If you’ve recently decorated and you’re unapologetically thrilled with the results, you might be dabbling with interiors photography, ready to share your home improvements online with a bunch of curious strangers who want to know which paint colour you used on the skirting and where is that footstool from. At a time when everyone has a separate home renovation account on Instagram and a recently-unearthed passion for homeware, you might be questioning your skills with a camera and wondering how a room so ravishing can look so flat and underwhelming on your iPhone. To help you bring your home to life on a screen, we’ve asked the experts to share their advice.
Professional interiors stylists Twig Hutchinson, Anna Mackie and Milly Bruce explain the transformative effect of moving an object or adding a branch of blossom. Plus, photographers Christopher Horwood, Martin Morrell, Kristin Perers and House & Garden photography director Owen Gale explain how to best frame an image and why it doesn’t matter if you don’t own a digital camera.
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Even if you have fabulous taste and a fascinating collection of objets d’art, the items that decorate your surfaces day to day versus the objects you show in photos is where there might be a difference between Instagram and reality. The version that you show in images is likely to be tidier, less cluttered and generally a more idyllic depiction of the way you live. Having said that, photography is very personal, so you may prefer to show your home in a relatable documentary style – with all the detritus, TV remotes, children’s toys and half-eaten sandwiches that ordinary life brings.
There’s no right or wrong way to do things but if you want to approach your photographs with a stylist’s mentality, think about the story you want to tell, the mood you want to convey and decide what should be in the image to create that particular feeling. Before you add any additional props, tidy away distracting or surplus objects that don’t add anything to the scene. Depending on time and the importance of the image looking perfect, hide cables and plugs as best you can, make sure your sofa and chair cushions are plumped and facing the right way without any zips on show (if you have pets, you might need to whizz over your upholstery and cushions with a lint roller), straighten your curtains or blinds, hide visible labels, turn things around to hide marks or chips if necessary, give your surfaces a quick dust and remove anything too personal that you wouldn’t want anyone else to see.
Twig agrees with taking away items that don’t add value to your image. “Definitely tidy up and strip the scene back as much as possible because photographs can look a bit rubbish when there’s too much going on. Be thoughtful about what remains in the picture and consider why things are there – make them earn their place. This editing process helps identify the key objects that will tell your story.”
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Light will make or break an image and getting it just right will add more drama, depth and atmosphere than any decorative object or piece of furniture ever could. Think about photos taken in north-facing rooms where the light is so cold it’s almost blue and then compare them to the warmth of lovely late afternoon shots, where shadows skid across the wall and everything is basking in the sun.
An important piece of advice that all four photographers mentioned is to never use artificial lights when photographing interiors, so utilise daylight and turn off all your lamps and spotlights. “Get to know when the best time of day is to shoot a particular room (this will change with the seasons) and then think about the direction of the light, whether it’s backlight or sidelight,” Christopher advises. “Sometimes, if the light is behind you, the image can look quite flat, so it’s good to embrace the shadows and contrasts that you get from sunlight shining onto your subject from the side.”
Kristin also believes that good light is of the utmost importance. “Follow the light and then frame your subject – often the two go hand in hand. Light is everything where interiors photography is concerned, so watch and wait. Be patient and when the moment is right (when you get the glow and the sparkle), be ready to click. Get to know your home by watching how the sun moves through it and this will ground you and give you a good idea of where you should be with your camera at what time of day. The very first thing I do when I arrive on set is find north, south, east and west. If you’re photographing your own home, that’s your map for the day. Just move with the light.”
If the light is very bright and you want to soften that or use it to create some interesting contrasts, Martin suggests using the sun to your advantage by “experimenting with partially closing the curtains or blinds and then watching how the light changes”. And if a room seems particularly gloomy, don’t be tempted to turn on the lights, Owen advises. “Don’t worry if it seems too dark, as digital photography – whether on an iPhone or SLR – allows for so much more latitude than film used to, and you can easily brighten up areas that are in shadow, make colour corrections and bring down highlights when they’re too bright.”
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If you’re styling a surface such as a coffee table, bedside table or bookshelves, you might need to take some objects away before adding new ones in, or experiment with moving things around from elsewhere in the house, to find the magic combination of heights and textures.
Anna always includes something made from a natural material to bring her images to life, and this doesn’t have to be a potted plant or vase of flowers. “It could be a wooden bowl or marble candlestick, or a found object such as a shell from the beach.” When you’re thinking about props, Anna also suggests you “mix and contrast your materials and textures; think about matte versus shiny – this could include glass, concrete, brass, marble, wood and soft fabrics.” And “restrain your colour palette – choose two or three colours that contrast nicely or tone with each other to sit alongside monochrome and other neutral shades.”
Twig suggests keeping one focal point at the front of your mind when deciding what else needs to be there, “see how your eye is being led around the image and try to stick to one main focal point, with some secondary things that catch your eye afterwards. This focal point might be a big floral arrangement, a key piece of furniture or a pop of bright colour that pings out from an otherwise neutral scheme”.
When a space is ready to capture, decide whether to add in any ‘real life’ props such as reading glasses, books, smart slippers, an artfully arranged throw, a cup of tea, a crumbly slice of cake or a drippy candle – these are the types of pieces that will make a room feel comfortable and lived-in. Keep it realistic, though (for example, burn new candlesticks a little first so the wicks don’t look box-fresh), and don’t cross the line into twee or sickly – the days of Instagram’s over-styled images of autumn leaves resting on open books are behind us. If you do choose to add food, drink, or clothing props, remember to mix things up so you’re not adding the same elements to every photo
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Foliage and flowers are the most instantaneous way to transform an image (there’s a reason why every photoshoot has a budget for them and most stylists have seen the sun rise at a flower market). They’ll soften a space that feels too angular or unlived in, and if you don’t happen to have a styling prop that’s exactly the right height or width, this is where a strategically placed vase or potted plant can fill a gap.
