tips to click interior photos with your phone

Now, I must admit that I am not a very camera-friendly person. Nor have I been adept at photography at any point in time. I barely have any grasp of professional photography.

Although I am in the business of interiors that is so much about visual representation more than anything else, I have never gone beyond admiring those engaging, magazine-worthy Instagram photographs and maybe getting inspired by them at the best.

Then why am I discussing Interior photography? Well lately, after starting my blog, I realized how imperative it is to click the pictures on your own. How difficult it is to hunt for good quality, copyright-free images online. The best you can get is from a few stock image sites.

How I wish to had been more organized and heedful to documenting and capturing my previous interior projects. How enriching those precious moments, at the site, would have been for my blog!

But I never considered it earnestly. Maybe one of the reasons is that I have been totally ignorant of the fact that my husband has been clicking photos with his DSLR camera. He has had the responsibility of clicking photos of a project on completion.

He keeps experimenting with his DSLR and honestly I have never paid much attention to the technical terms that he keeps using! So in front of professional gear, a smartphone has never got a chance! But capture those small moments you don’t always have a DSLR with you.

But my sudden desire to learn some fundamentals has surprised me. Oblivious to the wonderful tool that is right there in our hands, 24×7, we tend to take it so lightly. There is so much we can do with our mobile phones apart from just scrolling through Facebook and Whatsapp. All we need is a little understanding and the desire to use it to its full potential.

Mobile photography is surely catching up these days. Of course, It cannot be compared to a DSLR in the picture quality. But consider the convenience of capturing those moments a bit more professionally by understanding a few basics. We can surely do a pretty decent job.

I am so excited to share a few tips that I have learned over the past few weeks. After getting some knowledge from my husband and doing some research and experimentation with my phone camera, this is what I have understood. I hope these tips assist you to take your phone photography to the next level.

CLICK INTERIOR PHOTOS IN NATURAL LIGHT

Instinctively you might think of switching on all the lights of the room before taking a photograph. But this is such a wrong perception. Artificial lights cast unnaturally harsh shadows and distort the colors of the elements in a space. Camera sensors are not as smart as humans eyes.

As much as possible use ONLY natural light. It imparts a soft and natural character to the photograph. And always keep the flash of your phone camera OFF. It casts unwanted glare and a prominent bright spot in the image which is very unpleasant to the eyes.

Wait for that time of the day when the room to be shot receives indirect, diffused, and even light, instead of harsh and direct sunlight. Otherwise, there will be hi-contrast zones within the room. There will be too much variation in the light temperature between dark corners and flushed out brighter areas. In fact a cloudy day is perfect to shoot pictures.

A very common challenge in interior photography is to handle blown-out windows. One way to handle this is to wait for the right time when it receives indirect light. Another way is to set different AE (Auto exposure) and AF (Auto Focus) points in the shot. This can be done in Pro mode only. Adjust AE for the brighter part. The rest of the picture will become a bit dark. It’s is possible to brighten shadows in editing but it is not possible to retrieve the blown-out highlights later. This can be adjusted in post-editing.

To shoot in darker areas you can always use slower shutter speed in Pro mode and use a mobile tripod to avoid the vibrating issues faced during long exposures. Keep ISO ( 100 to 400 max ) as low as possible for sharp image quality.

You can use fill-up lights for dark corners. Use external flash, if required, but make the light indirect and diffused by bouncing it from a wall or the ceiling. You can also use softboxes and umbrellas to soften the light. You can also use a reflector like a white sheet to brighten up the subject.

FEW TECHNICAL POINTS TO CLICK INTERIOR PHOTOS

• Always clean the lens before clicking a picture to remove the fingerprints and dust particles.

• If not using a tripod, hold the phone with both hands for stability and grip and trigger the volume button to take the shot.

• Mobile phones do not have the option of setting the aperture. We can only play with the ISO and the shutter speed.

• Never use digital zoom, use optical zoom or move forward to get a close up shot.

• Always shoot in RAW mode. JPEG is a compressed format and a lot of data regarding the image is lost. Most smartphones today have the option of shooting in RAW mode. In post-editing, it yields much better results as compared to JPEG. You have more control over your image while editing it as much of the photographic data is preserved in RAW mode. This results in more accurate post-editing.

• NEVER use those sloppy Instagram-kinda filters. They are so fake and thoughtless reproductions that ruin an image beyond words. I would compare them to those ready-to-eat meals that have no comparison to the homemade soulful meals.

• You can use Presets though which are used prior to taking an image. We have the option of tweaking them and saving them also.

• Don’t use night mode or auto HDR mode. It gives very artificial results. Instead use HDR manual mode.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE INTERIOR SHOTS

When it comes to interior photography, shooting from eye level results in a birds-eye kinda view. The viewer is not able to relate to the furniture placed on the floor and sees the tops of the pieces very prominently. The furniture looks a bit out of scale and hilarious.

