How to Take the Best Photos of Your Home With a Phone
Can't-miss dos and don'ts from Emily Henderson's favorite interiors photographer.
Stylist and HGTV star Emily Henderson asked her go-to interiors photographer David Tsay for his tips on how regular decor lovers like ourselves can capture magazine-worthy photos of our prized interiors with nothing more than a smartphone. Check out his simple, yet kind of genius, Dos and Don'ts below to make your Instagram into a design destination.
• Do take photos of the room at different angles: whole-room shots while standing in the entrance, straight-on shots of a piece of furniture, and close-up shots of your vignette at a three-fourths angle as if you’re peering right into the collection.
• Do turn off all the lights. Different lightbulbs give off different colors and intensity, so it’s best to shoot in natural daylight.
• Don’t use your flash. Instead, invest in an inexpensive and lightweight tripod that fits your phone. Most of the time, your exposure will be slow without a flash, so this will help keep the image from blurring.
• Do plug in your earbuds if you have an iPhone. You can use them as a camera shutter so you don’t shake the phone while snapping away.
• Don’t fall back on ready-made filters, which can get boring because everybody uses the same ones.
• Do play with the photo settings. Instagram and other photo apps let you easily tackle enhancements that will bring more life to your shot.
• Don’t keep them to yourself. Tag your photos with #styled so we can see the results!
Pick up a copy of her Emily's new book, Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves, for more decorating dos and don'ts.
