We do a lot of architectural and showhome photography, for clients ranging from The Sunday Times to Crest Nicholson and Oakdale homes. (In fact, you can see some of it on our home page!)
The key to success is to make the end result seemless. And that is a lot harder than it looks.
You need an almost custom approach to each property. Some might have lots of available light, so you add some light into the dark corners. Some might have weird loft conversions, so you pull your hair out and put multiple lights in various spots and spend hours trying to balance them.
No one approach seems to work, every room needs to be thought through and dealt with as an individual.
Reflective surfaces can make life a nightmare, with brollies and hot spots being almost impossible to get rid of. Unfinished gardens need to be hidden. You need to be hidden!
Before our recent batch of houses I called up a mate of mine in Cumbria, an old commercial hand who has quite a bit of traditional experience with this sort of stuff… but who has now retired to spend his days bodging small boats… Anyways, I thought he might have some old tricks which would cut through the hours of trial/pain and tribulations that we go through to try to get an evenly lit kitchen or bathroom.
“Phil,” I said,” Wot’s the secret of Interiors??”
Sadly, according to Phil, there is no secret magic solution.
It’s just long exposures, plenty of small remote lights, and trial and error.
And if you want to see some of our results, you can take a look at our stuff on Crest Nicholson’s site…
Harvest Fields; http://www.crestnicholson.com/harvestfields/Gallery.aspx
Kings Lodge; http://www.crestnicholson.com/kingslodge/Gallery.aspx
Lightmoor Green; http://www.crestnicholson.com/lightmoorgreen/Gallery.aspx
So, when you are looking at those glossy brochures for your new three story townhouse, or flipping through the pages of Homes Weekly…. have a thought for the snapper who spent hours literally pulling his hair out and sweating to get it just right!
