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Loft Photograph from Interior Designer Tamara Eaton’s liveBooks Site

From interior designers to real estate agents, many professionals rely on top-quality interior images for their website. If you don’t have the resources to hire a professional photographer, your next best option may be to do it yourself. Here are five simple steps to photograph interiors like a pro.

How to Photograph Interiors: Five Simple Steps

1. Start by purchasing a good camera and tripod — If you are planning on taking interior photos, do it right with a camera that can produce high-quality images. A tripod will help you reduce noise from “camera shake” while allowing you to step away from the camera and observe your interiors. Using a timer may also help you if you don’t have a steady hand.

2. Focus on one subject for each photo — One of the easiest mistakes you can make is trying to capture EVERYTHING in one photo. Think about the different ways your design highlights the room and focus your images around these elements. A room’s design elements (flow, colors, contrast, angles, materials, lighting) may be of more interest to your clients than capturing the entire space of a room. Eliminate any items that distract from the subject of your photo.

3. Use natural light to showcase the room— Unless you have proper training, complex flash systems and lighting will be nothing but trouble. Experiment using natural lighting and try to capture your rooms from different angles throughout the day. Once you get more comfortable with your camera, you will learn what times throughout the day warrant the best results. Your tendency may be to turn on all of the lamps to add additional light; don’t. Your camera is equipped to help you and will work best with a balanced quality of lighting.

4. Don’t edit your photos on the scene— If you are new to photography, your images likely won’t turn out perfect; you will need to do some basic editing. If you use a Mac computer you can do basic editing using iPhoto. If you don’t have access to iPhoto, free applications like Pixlr can help you make adjustments to your photos.

5. Borrow ideas from the pros— Pinterest is a great way to gather inspiration for your photo shoot. Create a pinboard of interiors that you love and take notes on what aspects of a room you want to capture. By doing this prep work, you will begin to recognize themes between your photos and professional interior photos.

liveBooks provides simple, easy to use, website platforms for artists, photographers, and interior designers. See more examples of how interior designers use liveBooks at success.livebooks.com. Hear it first; join our Facebook and Twitter communities to receive real-time liveBooks news and updates.

Art Becker is a multi-faceted photographer based in St. Petersburg, Florida. He believes that photography is about sharing a moment and he uses his Nikon camera with Nikkor lenses to capture his subjects. To see more of his work, visit his liveBooks website now: www.artbeckerphoto.com.

Being a photographer is my job, but it’s also a part of my life. I’m passionate about what I do and I want those who see my work to be moved by it. It’s my hope they will experience what I’ve experienced and “get” what it is I’m trying to say. If I accomplish that, my career will have been worthwhile.

The bonus is, I get to create cool moments as I go along. In some mysterious way maybe it changes a life, an outlook, a mood or even just a few minutes in the day. That is enough for me.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

AB: Simply, Creative, Graphic. I wouldn’t change anything about it.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

AB: Choosing the photos that I display on my homepage is simple. The choices I make are based on the visual impact of each image. It has to have a strong composition and light to attract the viewers. The first image – the little girl peeking over the edge, the story behind it is to take a look inside. The second  – there’s beauty in the clouds, just look up. Third – out of a plane window with natural light creating the composition. And last, the magic of twilight – my favorite time of day to photograph.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

AB: How often do I change the images? At very least once a week. It’s my belief in order to keep your existing audience coming back. To attract new ones, I create new imagery for them to view.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

AB: One of the best features of my new website is that it’s easy to navigate. You simply click on portfolios and view the images of your choice. My older clients love it and new clients are sending me requests. I couldn’t ask for better results than that.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

AB: The one piece of advice if you are creating a new site is to keep it simple, make it visually driven and easy for a client to, as I say, “Find Art”.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.

Don Riddle is a photographer/videographer specializing in advertising photography and image capture for the travel and hospitality industry. Some of his clients include Four Seasons Resorts and Hotels, Ritz Carlton Resorts and Hotels, Rosewood Hotels, Marriott International, and Hyatt Hotels. To see more of his work, visit his liveBooks8 website: www.donriddle.com.

While studying to be an accountant, I enrolled in a photography class at the University of Utah. I instantly fell in love with photography and decided that life as an accountant might not be for me. I moved back to Southern California and enrolled in Brooks Institute of Photography. This started me on a path to a 20 year career of creating images.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

DR: Clean, simple and large! I love the full-page images.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

DR: I try to update my website every 6 months rotating in newer images from recent projects.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

DR: Homepage images need to be impactful and current. I try to keep some of my most inspiring and new images right there in front.

Q: What is your favorite feature of liveBooks8?

DR: The ease of design. I liked the ability to start out with a blank slate and customize the site to my liking. It didn’t take long to learn how the design software worked. That was a big selling point for me.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

DR: Ease of use for the viewer! I think it is very important that art buyers viewing a site can easily navigate the site. I will quickly leave a site that is too confusing to figure out. You don’t want to give anyone an excuse to move on to the next site. It needs to be instantly apparent how to navigate through the site.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.

Dale Clark is the top Commercial Photographer specializing in Interiors and Architecture in Columbus and Central Ohio. Dale’s work has been featured in various publications including The Wall Street Journal, HouseTrends Magazine, Dream Homes, Columbus Underground, Popular Photography, and Shutterbug. Dale holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Wright State University and attended Kettering University (formerly GMI) for Graduate Studies. We are very excited to share his business story and how it came together seamlessly with the liveBooks 8 platform:

I started Arc Photography in 2008 after 20 years of managing a large-scale automotive manufacturing operation. Photography, especially Architectural photography, has always been a hobby and passion. I made the decision to leave the corporate life and dive into Architectural photography full-time in 2008. With a lot of long hours, hard work and persistence, Arc photography has turned into one of the highest volume Architectural/Residential photography companies in Ohio.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

DC: The website is clean yet bold. Very basic to allow the images to stand out and speak for our business. (Clean, bold, basic)

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

DC: I generally update 4 to 5 times a year, sometimes around seasonal changes.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

DC: I display what I consider my best work while showing my general style that clients can expect to see.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

DC: Besides the wonderful liveBooks web page designs, the new dashboard is super intuitive.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

DC: A good website will focus on YOUR work and not add “noise” to your presentation. A good website is intuitive so that anyone can explore what you have to offer effortlessly.

Would you like to be featured on our blog? Email us at social@livebooks.com!