Professional Photography for Your Interior Design Or Architecture Business Branding

In today's digital age, visual content is king, and professional photography can be the most powerful tool to enhance your brand. Whether you're a small business owner, manage a big firm or do marketing for a design or architecture firm, investing in high-quality photography can help you showcase your services and make a lasting impression on your audience. Here are some of the benefits of professional photography to enhance your brand:

Increased Credibility and Professionalism

Professional photography can help establish your brand's credibility and professionalism. High-quality images can convey a sense of trust and authority, which can be crucial in industries such as retail, interior design, or architecture. Professional photos show that you take your business seriously and that you're willing to invest in your brand's image.

Better Storytelling

Images are a powerful storytelling tool, and professional photography can help you tell your brand's story more effectively. Professional photos can capture the essence of your brand, your values, and your personality. They can showcase your services in a way that resonates with your audience and helps them connect with your brand on an emotional level. Even more so, editorial or lifestyle type images of your designs, helps create a story within your work.

Improved Brand Recognition

Consistency is key to building a strong brand identity, and professional photography can help you achieve that consistency. By using high-quality images across your website, social media, and other marketing materials, you can create a consistent brand image that's instantly recognizable. This can help you stand out from your competitors and build a loyal following of customers who identify with your brand.

Increased Engagement and Conversions

Visual content is one of the biggest ways to get your audience engaged, and professional photography can help you create visually stunning content that captures your audience's attention. Studies show that people are more likely to engage with and share consistent looking visual content on social media, which can help increase your brand's reach and exposure. Additionally, high-quality images can showcase your services in the best possible light, which can lead to increased conversions and sales.

Cost-Effective in the Long Run

While hiring a professional photographer may seem like an expensive investment upfront, it can be cost-effective in the long run. Professional photos can be used across multiple platforms and marketing materials, which can save you time and money in the long run. Additionally, high-quality images can have a longer shelf life, which means that you won't need to update your visuals as frequently.

Professional photography can be a valuable investment for any business looking to enhance or maintain their brand. It can help establish your credibility, tell your brand's story, improve recognition, increase engagement, and be cost-effective in the long run. When youre ready to take your brand to the next level, hire a professional photographer for your next project to help you showcase your services in the best possible light.

Why I shoot Tethered for Architectural & Design Photography

I often get asked about my shooting process, on-site and explain that I shoot tethered. For new clients, the initial question is usually: “What does that mean”? I am writing this article in the hopes of explaining what it means to shoot tethered, and why I adapted it into my shooting practice.

What is Shooting Tethered?

Tethered (or “tied” in its more literal definition) is the practice of attaching the camera to a computer to control the camera and review the shots. Up until the last few years, this was typically done on-site by attaching the camera to a laptop via a cable. More recently, with the development of newer technology, we are able to tether wirelessly to both a laptop or an iPad. Currently, I shoot wirelessly tethered. By attaching a little “box” to the camera, it allows me to control my camera, use live view to see what the camera sees, and review my images, all wireless though an iPad Pro 12.9”, which is my current setup.

Why Shoot Tethered?

Collaboration

One of the main reasons I decided to take a tethered shooting approach is the collaboration with my clients. I always tell my clients that the shoot needs to be a collaboration. When my clients hire me, they are putting their trust in me that I am able to deliver them a tangible 2D version of their 3D vision. While I might see things slightly different on a project, it’s the collaboration that happens on-site that enables us to create the best possible images. By allowing the client to see what the camera is seeing, and review the images as we are taking them, it really goes a long way in bringing that vision to life.

3” LCD Screen versus 13” iPad Pro

When I’m looking through the viewfinder, or even the 3” LCD display on the back of the camera, I am viewing quite a small image. Bringing that image to a 13” iPad Pro, on a Retina display, really allows us to see the intricacies of the image. The added resolution of the iPad helps us see the minor details in a shot (focus, exposure, color accuracy, etc.) and adjust accordingly. If we were only using the 3” LCD screen to make composition, lighting and staging adjustments we would most likely notice a lot of errors when it’s too late..

Immediate Satisfaction

Shooting tethered offers immediate satisfaction to both myself and my client. Seeing what the concept of the image looks like while were shooting gives us some assurances that we are heading in the right direction. When I started my career, back in the film days, we would take a shot, and need to wait a few days for the lab to process the film and print contact sheets. Taking advantage of modern technology, the immediate results allows us to produce better work, more efficiently.

Staging - Working Efficiently

More often then not, we need to stage for the shot versus staging for how the room looks when you walk into it. Bring that 3D space into a 2D medium changes the perspective on how things are viewed. For instance, a chair might look perfect when viewed in the room, but might need to be moved 3” to the left for the shot. When not shooting tethered, I would run to the chair, move it slightly, run back to camera to check it, back to chair to move a little more, and this cycle can go on for a few minutes. By being able to bring my iPad Pro with me to the chair, I can move it until it’s in the perfect position by viewing my changes in real time, allowing me to work quicker and more efficiently. When I work quicker and more efficiently, you get more final images!

