Interior Design compostion

[skroll]

I am starting to shoot interior design type shots and I have a question regarding the composition. I have included a recent shot and I am wondering a few things...

Is the shot too open? Is there too much ceiling? Does the back of the couch kill the shot?



How could I shoot this section of the room and get a better shot?

Thanks,

 

[Peter Berressem]

Is the shot too open? Is there too much ceiling? Does the back of
the couch kill the shot?

If there's a better 'point of view' is not to tell, unless I (we) see other views.

I agree with the ceiling showing a tad too much but that can be corrected by cropping, right?

A major point is the couch, indeed. You may have flagged the back (i.e. the whole area between window and couch). It would reduce the brightness there, hence achieve an overall brighter room. If the windows in the view would 'burn out' then too much...second, darker shot for them and cloning in PS would do the trick.

--
cheers, Peter

Germany

 

[Peter Berressem]

Oh, I forgot that the garden chair better would have been removed..;-)

--
cheers, Peter

Germany

 

[Graham Snook]

Is the shot too open?

Yes

Is there too much ceiling?

Yes

Does the back of the couch kill the shot?

Yes

But look on the bright side you can see what is wrong with it :-D...also see below

I don't shoot houses I shoot boats, which usually have fixed furniture that you have to shoot around

If I were shooting that scene, I would go closer in, move the red chair, it's not adding anything to the image, and stand where it is or just round the corner. take away the plain cushion on the green sofa, move the garden chair from outside out of the shot, loose the blue plate on the mantle piece and pull the stuff on the table the jar on the tray, pull that back into the centre of the table, make sure the backs of the sofa cushions are together, crop out the end of the curtain rail on the left, and move the pictures under the lamp so they aren't reflecting or being lost behind the other sofa also the lighting looks a little flat and the celing looks dark...it's just attention to detail...take a quick look at the images and see what looks out of place.

Or you could just crop

On the left
Move the red chair and crop out the dark panels

On the top

Crop where the grey panel (with the curtain rail sticking out the end) a line straight up where the wall meets the celling

On the bottom
Just underneath the photomatix logo on the chest

On the right
on the left hand side of the slighy slanty window frame so the log reads photom

But you'll still need to do all the fine details

hope that helps

G

--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Always give the client a vertical-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
http://grahamsnook.wordpress.com/

 

[BAK]

Re> Is there too much ceiling?

Hmmmm... I wonder where the ceiling coverage rulebook is.

Whether there is too much ceiling depends on whether a client wants to lay type over the shot. It depends on the size of the hole and the shape of the hole into which the picture is going to be inserted.

It depends on a whole bunch of things that the photographer and the client, not strangers, need to decide.

If the picture is going to be inserted into a web page that will be used to prmote the photographer as a photographer of interiors... well, is there going to be type added or not? If not, chop off a lot of empty white, but that's pretty basic.

And onmy screen the ceiling is too grey.

Yes, the couch wrecks the picture. Move some furniture.

BAK

 

[marc gerritsen]

75% of my work consist of interiors and i can tell you there is no such thing as a rule that i use or for that matter that i know any other interior photographer uses. It really depends what story you want to tell.

You can make the space look bigger, cosier or you can work in an abstract way. The most important thing to remember is that your photo has to tell a strong story. Starting of with a good interior is half the work done.

It seems that every interior i have seen around here, whether it is a kitchen or a living room is of a very mediorcre standard as opposed to the photography.
marc

 

[Peter Berressem]

Starting of with a good interior
is half the work done.
It seems that every interior i have seen around here, whether it is
a kitchen or a living room is of a very mediorcre standard as
opposed to the photography.

Do you assume the architecture / furniture / styling was the OP's choice? He better should have declined the job / client because of the 'ordinary' subject?

--
cheers, Peter

Germany

 

[Ashley Morrison Photography]

Hi skroll
My opinion on the questions you asked:

Is the shot too open?
Personally I think it's fine - no problems.

Is there too much ceiling?
No, it's about right.

Does the back of the couch kill the shot?
Yes - totally.

When faced with a room like this, here is what we do:

The example below was shot in a farm-house in Spain last year - these two shots are in reserve angle to yours but it should help illustrate the point anyway....
'Before shot' and how the room was:



Has you can see the two sofas are at right angles to one another - the result is they block the view of the room beyond.
By turning one of the sofas around so as it faces the other...



...we solved the problem.

You can see the return angle - similar to yours - in the BBC Good Homes magazine feature:



If we had left the sofa in place neither of these two angles would have worked.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ashley.

 

[Robert Strom]

I just wanted to comment on your shots. Good eye and advice about moving the couches.

I am just curious as to why you chose to leave the door open? I like that it feels like an invitation to come in, but with the door open and not blending a darker exposure to give the outside at least a little detail it kinda leaves a blinding hole in the middle of the photo that draws my eye to it rather than the room itself.

Other than that one detail your composition and lighting are very attractive.

Robert
--
http://www.streamlinestudio.com

 

[Robert Strom]

A few comments

1. Yes, you should have pulled the couch back to see less of the back and help open up the room.

2. either white balance to get rid of the blue cast on the floor and the cabinet -or- use P-shop to remove the blue cast by painting over the blue by sampling the carpet color and using "color" mode at a low opacity and painting over the blue little by little until it looked natural or used the de-saturation sponge to get rid of the blus then painting in the actaul rug color with the methos I just described.

