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House Interior > Kitchen
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Hi All,
This is a very interesting discussion.
Everybody that replied has an interest in the topic in some way.
Alan obviously has an interest as it is his work.Some have an interest as photographers both amateur and professional.
Others have experience in this field of photography.The replies have had me thinking quite a bit about the issues being discussed.
Two issues came to my mind.
Would the way I handle my own business relate in any way to the issue here?
How would a totally uninterested casual viewer feel about the 2 images?
It may not add anything to the discussion but I felt compelled to try answering both questions.Question 1.
I have a business selling, installing and servicing telephone systems and allied equipment.
I have been in the business since 1973 and my own business since 1989.
I consider myself to be professional at this.I visit each prospective customer and listen to what they feel they want to achieve.
I then give them the full benefit of my knowledge and experience as to what I feel
is the best way achive their goals.Sometimes the customer agrees with my recommendations but dosen’t have the budget
to implement them.
Then they can lower their expectations to suit the budget, change the budget somehow to suit
their expectations, talk to somebody else or maybe scrap the idea altogether.Sometimes the customer knows more than me and can get the same job done for “half
the price” or “we don’t need all that stuff” or a myriad of other outcomes that I’m sure most
of you could write a book on.In all cases the prospective customer gets my professional opinion on what I think is the best
way to do the job.
In the vast majority of cases I put this in writing.Longstanding customers just present me with the job and let me get on with it.
In some cases I just can’t work with the client.
All of the above would have been done without any money changing hands.
The job (if I get the order) would be done to the clients satisfaction and I will
be able to stand over it as a professional.Question 2.
I showed the 2 images to my wife.
She takes photographs but has no real interest in the technicalities of the medium.
She looks at images of rooms in magazines.Image #1.
She would lose the hats.
The table looks like an altar and maybe just a bowl of fruit would be better and anyhow
what is the table doing there.
The picture on left looks like it is in an alcove so maybe lose it or show more of it.
The worktop looks really cluttered and whats with the geraniums.
The sunglasses on the right look a little cluttered.
Don’t like the wires.
The ceiling lights look crooked
Like the mat and the colours.Image#2
Half a picture.
Nice but not great.Who would she blame for the issues she pointed out?
She would presume that the photographer would have pointed out to the client
how the rooms would look in the photographs.
If she were hiring a photographer she would expect the photographer, as she
would any professional, to point out the best way of doing things and the possible
effects of not doing things properly.
So in this case she would assume that the images were as per the clients requirements.Sorry for being longwinded.
Cheers,
John.
whose comments seems to have disappeared
Moderated again… another damn thing.
Looks much better… must’ve been the Tippex on the edit?
good discussion-
proof, if any was needed, that photography is many things to many people-John, good points, and your wife is very astute.
Obviously an educated viewer-Mick, I think I prefer your colours,
but working from the raw would improve it again, as you mentioned-
Not sure it would completely make up for the lighting though-It’s almost impossible to separate the subject from the picture.
That’s usually what we aim for;
the vast majority of people who flick through House and Garden don’t do so to check out the photography.
A good interior photograph is helped immesurably by a good interior.And that’s where it becomes an issue of taste, among other things.
Alan, it’s interesting how people have responded to this series of pictures-
some commented on the picture, others the location,
others the objects in it.
We’ve talked about colour, composition, lighting (a little) projection and geometry.
Designers, teamwork, and demarcation within the industry.
Some didn’t mention anything about the photography at all.However, I think John’s wife’s comments were most clear.
She critiqued the image in front of her,
and everything she mentioned was in the hands of the photographer/stylist.
Everything she mentioned could have been dealt with before the picture was taken.Let’s face it, it’s the photographer’s job to present the picture,
and he won’t do himself any favours by blaming the stylist later-
who might or might not be good at the twin roles of specifying and arranging.These are very difficult interiors.
Showing the spaces, the wide angle room shot,
requires little more than doing it until it’s right.
If you check every bit of your picture,
and find something wrong, change it, and take it again.
Do the shot the designer wants, then, in this case, take things out, and do another one.One example, while I’m sure that those, what are they, birds?
hanging from the cupboard handles are the work of some very highly paid artist,
it would have taken a moment to re-take the shot without them.
The result would have been 100% better,
in the sense that it would have removed a particularly twee and dysfunctional adornment,
and I wouldn’t be making the comment now.Then there are detail shots, long views, flavours-
the list is endless.Anyway.
There’s loads more to talk about-
but I’ve rambled on too long already-joseph
5faythe wrote:
The job (if I get the order) would be done to the clients satisfaction and I will
be able to stand over it as a professional.There are more than 100 different ways for any one person to shoot a subject and if you ask 100 different photographers, to take a picture of something, you will probably end up with 100 very different images.