On-Site Post-Production

It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally, during shoot day, while we are collaborating on an image, I might hear something like “can this be removed in photoshop” or something of the sort. Having the images on the screen as we shoot, allows me to quickly take that image, bring it into Photoshop and see our options in regards to post-production on an image. This allows us to make a decision on-site if something need to be fixed in the scene accordingly.

Above are the main reasons I decided to shoot tethered but the list does go on. Whether you hire me for a project, or go a different route, hiring a photographer that shoots tethered should be an essential part of your photographer decision making process. Ultimately, you will get better looking images in less time, a win-win for everyone!!

Why You Shouldn't Hire A Real Estate Photographer For Your Interior Design or Architectural Shoot

When I first started out shooting interiors, I was mostly a real estate photographer.  I was fairly set in my ways and a few years in, I was lucky enough to specializing in luxury listings. Then I received a call from an interior designer who wanted some photos of a recent project she just completed. I said to her: “great, that’s what I do” and thought to myself, how different can it be from shooting real estate? I delivered my “real estate looking” photos to the designer and she wasn’t overly satisfied. The work I provided didn’t show off the time and effort that went into creating her vision.

That was a turning point for me in my career.  Not only did I realize I wanted to start shooting more design and architecture projects, but it also humbled me to the point where I realized I was so deep into my real estate photography formula, that I lacked the “look outside the box” mindset.  I now knew I needed to change the way I photographed a home based on the type of client I was shooting for.

Looking back several years later, that was the best decision I made.  When I started researching interior design and architectural photography, it opened up the doors to a whole new world of photography I had yet to explore and try to master. (I think I will be trying to master it the rest of my career.) I decided to put a short list together of some of the most important differences I have found between shooting real estate and shooting for designers and architects, and hopefully it will inspire other design and build professionals to consider the right person for the job.

Composition

This is probably the most obvious but necessary to mention. I invite you to go to Zillow.com and take a look at the listing photos of a home in your neighborhood. Chances are, you will find a common theme in all of them (unless an agent or photographer went against industry standard). You’ll notice a lot of super wide angles and images photographed from the corners, sometimes showing three walls of a room in a single frame.  As a designer, builder or architect, a super-wide shot like that will be counter-productive in your branding goals, if the viewer cannot see the important design choices and build details you consciously made.  Having a photographer that understands color, texture and proper composition, among others, is crucial to you being able to effectively use your new images for proper branding.

Staging

 Typically, on a real estate listing, it’s “run and gun” style and the true way for a real estate photographer to make good money is by shooting over three homes in a day. That means in and out as quick as possible.  I went to a photography convention last fall and a renown architectural photographer named Scott Hargis said something that stuck with me: “Slow the @#$% down”.  Slowing down and taking a step back to really analyze what is happening in a scene, will always make for better images. From the camera standpoint, typically I take a “less is more” approach to staging and its crucial to take a look at every piece of furniture or accessory in the shot and make sure it has a purpose. If it doesn’t, it comes out.  This slowed down approach really allows us to build the perfectly staged image.

Lighting

Most real estate photographers shoot either one of two ways.  Natural light or a small flash near the camera.  For real estate photography it is a great approach because shooting like this is quick and will produce adequate results.  When shooting for designers or architects, I am able to slow down and really analyze the natural light. At that point I can use additive or subtractive light with respect to the current natural light in the space.  Additive lighting is adding light where needed through the use of flash or continuous lighting. Subtractive lighting is removing lighting in places I don’t want the light using flags, duvetyn or anything else that can block light.  Controlling the light and making sure it only appears when wanted is a time consuming skill that experienced design and architectural photographers posses.

Shooting Tethered

Currently, I use a device that allows me to shoot and control the entire camera from a laptop. It’s a wireless system so we can avoid having wires and a mess on set.  To take a small step back to my business model, I don’t consider myself a hired service provider on any shoot, but rather a marketing partner for your business. To me, that means your shoot is a collaboration: you have a vision and I work with you to document that vision with great images. By shooting to a laptop, it allows you to be present in the shoot, see what I’m doing in real time and we can adjust accordingly. The last thing I want during a shoot is to disrupt the flow and have you look through the ¾” viewfinder on the back of the camera to make sure you’re happy. Shooting to a 16” laptop give us all a better perspective on the final images.

Copyright

I am not going to get too in depth on copyright, as I will save that for another article but to make a long story short,  the way the United States copyright law works, is the “artist” (or photographer in this case) owns the copyrights to the images, and they then license them out to you for your specific usage.  On a real estate listing, the license typically includes usage of the images for the duration the agent has the listing.  What that means if you hire a real estate photographer and they didn’t give you the proper usage rights, you can be violating a federal law.  Usage rights can always be negotiated but it is crucial that you make sure your usage rights includes anything you would need to use the images for. Architectural & Design photographers typically provide usage for portfolio, web, social media and small print as a standard but I always recommend taking it on a case by case basis. 

 Some Final Thoughts

While there are a bunch more differences, and I’m sure I will add to this article over time, I wanted to make sure to highlight some of the most important and obvious. By hiring a professional, the goal is obviously to differentiate your brand and gain new clients. Hiring someone who specializes in your type of work will get you there.  After all, would you hire a food photographer for your wedding?