Actually the whole scene is too "cool". A warmer WB would have made the room more inviting.

3. You could have cropped the picture tighter to avoid the side of the cabinet and the chair which does not add anything to the shot and it is also distracting.
4. Either turn both lamps on or off. You have one on and one off in the shot.
5. You could have darkened the ceiling down in P-shop to make it less noticable

6. You could have blended a darker exposure for the windows to overcome the blown highlights.
--
Robert
http://www.streamlinestudio.com

 

[Ashley Morrison Photography]

Hi Robert

You asked: 'I am just curious as to why you chose to leave the door open? I like that it feels like an invitation to come in, but with the door open and not blending a darker exposure to give the outside at least a little detail it kinda leaves a blinding hole in the middle of the photo that draws my eye to it rather than the room itself.'

To answer you question as to why I did something in one shot out of hundreds which I do each month:

I guess I left the door open because I though at the time that it worked. Plus I do like to draw the viewer through the room - creates a more 3D and real feel to the image, which is at the end of the day, flat when printed.

In this home we could only use one flash light, due to the power supply being solar power, so I needed all the available light possible - to light up the place. We shoot between 15 and 30 images during a home feature and like to be out by 6, so I don't get to anal about every last detail in every shot - unlike advertising work. That's not to say we cut corners big time; however, sometimes when shooting abroad - were we shoot around 5 homes per week - after two or three weeks, one does tend to keep it moving.
90+ degrees and no air con to boot.

In this example the furniture wasn't that great to be honest; however, the place itself had a wonderful open feel to it, so I guess I tried to capture that more than the actual furniture.

I usually do like to hold a touch of detail in the outside areas but... well I didn't in this case - it wasn't the main shot - so time to move on - it will do.

In the main shot, which you can see in the magazine feature, I did worked a little harder to hold the detail in the windows.

This rustic old farm house, in the middle of Spain, has been a good seller for us this year - chalking up 3 major features so far - so the open door doesn't seem to have bothered the Editors, thank goodness : )

Shooting homes around the world is fun but it does raise a few problems that many of you won't face in your own back ward or country.

In the last 12 months, here is just some of our published work from around the globe....
Italy - September 2006 issue of 25 Beautiful Homes:



France - Current issue of BBC Good Homes:



Spain - April 2006 issue of BBC Good Homes:



America - April 2006 issue of 25 Beautiful Homes:



England - Current issue of BBC Good Homes:



Ireland - June 2006 issue of Ideal Home:



America - December 2005 issue of BBC Good Homes:



France - June 2006 issue of Ideal Home:



America - May 2005 issue of House & Home:



Ireland - August 2006 issue of Home Beautiful:



France - Januray 2006 issue of BBC Good Homes:



Ireland - Current issue of Woman & Home:



We sell about 10 features per month to the UK magazines market, on top of our regular advertising work, so forgive me if every image isn't perfect - I'm still learning.

Cheers
Ashley

 

[BAK]

Looking at the real estate section of a newspaper today, I noticed that the art director had run two photos side by side, wide and shallow, getting "shallow" by cropping of the ceilings.

But if the hople had been another shape, he probably would have left more ceiling in.

BAK

 

[interiorsarchitecture]

Hi Ashley (with apologies to the op),

Please confirm something for me: you don't blend your images do you? Either interiors or exteriors? Obviously there may be an exception, but I am talking about the general run of images.

Thank,
Mark

 

[Ashley Morrison Photography]

Hi Mark
Correct.

Old school - I still shot film too when required.

Plus we are asked to include people in a lot of our images - adds reality and interest to the viewer. More and more it's the people shots that magazines are going big on:
September 2006 issue of BBC Good Homes - cover and lead home feature...



September 2006 issue of 25 Beautiful Homes...



September 2006 issue of House Beautiful...



September 2006 issue of NI Homes & Lifestyle - cover and 4 home features....



Cheers
Ashley

 

[Robert Strom]

Thanks for your thoughful reply and some insight to your business. I agree that when you shoot a lot of images you spend more time on potential cover shots and not every shot can be perfect, especially at the rates most mags pay!

Do I understand that you are a freelancer and shoot houses on speculation then shop them to the mags. It appears you have good relationships with some of them. Are some (or all) of them all part of one corporation that uses the same format and tailors them to each country or region?

Keep up the great work. It inspires me to shoot better!

Robert
--
http://www.streamlinestudio.com

 

[Robert Strom]

It is always better to shoot wider and give the editor or client options to crop. aslo, when feasible always shoot a vertical... You never know when you have a cover shot!
Robert
--
http://www.streamlinestudio.com

 

[skroll]

Thanks for all of the insight.

I have recently picked up a wider angle lens and will be going back to shoot the room again. This was more of a test shot to get an idea as to what I was looking at. I have sat down with owner/decorator and we have made notice to other things in the room that we will be addressing. I will probably end up moving more to the left and get the shot more head on.

This is a large room and to the right there is a large hutch and dining table. I was afraid that if I used more of a head on angle the other part of the room would make the background quite busy.

I am also going to try to add some reflectors and use a strobe next time around to help with the color and overall lighting.

Thanks again,

Scott