Photoshoots are funny things

Behinds the scenes of a photoshoot, things aren’t all pretty. The term conjures up images of glamour but photoshoots themselves are anything but glamorous.

I had a photoshoot last week with Lisbeth Grosmann from Grosmann Photography.  The photoshoot was for a hospitality design project I completed in July, a café called Autumn Leaves in Flemington. 

Photography for Interiors

I’ve learnt more and more about photography for interiors and styling for photography.  Both completely different skill sets to interior design and interior styling.

Spaces are 3D, they’re alive with light, shadow, colour, texture, form and all the other elements that go into interior design.  Photos are 2D and that’s where the challenge is.

A photo is flat, a space is not.  When you take a photo of an interior, you can see gaps and imperfections that you don’t see in person.  For example, at the Autumn Leaves photoshoot, we had to contend with the kitchen window being open.  The window opened outwards and messed with the straight line of the courtyard wall.

Styling for Photography

In another photoshoot I had of a residence in Coburg, it took us one whole hour just to get the hero shot.  There’s lots of shifting in a photoshoot.  Sometimes just by moving a chair or cushion a few centimetres one way or another makes all the difference.

Behinds the scenes of a photoshoot, placement of objects is important too.  For example, in real life you would have a vase in the centre of a dining table but in a shoot of a Scandinavian apartment I designed in St.Kilda East we had to place it off centre for the picture to be balanced.

Balance in photography is different to balance in interior design.  I’ve learnt that in photography there is a grid of squares which helps line up objects to ensure the picture is balanced.

Photoshop is a useful tool, but I like to keep the pictures of the spaces I design as authentic as possible, I don’t mind a flaw here or there because it’s honest.  It’s how the space was captured at that particular moment and there’s something nice about that.

Photoshoots will never be my favourite thing in the world to do but I have learnt so much about photography and styling for photography. 

Photography is an art form that is critical for me to showcase my work and I’m slowly getting better at enjoying the fussiness that goes part and parcel of a photoshoot.

Cover Image – Photo by Dicky Jiang on Unsplash