Interiors

[gwionllwyd]

My first post by the way. So be nice to me.
We run a small B&B in North Wales and from time to time a try and take some interior pics to help us advertise the business. The vast majority are disappointing however, like the above. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[drrlam]

Any info on how the shot was taken (ISO, F-number, lens focal length) would be ideal.

This may be a shot that benefits from HDR (given you have sunlit elements in the lower right and the darkened corners in the left side). YOu can read about it here.

I would imaginge that you would be looking for a lens with a short focal length (wide-angle) to encapsulate as much of the room as possible.

It is often helpful to shoot later in the day or at night, and light up the room a lot, with strategically placed lights (often a lot more than you think are needed!) to get the right lighting.

I suppose it depends on what you want to get out of your photo. . . .

Just my 2 cents worth!!!

Oh BTW - I'd stay at your B&B! And DPS members can't be that bad - we all like to share and learn!

[wulf]

Lighting looks like a particular problem in that shot - things look shadowy on the left and overbright on the right (directly sunlight streaming into the room?). You may find that certain angles are only possible at particular times of day.

Another strategy would be to wait for a dim, overcast day (weak but even light) and then use a longer shutter speed to reach a good exposure.

However, you might be better off taking a further step back - look at shots of other holiday cottages and pick out some that you think work well. Now try to figure out how they have been achieved and how you can apply that to your property.

Wulf

[gwionllwyd]

Thanks for the HDR tutorials. I've bought a second hand tripod recently which I guess will help me with this.

Any other equipment I should think about? You mentioned a wide angle lens. I've got a 18-70mm lens which came as standard with my Nikon D50. Should I consider a wider angle lens than this. Any recommendations on model or where I should buy one. I'm based in the UK.

I'll take on board the comment about waiting for a more even natural light. Should I also consider buying a flash gun of some kind or even studio lights? Bearing in mind I'm on a budget and I'm having some success with ordinary bed side lamps etc.

I'm off to study other peoples pictures as suggested. (The newly installed Exif Viewer Firefox add-on is excellent) Huge thanks for your help. Any more tips would be much appreciated. I'll post my improved images soon.

Exif IFD0

* Camera Make = NIKON CORPORATION
* Camera Model = NIKON D50
* Picture Orientation = normal (1)
* Last Modified Date/Time = 2007:05:21 06:55:37

Exif Sub IFD

* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 10/150 second = 0.06667 second
* Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 50/10 = F5.00
* Original Date/Time = 2007:05:21 06:55:37
* Flash = Flash did not fire
* Focal Length = 180/10 mm = 18.00 mm
* Image Width = 3008 pixels
* Image Height = 2000 pixels

[wulf]

You're in Wales so you shouldn't have to wait too long for an overcast day (having said that, it would have been perfect all day over here in London!).

Personally, I'd lean towards getting more out of your current set up rather than investing in more gear right away. It depends on your budget, other uses you might have for the equipment and what vacancy rate you have for your property. If you are booked fairly solid already then you are not going to greatly increase your profits by having better photos to advertise it.

Wulf

[weatherwise2]

Without getting new equipment I would make the following suggestions:

1. Try putting a white sheet over the window to cut and soften the light from the window. (similar to try shooting on overcast day)
2. try getting the camera as low as possible and looking at a lower angle
3. try to shoot with flash, flash at an upwards angle to bounce off ceiling, or with flash covered with a soft white cloth (linen).

Some indoor shots are just difficult with some cameras

Good luck both with the photographs and the business

[aadam_21]

I'd also lean toward trying to get as much out of what you have. Do you have any editing software? Often, changes can be made in post that drastically improve shots. For example, the first thing I noticed with this shot was how out of level it is.

[earldean2020]

a wide angle lens would have been good to get a feel of how spacious the room is. just like the others who already posted their comments, time of the day when you took this shot would have made a difference especially the strong sunlight on the right side. try also a different perspective when you do this again.

[fondantfancy]

We run holiday homes so we have the same problem as you in photographing the interiors.

A few tips, based on your photo:

Remove items that are not needed - my eye is drawn to the box of matches in front of the fire. Any clutter should be removed.

Plump up cushions and straighten them out.

Move furniture - I realised that just because a sofa works in a particular position in reality doesn't mean it looks good there in a photo. For instance your photo of the fireplace might look better with an armchair, even if the armchair is normally on the other side of the room.

Dress the photo - perhaps a coffee table with a cafetiere of coffee, or a couple of nice books. At the moment it looks bare rather than inviting.

Show the window if you can - I know this makes it more difficult for the lighting, but rooms seem to look better with some of the window showing. It looks to me like the photo could be taken from where the sofa is, perhaps moving the sofa so it is still in shot.

Sorry these are not technical solutions for the photo, but for interior shots the content is vital.

[wulf]

Those tips are great - technique without content is going to be cold and sterile.

The only thing you need to watch for is that you don't give the impression that the place is huge if its not - I'd be very disappointed to turn up to a holiday cottage and find it was small, scruffy and pokey if the photos had suggested something else!

Wulf