Interior photography for a custom furniture manufacturer. Designer furniture, individual sizes, and complete freedom of choice. It is an expensive service that requires excellent photographs.
Idillio
How to photograph kitchens and cabinets beautifully
My equipment and specifics of use
The wide-angle lens is my love: 12 mm and it fits everything into the frame (even the photographer’s ears – just kidding). But it’s important to use this wide angle of view correctly. I often use a wide-angle lens in automotive photography, but I rarely shoot interiors. Sometimes I had to take a couple of shots of the interior just as an addition to the main shoot.
But once I received a request for an interior photo shoot of a custom kitchen. The clients knew what they wanted: to fit in as much as possible, but at the same time, the cabinet lines should be perfectly straight, just like in a 3D render. Easy to say, but not so easy to do.
The main problem in interior photography is the lack of sufficient space. Let me explain. Surely you have a wide-angle lens on your iPhone (or in a good Android). The closer the subject is to the lens, the more it distorts. If you photograph a cat or a dog’s face with such a lens, it will be very funny! Distortions due to the wide angle stretch the subject, making it look comical.
But we’re not joking here, we’re shooting an expensive kitchen, so everything must be precise. That means straight. So to make it straight, you need to step back as far as possible from the subject, which is not always possible. So sometimes I had to remove the excess and put the camera on a tripod close to the wall to fit more into the frame and reduce distortions. I didn’t use additional light, only sunlight from the window. Sometimes I turned on the room light to create an atmosphere.
Processing interior photos in Photoshop
When I finished shooting, it was time for post-processing. Usually, I make a blend of different exposures (bracketing). So I get a photo with the maximum dynamic range. I have all the information in the shadows and highlights, meaning there are no areas of the frame that are too dark or too bright. Then the retouching begins, where I need to add light somewhere and dim down a bright window. And of course, don’t forget about our favorite distortions, because the cabinets should look as they do in real life – perfectly straight. And after a few hours, a dozen shots will be ready.
Of course, if you need to photograph an apartment for sale or a hostel for daily rent, such intricacies are unnecessary. Here the main thing is that the horizon is straight and everything is visible. In this case, turn on all the lights or open the curtains and tidy up the rooms. Your iPhone can handle this task.
I suddenly remembered about shooting the interior of a car salon. Now that’s also not easy. I love it though.
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