Milly advises adding texture and layers with foraged pieces: “I collect all sorts of bits like interesting stones from beach walks, old dried flower heads, twigs and branches. I also think foraging for foliage is great as it’s usually more interesting than anything you could have bought.” Twig agrees. “Add flowers, a plant or a branch and use this as your opportunity to make a bit of a statement. Colour-wise, choose tones that work harmoniously with what you’re doing, and it’s worth remembering that something you’ve chopped out of the garden is usually better (and cheaper) than a bunch of flowers. The branches-in-a-vase trick gets a lot of airtime on Instagram but it has been around for many years and it’s frequently used by stylists when a room doesn’t look as special as it could. Whack an apple tree branch or some blossom into a nice big vase and you create an instant focal point.”
When you’re prepping greenery and choosing the right vase for the job, Anna recommends you “make sure the stems have no leaves visible below the rim of the vase – strip them off and definitely have none below the waterline if you’re using a clear vase. As a rule of thumb, make sure flowers are at least twice the height of the vase itself, though that doesn't apply to single stems in bud vases – they don’t need to be so tall.”
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The frame you choose to capture will steer the way you style a space, so before you arrange cups of hot coffee or conceal cables behind plant pots, set up your shot and decide what frame works best for the space and the light. A vignette of a small architectural detail? A view of the whole room? (Remember that portrait-oriented images are by far the best option for Instagram, if that’s the purpose of the photo.) Everything else can be tweaked and moved to work within your chosen frame.
Kristin says that “framing is key and often, less is more. Ask yourself: what story do I want to tell? A glimpse into a room through a semi-closed door can be enough and leave the viewer wanting more. And remember that looking through from room to room gives context and lets your eye have a place to travel.” Both Kristin and Martin agree that negative space around your subject will add drama to the composition. Martin also suggests that you “look at the proportions of the room and notice whether there are any outstanding features such as high ceilings, large windows, focal points or architectural details. Very wide-angle lenses will cover more of the space in a single image but are also prone to lens distortion.”
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Have you got all the gear and no idea? It’s all well and good having a beautiful collection of objects but if you don’t know how best to display them, your photo won’t sing in the way that it could, nor will the objects themselves. Milly says that “the key to making interior images look great is the spacing and composition because too often, there’s too much squeezed into a shot and it’s overwhelming. You can have so many beautiful elements in the room which may well look good to the naked eye, but sadly that doesn’t translate to an image. Often, less is more.” She goes on to advise that “spending time on placement is key. Whether your image is of ceramics on a shelf, or an armchair, side table and plant in the corner of the room, make sure to overlap some of your pieces but also have breaks so that the wall or backdrop is visible. Vary the heights of your objects and avoid perfect symmetry by varying the spacing between them.”
Lastly, Milly suggests “don't always frame a photograph so that the hero object is in the middle. When you place key pieces off-centre, this can give a lovely flow and variety to your images. And if you’re shooting lots of pictures – say of a completed house or newly renovated room – vary between tighter close ups and wider room shots so that your images aren’t too samey”.
Anna agrees that variation and balance is key for styling smaller decorative items. Her list of top tips includes “grouping objects in odd numbers, mostly, but not always or it looks too contrived. Also, vary your heights, such as three different-sized bud vases grouped together, or place a mid-sized vase and a shorter candle in front of a taller leaning picture frame.” Anna adds that “when styling small tabletop items, it creates a more intriguing composition to have a balance of different heights and materials and then frame the items within the photograph so that some objects appear to overlap slightly and others don’t, to create an interesting flow or rhythm through the objects.”
All four photographers agree that a camera isn’t absolutely necessary to take a great image these days, since iPhones do the job so well. Owen comments that “the iPhone 13 upwards is pretty amazing and if you’re only going to be posting the images on social media, you don’t need huge resolutions.” If you do want to invest, the photographers all recommended an SLR camera, if you’ll get use from it, and Owen mentioned that if you’ll be doing a lot of editing or using the images on a larger scale, “a decent camera means you’ll have more depth and density to play around with post-production.”
The most helpful item to invest in was unanimously agreed to be a tripod – either for a camera or iPhone – and it’s important to pay attention to the portability and weight if you want to use it anywhere other than your home. Kristin swears by her titanium tripod: “It’s light as a feather.”
Why is a tripod the most important purchase if a phone camera is sufficient? Christopher explains that “a tripod means you can build up a shot and frame it properly, then when you find the right angle for the room and its contents, you can be more precise and make small tweaks to individual objects with the camera or phone already in place”, meaning you don’t need to take hundreds of photos hoping for one decent straight line and good angle.
Martin and Owen also mention the importance of keeping the camera straight and parallel to the ground for room shots (unless it’s a detail and purposely angled) as tilting the camera forwards or backwards – even by accident – will cause the verticals to distort, and that’s where you can be very precise with a tripod.
If you don’t have a tripod and you do have frustrating issues with lines not being straight on otherwise great images, Owen recommends turning to technology. “Snapseed will do perspective correction on iOS, and Lightroom on a PC and Mac can do automatic control perspective and correction, so it keeps everything nice and straight and that really helps while you’re learning where best to position the camera.”
