How to stage your home for an interior shoot

If you're an interior designer, you know that appearance is everything when it comes to marketing your expertise in the market. Good staging can make all the difference. It might be as simple as including fluffy floor pillows in your photo because you think they look nice, or as complex as studying the balance of your composition and modifying your setting accordingly.

Make your home stylings as warm and appealing as possible while staying professional.

Here's how you can do it with a few easy tips:

Prepare a shot in mind or on paper

Preparing a shot beforehand is important but can be difficult at times. After months or years of working on a project, it might be difficult to narrow down which view and area will best portray the project. A good idea is to walk through the room for as many times as it takes for you to figure out, look as a visitor to find the best view. On a sheet of paper or verbally, discuss with the team and ask for their opinions too.

Photo by Med Badr Chemmaoui on Unsplash

Decide the props

Visualize the room when it is finished and create a wish list of props that you think will enrich the setting and help you click a better photo. Here’s a list of some props that are inexpensive yet aesthetically pleasing to the audience:

• Fresh flowers with a vase
• Carpets matching with walls
• Extra pillows
• Books and magazines as a showpiece
• Hanging an artwork
• Any electronic equipment you already own
• Blankets

Photo by Vecislavas Popa from Pexels

This is not an exhaustive list. Depending on the mood you want to create, you can experiment with many things normally found lying around the house, like vintage electronics and artifacts.

Clean everything

Before the actual shoot takes place, have the place professionally cleaned. Ever wondered how hotel rooms are so cozy and welcoming? It’s because they regularly clean the place so that the customers feel comfortable. When cleaning the place, focus on making it as clean as a hotel. Dust, vacuum, mop, and wash everything.

Declutter the place

Declutter the space to give it a cleaner appearance, but not so much that it loses its human touch. At that location, no surface should have more than a few objects on it at once. Remove any unnecessary items, and make sure to arrange any items you leave lying around elegantly.

Photo by Minh Pham on Unsplash

Assemble everything

Now that you have a clear picture of what exactly the shot would look like, collect and assemble everything that is required. To decide what view looks best, try experimenting with the positioning of the props. Once everything is acquired and assembled at its place, you are ready for your shot!

Shoot the space

Now that the room is staged to be shot, make sure that the camera lenses are appropriate for the shoot. Understanding camera lenses is important when doing interior photography. Real estate photography aims to convey a sense of space, which is challenging because a camera cannot see depth like the human eye. Here is when having the right camera lens is important.

Photo by Room for Tuesday

Post-processing

Once the shots are done, editing is a must! Always shoot in RAW mode when taking interior photos. You'll be impressed at how extensively you can edit a photo after changing your camera settings to save images as RAW files. The photographs will need extra modifications before they are ready to be shared on your website, social media, or anywhere else. Make sure to include this in your schedule because it's important to get rid of all the imperfections. While editing, balance should be maintained. If you over edit your photographs, it will harm rather than help your listing.

Interior photography shoots require a lot of teamwork and attention to detail. You must allocate enough time for client meetings, styling, and editing. The ultimate goal is to take captivating interior photos. These must look fantastic on websites as well as social media.

Stage your next interior shoot keeping the above points in mind. These are sure to help you feel more comfortable with the shoot and generate better outcomes.