Need help with photos of rooms and window treatments

[decorator]

I have been using a point and shoot Olympus digital but have ordered a Canon Rebel XTi SLR. I do interior decorating, specifically window treatments, and would like some basic help on taking photos of my work. Most pictures are taken against intense backlight. I've not been very thrilled with the photos taken so far with the Olympus. Any tips to start out with the new camera? (Other than learning all the settings, etc., which I plan on doing.)

[OsmosisStudios]

Get some lighting equipment: A flash, at least. And a tripod.

Essentially, what you want to do is use the flash to balance out the light coming in through windows. IN most cases, simply having it pointed straight up to the ceiling at full power will be enough.

Always shoot in RAW and get yourself a converter. This will give you the ability to really get everything *just* right.

[jprime84]

Try out the various metering modes to see what suits the situation best.

[kirbinster]

In simple terms what you are going to be doing is metering for the bring light coming in through the window. Normally that would cause your window treatments to be very dark, but by using the flash you will fill in the light and make the window treatments viewable and not super underexposed.