While considering projects to create while sheltering in place during our current situation with Covid-19, I decided to look inside my own home for a project that I could create and share with my new found YouTube audience. This time of year, the dining area gets beautiful afternoon light through a big south-facing window next to the space, and each day as I walk past it and admire the light, I think about what a great image it would make. So after thinking this for several days, I thought that I would come up with a plan to film myself both setting up the shot and photographing and editing it. In part 1 of this two part series, I walk through my thought processes as I land on an angle that I prefer most, and then dive into the staging and styling of the composition.
For many young architectural and interiors photographers, taking the time to think through all of the little things that make up an image can be overwhelming, and it’s important to take a step back and to take your time, looking at all of the elements in a scene. My hope is that through this video, I will be able to illustrate the value of doing just that.
To start things off, I first went around the space and took a few snapshots of the angles that I thought would be the most likely options. While I normally am pretty quick to go with a nice one-point perspective, I would up choosing an angled shot from the kitchen that skims past the couch, showing just enough of it and the living room rug to help give context to the adjacent space, which is important when creating a set of images in order to help complete the story of the space. Another reason I went with this image over option A below (my other favorite) is that I wanted to show a peak at the view outside, which is of some great trees that sit right near the window. This also allows us to get a clearer idea of the design details that the architects, Content Architecture, put into the windows, which feature a deep inset providing some protection from the sun in the hot summer months here while also creating relief and interest to the exterior facade.
As I get into the staging and styling of the space, you’ll see that I rely heavily on the ability to see the camera’s live view as I walk around the space. This allows for very precise placement of objects as seen by the camera, which I find much more efficient than traditional tethering to a computer where I either need to remain at the computer while an assistant, client or stylist move things as I direct them, or running back and forth between the camera/laptop and the area I am shooting. To do this, I use a CamRanger, which gives me control of all of the camera functions from a tablet. There are a few other options out there including Tether Tools Air Direct and Canon and Sony’s built in applications, but CamRanger just happens to be what I know and what works for me. In the next video, you’ll also see how I use this to control the camera while moving around the space, which allows me to adjust and even hold flashes and other things while shooting.
Staging and styling are incredibly important parts of what we do as architectural and interior photographers. Taking the time to ensure that distractions have been removed and that furnishings and objects relate well and look right from the cameras perspective are often the key to an image looking refined and professional. Photographers in our field often refer to “adjacencies” and “tangents” when describing either a composition or the placement of objects within it. The importance of this cannot be overstated. This refers to pieces of furniture and objects overlapping one another in undesirable ways, creating a visual tension that can be avoidable with a little time and care before clicking the shutter. On shoots, clients will often comment about how strange a space looks to the human eye when we have staged it. This is because a rooms natural, planned arrangement is very rarely what works best for various camera positions, so we end up moving items in some dramatic ways, often spacing them far apart in order to get them to look just right in camera. These adjacencies and tangencies not only refer to how objects (and people) relate to one another, but also how things interact with the boundary of our frame. Take a look at some of your favorite architectural and interior photographers work and you’ll start to notice how the thoughtful placement of objects and the architecture they exist in feel completely resolved within the frame of the image.
Next week, I will pick up where I left off and proceed with photographing the space before moving things into the computer where I will put it all together to get to the final result.
Many of us are currently spending more time at home and away from our normal day-to-day and it’s important to keep the creative juices flowing, no matter the outlet. Hopefully in addition to giving some insights into what goes into creating an architectural or interior image, this exercise will also get you to create things wherever you’re spending this time.