Materials and the sequence of the job sit together on this page.
We’re so excited to have Amy here with us today! You might remember her from previous guest appearances: her striking dining room, lovely striped foyer, and direct Handmade gold home decor accents. Give her a warm welcome-back!
Hello everyone – Amy here from The Blissful Bee! I am so happy to be contributing to Bekob and can’t wait to share some of my home photography/styling tips and tricks. Today I am going to show you my first secret in photographing your space like a pro.
How to Photograph Your Space Like A Pro
My first home photography tip is SO direct yet for some reason it took me about a year to figure out. Today, I’m here to save you some time so you can also take striking photos!
Ok so are you ready for the crazy direct secret??
Here it comes….
Wait for it….
wait for it….
TURN. OFF. THE. LIGHTS!!!!
Yupp. It’s as direct and straightforward as that. If you are looking to take detailed shots of your home and want magazine worthy photos, all you have to do is turn off the lights. Pretty crazy huh? I’m still kicking myself for not figuring it out sooner. I blogged for about a year until I realized I was doing it all wrong. But lucky for you guys, I’m letting you in on the secret!
Along with turning off the lights, you will need to open up every window in your room to get that natural light to flood the room. Either open the blinds or open your windows all the way. I like to shoot on a cloudy day so I don’t get any harsh shadows in the room while the windows are open.
Here are some shots to show you the process. Notice how I’ve opened up my blinds?
Woah that’s dark huh!!?? I took the above picture with my iPhone to show how dark the room actually looks in person.
But when you go in to take your detailed shot, you can see the natural lighting is absolutely strong. The above picture is also taken with my iphone to show the raw beauty of the natural lighting. Even if you don’t have a fancy camera and you want to take detailed photos, the natural lighting will give you that “magazine” look.
The above photo is taken with my Canon Mark 5D. This camera is rather fancy (ok, really fancy!), but I wanted to show you how memorable these photos can really get.
Now that I’ve shown you how vivid your photos can get with natural lighting, let’s move on to what NOT to do…
As you can see, I have turned all the lights ON in the room. You might think this would give the photograph better lighting, but it’s actually the opposite! Instead, it gives the picture a flat look rather than that striking romantic look that the natural lighting gives off. Both with and without the flash, the photos are just dull. There is no dimension whatsoever. And they have such a strong yellow color (without the flash) and very intense blue color (with the flash). Not the best look if you ask me!
Here is a comparison picture to show you the difference side by side:
Big difference huh? When photographing the entire space (as opposed to a detailed shot) you will need to use a nicer camera. For a long time I used a Canon Rebel and it worked really well. It’s more of a “starter” camera and you can find some used ones online. Even with all the lights off, if you have your blinds open, your camera will have enough light to get a striking photograph. If you think your photo is still too dark, try over exposing the shot a bit. That should help:)
Well I hope you all enjoyed today’s photography tip! I cannot wait to come back for more tips and tricks. If you would like to see more of my work, make sure to stop on by The Blissful Bee. You can also see some more options on styling and home decor on my latest design project, [found here].