Good discussion and great reading.
I have taken everything on board.
Everyone has made some very valid points in relation to these
images some of them relevant to the location/interior, some not.In relation to the Kitchen I take responsibility for not noticing the kettle
and leads and to a lesser extent the potted plants on the cooker.But I think for the rest of the styling in this case it is very much what
the home owner wanted to show and they are very happy with the images
in the end.I think given the circumstances and the reason the shots were taken or
the application they were going to and also the budget to work within ,
they are of a very high standard and for a web based image that is going
to be around 600 pixels high or wide they are just perfect.However for a higher end useage like a glossy magazine they just dont cut
the mustard for all the reasons above.I think we all learned a lot from this thread.
Oh yes I have checked out Ashley’s and Joseph’s sites and they are both very
inspiring for interior and exterior architectural photography.Ashley wrote:So it’s not just so black & white, as installing a telephone system, when it comes to creating / producing / making an image.I am well aware that certain aspects of any “job” are subject to the
personal preferences of the client.I regularly have discussions with customers concerning topics like
the shape, size or colour of items which I am proposing to supply.
Some of the items discussed have no impact on whether the equipment
works (technically) but may be very important to the client.But I would argue that it is indisputable that certain technical requirements
should be adhered to when performing most paying jobs.
I suppose I’m saying it’s “black & white” in the sense that if it’s not right it’s wrong.
Photography I feel is no different.Obviously photography has an artistic side to it that installing telephone
systems dosen’t.I, of course, would bow to the knowledge of people who work in this
profession and to Alan’s understanding of the circumstances of the
situation under discussion.Cheers,
John.
5faythe wrote:
I showed the 2 images to my wife.
She takes photographs but has no real interest in the technicalities of the medium.
She looks at images of rooms in magazines.Well, be sure to tell her to pick-up a copy of Good Homes then, because as you can see in their current issue…
… despite leaving the “twee and dysfunctional birds hanging from the cupboard handles,” the “random plants,” the “awful rug,” “the hats” and the “cheap plastic table cloth” all in place…
..the Editor still thought this wee place looked great…
So a Big Thanks to Alan for this one. :D
“.. because you know… one man’s sheet is another man’s champagne… n’ all that.”a few thoughts:
1. I presume the images were for web use? was it going to be on a site such as daft or my home? if so why the portrait shot? theses sites prefer landscape in a 4:3 ratio and it is shown that images that fit the allocated space better get people to look for longer.
2. a few easy tweaks. running the images through lens correction might have got rid of some of the barreling which is in this case hardly noticeable
3. one possible treatment to reduce the cast while using the lights is to do multiple exposures: 3 exposures 1.5 stps apart with the lights on, 3 exposures with the base exposure over exposed by about a stop with the lights off and an exposure with a nice bit of fill flash. now blend to your hearts content.Fascinating thread. The final images look great Ashley. Really breathed life into the place, which I’m sure was there, in person, when the first images were taken. But yer mawd skillZ have translated that life into the photos. I’m curious about a shoot like this, because I’ve dabbled in shooting interiors with low budget for web use.. roughly how long did you spend researching/pre-production/styling/shooting the house? Cheers, Pete
PeteMcD wrote:
.. roughly how long did you spend researching/pre-production/styling/shooting the house? Cheers, Pete
Just noticed your questions Pete – so sorry about the year delay on this one.
Our aim is to produce about 15 images on the day – and we would put a full day aside to produce those 15 images.
I would work with a stylist and sometime we would have an assistant – but we didn’t on this one.
The amount of time spend on researching & pre-production can vary depending on a number of factors – but in this case, as we were trying to line up 3 in a row in this area, it probably took a few days. The stylist would usually have to plan ahead the most, to insure she had everything she needed with her, in the back of the wagon.So all in all, including travelling time to shoot these 3 homes in this area, I’d estimate between us, this was about 80 to 90 hours work.
And the results to date form doing this has earn us about £5.5k (approx 6.5k Euros).Editorial work obviously doesn’t pay as well as Advertising work, but we really enjoy doing this type of thing – travelling around the country and getting to meet some lovely people – plus I see it as a major part of our portfolio too, as our name appear along side the images.
So it’s not just about the money – but then again it is, in a roundabout way.Results to date of the 3 homes we shot in this part of Ireland, thanks to Alan and his post here on this forum:
November 2009 issue…
.. pages 67 to 72.
July 2010 issue…
.. pages 92 to 101.
September 2010 issue…
.. as seen above.
October 2010 issue…
.. pages 62 to 66.
August 2011 issue…
.. pages 82 to 92.
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