Getting great interior design photography for your website
High-quality photography plays a pivotal role in showcasing your design projects, capturing the essence of your work, and attracting potential clients. However, achieving great interior design photography for your website goes beyond simply taking pictures of beautifully decorated spaces. It involves thoughtful consideration of various factors, including image orientation, detail focus, use of white space, and maintaining a consistent style. This article delves into the key aspects of interior design photography that can elevate your online portfolio, ensuring that your website not only looks professional but also effectively communicates your design vision and expertise. Communicate with your photographer before the shoot what you plan on using the photos for and let them know of the requirements from this article.
Get both horizontal and vertical orientations
Ensure your interior design photographer takes both horizontal and vertical photographs. Different sections of a website may call for different image orientations. For example, you might want your project thumbnails to be vertical whilst your heading banner photos horizontal.
Horizontal images are ideal for hero banners, sliders, and wide layout elements. They provide a broad view, which is perfect for showcasing entire rooms or wide-angle shots of interiors.
Vertical images are useful for highlighting particular design elements, such as furniture details or decorative accents, that require a more focused frame.
Using a mix of horizontal and vertical images helps create a visually dynamic and balanced webpage. It prevents the design from becoming monotonous and keeps the viewer's interest.
Use both up close and far away photos
Allowing website visitors to see a mixture of up-close and far away (wide-angle) images provides an in-depth view into the project.
Far-away images provide a broad perspective of a room or space, giving viewers an overall sense of layout, size, and ambiance. They set the scene and offer context, helping viewers understand how different elements within a space relate to each other.
Up-close images focus on specific details, textures, and design elements. They highlight craftsmanship, materials, and finer points that might be overlooked in wider shots. This detailed view enriches the storytelling by emphasizing the quality and thoughtfulness of the design.
Different images cater to different user intents. Some visitors might be looking for an overall impression of the design, while others may be interested in specific elements like furniture, decorations, or materials. Providing both types of images caters to these diverse needs.
No dutch tilts
Dutch tilt, also known as a dutch angle, is a slanted camera angle. This has no use in interior design and is best left for other types of photography. A dutch tilt in an interior design context can cheapen or date the quality of the design and your brand. Stick to classic camera angles.
Leave white space
White space helps to balance the elements within an image and across the webpage, creating a harmonious and pleasing visual composition. This balance can make the website more attractive and engaging for viewers.
Oftentimes, there may be a text overlay on website images. Leave enough white space in the image to allow for text to be overlaid in a pleasing way. White space helps to declutter images and surrounding text, making the content easier to read and navigate. It provides visual breathing room, which allows viewers to focus more easily on key elements without feeling overwhelmed.
In interior design photography, white space can help highlight details by providing a clean background that makes colors, textures, and patterns pop. This can make the images more striking and memorable.
Have a consistent photography style for each project
Ensure the photography style is consistent across the project. Not sticking to one type of photo lighting, i.e.warm, cool, or neutral lighting as well as lightness and darkness, is the obvious sign of a disconnect between images.
Consistency in photography style conveys professionalism. Make sure you’re hiring a professional photographer. You’ve spent a long time working on your interior design project so you deserve to have quality photos for your portfolio, marketing materials, and social media.
You can choose different photography styles for each project, as a darker style may reflect the interior design aesthetic better, whilst others may suit a brighter, colourful vibe.
Only use high quality imagery
Don’t be tempted to add photographs which aren’t high quality to your portfolio. Quality over quantity.
Export for the web
Make sure your interior design photography is exported for the web. Small image file sizes are good to maintain a quick website loading speed. To ensure the file size for the images are as minimal as it can, check the following:
Aim for 250kb in image file size or smaller if possible without reducing the quality.
For image dimensions, no more than 2500 pixels wide for a large background or full-width image.
Other images can have smaller dimensions. My default is 1200 pixels wide.
Export in a JPEG format rather than PNG or other alternatives. This is because JPEGs contain less data than PNGs which means smaller file sizes.
Exported in RGB not CMYK. RGB are the colours that make up online images, whereas CMYK make up printed images.
Interior designer portfolio websites can be heavy with images, especially adding more projects over the years. By following the tips above, you can keep your website optimised.
Great interior design photography is a powerful tool that can significantly enhance your website's appeal and effectiveness. Investing in quality photography and adhering to these principles will help you attract and retain clients, ultimately contributing to the growth and success of your interior design business.
Need a website for your interior design business?
I build bespoke websites exclusively for interior designers that reflect your aesthetic, showcase your beautiful portfolio, and attract clients.
