Three questions I get asked before every Interior Design Shoot

Design and furniture by Brownstone

What time of day do you shoot?

As a natural light photographer, the time we shoot is based on the direction the windows face within any room. If we’re shooting a full home, we generally move around the home with the sun! Because of this, I always ask my clients which direction the windows face within a space before setting the time for a shoot. I generally try to shoot when the rooms offer their best natural light.
i.e. East facing rooms photograph best in the morning, South facing rooms photograph best mid day, and West facing rooms photograph best in the evening. North facing rooms are tricky unless we have other windows in the room to work with.

How much should I bring to style the home with?

The short answer is SO MUCH. Bring it all, and bring as much as you can! The long answer is below…

For living rooms – bring a ton of throws, pillows, rugs to swap out (unless you like what your client already has in your home), coffee table books, and of course a bunch of trinkets to pile on books, and to add and subtract from rooms.
For kitchens – think cutting boards (large scale), cook books, trays, bowls, fresh fruits and veggies (apples/pears/limes/lemons/artichokes/egg plant all photograph well)
For bedrooms – fresh linens if you don’t like the bedding your client has, pillows, throws, more books, candles and trinkets.
For bathrooms – Turkish towels (these photograph better than standard towels), soap dispenser, sponge, stool to place by the tub, trays and trivets to stack near the sink.

If you are local to Sacramento, I recommend checking out The Feathered Nest (Loomis), Brass and Oak Home (Placerville) and House Maroe (Lincoln) for cute styling pieces!

And for all rooms I recommend real greenery, not fake. Don’t mix your greenery either (i.e. don’t mix two types of eucalyptus leaves in one vessel, or multiple greens from a bouquet arrangement in one vessel). On that note, I don’t recommend buying bouquets of flowers from the store as these look exactly like a bouquet from the grocery store when photographed. In addition, I recommend removing any family photos in the home to respect your client’s privacy since the images will be used in a public manner.

3. How long does it take to photograph a house?

This question varies from project to project! The factors that make this vary are – the available light within a space, how much detail there is to shoot and how large the project is. In general it takes about 1-2.5 hours to photograph a single room within a home depending on the above details. It also depends on how much we move around at the shoot – if all of the rooms are set and ready to shoot then we’re in and out much quicker. If we have to shift things around, style and restyle the space then this always adds additional time.

I hope you found this helpful as you prepare for your upcoming shoot! :)

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