So always shoot low. Keep your phone at about 40″ from the floor level. Of course one has to decide on the exact height as per each shot and location. Sometimes you might have to go even lower if the subject is low.

Decide on whether you want a wide-angled shot, tight shot, or a macro/close-up shot. Personally, I love the well-styled close-ups of curated vignettes with blurred backgrounds.

Wide-angle

These days smartphones come with a range of lenses including the wide-angle lens. But in case yours doesn’t have one then you can buy the wide-angle lens for the phone separately.

A wide-angled shot can get distorted but we can always handle it in post-processing. A satisfactory way to convey the overall feel, flow, and scale of the space. Really beneficial for real estate photography. Also when you want to narrate the transition between spaces.

Tight angle

A tight-angled shot is also a nice trade-off to portray a well-styled space. It captures details giving a reasonable glimpse of the space at the same time. The sliced views in tighter shots show those curated visual moments and details of a space that wide-angle shots don’t.

Straight on

I personally love the simplistic view of straight-on shots as compared to odd angles. It is like a one-point perspective facing one of the walls straight on. It draws our eyes more profoundly than a regular corner shot.

Somehow it has a very architectural and artistic feel to it. It is like a painting on a canvas and generates a very harmonious feel. It is especially beneficial in case you want to emphasize a feature on the wall.

Vignettes

Next on my favorites list are the close-ups or vignettes that capture the details so well. The layers of decor items tell a story about the space and reflect on the personality of the owner. The thoughtful illustrations of warmth and luxury.

COMPOSITION OF INTERIOR PHOTOS

A photograph is a piece of art and like an artist, you need to compose your shot. Composition is the key to get compelling photographs. There are various techniques and guidelines that one can adopt.

Keep the grid on

Smartphones have various grid options to choose from. The most popular being the 3×3 grid which is also known as the Rule of thirds grid. The most basic approach for beginners to compose a photograph.

Place the points of interest in the shot on the lines or the intersections of the lines, also known as the eyes of the grid.

Another option for grids is the Phi Grid or the golden ratio grid. This has a narrower middle row and is useful for a more centered composition and emphasis of an element.

There is an option of using The Golden spiral or Fibonacci sequence but only in post-processing and that too on a PC in software like Lightroom. This can be used as a cropping overlay in post-editing.

Again the aim is to compose in accordance to the spiral with the point of interest at the end of the the spiral.

Light-room provides various grid options including diagonals. You can also use import your own grid overlays like the more advanced dynamic grids and crop the images accordingly.

The basic idea is to align our composition in a way that the lines and elements of emphasis get locked with this grid or are in tune with the grid in some way.

Leading lines

Some spaces have very prominent architectural lines or elements leading in a direction. These lines are very supportive in drawing the eyes and emphasizing the element of interest in a shot. Always look for such lines and compose the shot accordingly.

Frame it up

This is very nice technique to frame up the shot with some element in the foreground. It elevates the picture and gives it a very artistic, well composed feel.

Context

Sometimes it is a good idea to include an exterior view in the shot. It sets the context of the image and portrays the character of its location without distracting from the interiors.

Balance and Symmetry

We always tend to look for symmetry for balance and harmony. But sometimes it is about balance without symmetry, You should ensure that the right and left sides of the frame are well balanced to avoid any negative spaces.

Like the chairs and the painting on the right balance the visual weight of the bed on the left. You might have to move the furniture around to fill the frame.

Depth

Pay attention to the foreground, middle ground, and background. What is your point of emphasis? Keep that in focus and remove the distractions from the other planes. Your eyes should land on what you want to emphasize.

STYLE UP THE INTERIOR PHOTOS

Style up the framed area for that oomph and glamour. To make your photo from ordinary to magazine-worthy, you need to do some styling. Add some books, plants, a crumpled throw, some personal touch, and set it up for the shot.

Professional stylists take hours to style a shot and work in collaboration with the photographer. But we can do a decent job ourselves too. Just get rid of any clutter, those chords, and cables, trash bins, towels, etc. Layer in the accessories and textures meticulously.

But be careful not to overdo it to the level that it appears fake and pretentious. It has to appear inhabited and lived in. The viewer should be drawn in and wish to own such a space rather than get intimidated.

POST EDITING

There are a number of editing apps like Snapseed, Lightroom, and Photoshop Express. Of course, they are basic and are not as feature-rich as software like Lightroom or Photoshop but we can do a decent job with them on our phones.

These were just a few observations or guidelines that can help us unlock the secret science behind those stunning Interior photographs we keep admiring. I hope to implement them and improve my photography skills in the future.

Sometimes one approach is more suitable for a situation than another. Or we need to adopt a hybrid of these guidelines to click a particular shot. These pictures can serve as a tool to aid in our designing process too. How helpful it would be to accessorize an area on thoughtfully analysing and composing it in a picture.

I hope it was helpful and if yes do share with others! Thanks for reading!

Till next time….

Happy Shooting!!!