairs
      • Design Tips
      • View All
          • Interior Insights: Window Treatments
          • The Cottage Paint Color Guide
          • Breakfast Nook E-Design
          • How To Pair Throw Pillows
  • Picks
      • Picks

      • Monthly Picks
      • Lifestyle Picks
      • Home Picks
      • View All
          • Spring Decor Roundup
          • MGD Picks: March
          • The MGD Bedroom Roundup
          • The Best Kitchen Runner Rugs
  • Stories
      • Stories

      • Creator Interviews
      • From Mindy
      • Friday Faves
      • View All
          • Creator Interview: Sister Parish Design
          • Creator Interview: Blakely Made
          • 2022 End of Year Recap
          • The Best Advice For Aspiring Interior Designers
  • Travel
      • Travel

      • Travel Guides
      • Travel Inspiration
      • View All
          • MGD Guide: Ojai
          • MGD Guide: Santa Ynez Area
          • MGD Guide: Telluride
          • MGD Guide: Park City
Shop
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Inquire
  • Blog
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Inquire
  • Blog
Lake Arrowhead Cabin Remodel Master Suite After Image

Design, Design Tips

6 Tips for Better Interior Photos (from an Interior Photographer)

Design
June 29, 2020

As one of our favorite photographer’s here at MGD, our go-to girl, Vanessa, has taken her fair share of architectural photos in stunning homes. As a photographer, she knows all too well that there are some best practices for shooting indoors and getting the most out of your photos, especially when they’re used to showcase portfolio projects with so many details. These photos are everything to us, and tell the best story of a home with her behind the lens. So, we picked her brain to create a handy little roundup of must-dos for getting the most out of your interior photos. Read along and get ready to start taking better interior photos!

A Snapshot of Top Interior Photography Tips


1. Tripod

Steady hands are sometimes easier said than done. So one of Vanessa’s top recommendations? Use a tripod! Her preference is a heavier tripod with quick release and lock adjustments. This helps to keep it steady with a heavy camera + lens combo, and allows you to easily adjust between wide room shots and close vignettes.

Lake Arrowhead Cabin Remodel Master Suite After Image
2. Natural Light

This one probably seems fairly obvious, but natural light is key when shooting inside! Whenever possible, maximize natural light. For interior design, we like to almost exclusively use the available natural light (unless the shot is to highlight a noteworthy light fixture), and turn off interior lights to get the best coloring throughout the space.

Spanish Canyon Socal Home Entryway Remodel Image
3. Perspective

Perspective? Check! Make sure pictures are taken near eye level to help maintain an accurate perspective of a room. Keeping it at eye level helps walls, corners, and doors can remain parallel. If you’re in a tight space or realize in post it’s a bit off, you can fix it with the Transform tool in Lightroom, but Vanessa recommends trying to get it as straight as possible in camera first so you can edit less on the backend!

Spanish Canyon Socal Home Kitchen Remodel Image
4. Balance

When setting up a shot, the photographer and design team often work hand in hand to ensure each room shot feels balanced in camera. For example, sometimes a floral arrangement looks great centered on a table in person, but it will look off balance in camera…so we need to move it to a balanced spot on camera to avoid any specific spot looking too “heavy.” Likewise, a bowl of fruit may create too much of a color punch in a photo, so we may swap the fruit out for something more in line with the décor, allowing the photo to feel balanced in color and materials.

Spanish Canyon Socal Home Kitchen Remodel Image
5. Settings

For most room shots, Vanessa’s preference is to shoot at F9 with ISO 200…now, what does that technical talk mean? Basically, she prefers to rely on a tripod when shooting indoor spaces because it demands a long exposure. But the high F-stop allows everything to be in focus and the low ISO preserves clarity, making for a light, bright, beautiful finished photo in each room.

6. Editing

And last but not least…editing! While editing, less is always more, at least in our professional opinion. 🙂 Don’t tweak colors or add hues to highlights and shadow. Instead, focus on contrast, rich blacks and bright whites, and proper white balance to accurately capture each design and let the room your shooting truly shine!

Spanish Canyon Socal Home Bedroom Remodel Image

And that’s that! A few of our photographer’s top tips for shooting better interior photos. Hope you enjoyed! Follow along on Instagram to see more of Vanessa’s photography from our MGD projects, and let us know in the comments what you want to see next!

SHARE THIS POST
IMAGES / Vanessa Lentine
Comments (0)

Leave a Comment - Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back
Next
Shop MGD Picks
  • Pillows

  • Kitchen

  • Lighting

  • Furniture

  • Decor

  • Shop All

BY

A residential design studio specializing in full-scale remodels.
Visit Us

Other Stories

  1. MGD Guide: Round Top

    Travel
  2. Most Loved MGD Photos of 2020

    Stories
  3. MGD Picks: May

    Picks
  4. Interior Door Hardware Roundup

    Design

The Studio

By

An Orange County residential design studio
specializing in full-scale remodels.

Visit Us

Join our Newsletter!

Receive all of the best inspo, tips, design resources, shopping guides, and more.

Thank you for subscribing!

The dreamy backyard of our #mgdxranchosantafe proj The dreamy backyard of our #mgdxranchosantafe project is our ideal outdoor entertaining space for the warmer months ahead. #mindygayerdesign 

#backyarddesign #exteriordesign #backyardliving #backyardoasis #patiodesign #californiahomes #homeexterior #outdoorfurniture #howihome #modernluxury
This one's for the kiddos! We're revealing part th This one's for the kiddos! We're revealing part three of our #mgdxranchosantafe project, sharing all the fun kids' spaces of this beautiful home. Swipe to see some of the spaces, then head to stories to see the full final reveal. #mindygayerdesign { Image by: @rogerdaviesphotography }⁣
⁣
#playroomdecor #playroom #kidsroom #kidsroominspo #kidsroomdecor #kidsrooms #kidsroomdecoration #playroomideas #playroominspo #ocinteriordesigner
Serene hues and natural textures in the great room Serene hues and natural textures in the great room of our #mgdxlajolla project. #mindygayerdesign { Image by: @vlentine }⁣
⁣
#livingroominspiration #livingroomdetails #livingroomview #plasterwalls #whiteoak #housetour #ruedaily #modernluxurydesign #homesohard #myinterioroasis  #neutralhome
Rise and shine in the charming breakfast nook of o Rise and shine in the charming breakfast nook of our #mgdxranchosantafe project. #mindygayerdesign { Image by: @rogerdaviesphotography }⁣
⁣
#breakfastnook #diningnook #kitchenview #designsponge #doingneutralright #mycuratedaesthetic #modernluxury #instahomes #passionforinterior #loveyourhabitat #lightandbright
  • Shop
  • MGD Picks
  • Projects
  • Amazon
  • Company
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Contact
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Careers
  • Showroom

(C) MINDY GAYER DESIGN CO., LLC 2023

  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Inquire
  • Blog
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Careers
  • Showroom

(C) MINDY GAYER DESIGN CO., LLC 2023