Insider tips for staging your own rental interiors photography shoot

Taking photos of your interiors for your property listing can be daunting if you’ve never done it before.

This checklist of essential interiors photography tips will make things easier for you to set up and achieve a more put-together feeling for your final pictures.

We also cover lighting interiors for photography.

Let’s get to it.

The importance of styling for your interiors photography

Carefully styled photography is crucial in the marketing of rental properties or hotel rooms because it really gives the viewer a sense of what their experience in your space is going to be like.

What does styling actually mean though?

It can be as basic as putting fluffy floor pillows into your picture because you think it looks great, to as complex as a study of the balance of your composition and adjusting your scene accordingly.

Make your stylings as warm and inviting but professional as possible.

Here’s how to achieve this:

Staging hospitality photography: a checklist

One: Create space by unplugging all tech equipment in your photo sets.

Tangled wires and cables from TVs and computers look messy and turn everyone off.

Two: Declutter,but not too much.

Because otherwise, you get a sterile feeling in your photo that’s unmistakable. Leave in a plant or two for that human touch.

Three: Composition in photographs.

This basically means the way in which the subject of your photograph hangs together. Keeping an eye on your composition, such as by using the Rule of Thirds (basically meaning that photos look better if their most important parts are off-centre).

Four: Think about your camera lenses.

You might be thinking – architectural photos? Better pull out my wide-angle lens, but honestly, while it’s a great tool to have in your setup, please don’t overuse it. Distortions in your final shots are passé at best.

Five: Use a tripod.

You might find that your photos always lean a little to the left or right even though you might think you’re dead straight. Invest in this and it’ll be your friend for life.

Six: Speaking of light, cloudy days are the best.

The quality of the shadows in photos taken indoors on an overcast day is really soft and lovely.

Seven: Lighting your interiors for photography mega tip: always use natural light if possible.

You’ll see some advice online to open all the curtains and turn on all the lights and to this, we give you an emphatic no. Artificial light casts a dreadful yellow hue over everything you’re photographing, rendering it incredibly unattractive.

Eight: Shoot from the waist, but if you’re doing a series of photos in one location, stay there.

It’s easier for the eye to understand as the viewer goes through your photos. You don’t want your viewer to feel like they’re hopping around the place and bouncing off the walls.

Nine: Edit. Everything. Every photo. Everything. Really.

Photo editing software is a must. Change your camera settings to save your photographs in RAW files and you’ll be amazed at how thoroughly you’ll be able to edit it. There is a host of editing software out there to choose from: the kind you use doesn’t have to break the bank or can even be free if you use it on a trial basis.

Ten: Don’t edit too much though.

Over-editing your photos will do your listing more harm than good. It might even give the viewer the impression that you’re trying to hide something by boosting that saturation on your picture up way too high.

A note about lifestyle photography: working with models or working with friends

Lifestyle photography is a kind of photography that captures people in a certain setting or situation, at real-life events or at certain milestones of their personal lives.

The aim is to capture natural portraits of people in a certain environment. Visual content like this can be very valuable in the hospitality industry especially.

It gives the potential guest a special insider look into what staying there could be like.

Working with models for this kind of project isn’t always possible though due to financial or other constraints.

Can you work with your friends then for your photoshoot?

We would say that yes it can be done, but with caution.

Structure their interactions and give as much direction as possible as this kind of posing for photos might not come naturally to everyone.

Put your best photo foot forward

Take the checklist above with you on your next interiors photoshoot and you’ll be much more comfortable with this kind of photography.

Don’t forget to have fun!