The value and production of photography changed in 1900, when Kodak introduced the Brownie camera, saying “You push the button, we do the rest.” The reduced cost and increased simplicity of creating an image enabled millions of amateurs and hobbyists to click away and deliver the quickly-named “snapshot” to the modern world. Ever since, Polaroid, “one-time-use”, instant, digital cameras, “point-and-shoot”, cellphone cameras etc… have hammered deeper and deeper into the minds of photo-viewers all over the world that anyone can take a picture, everyone is a photographer. This faulty idea misleads many businesses into believing that they can and should take their own photographs, but it also blurs another line.
If everyone is a photographer, then a PROFESSIONAL photographer must certainly be able to shoot anything, right?
Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
Specialization is Key
While there are talented photographers in the industry that could easily tackle most subjects because of their complete understanding of the camera, light and composition, the fact remains that there are too many genres of photography for one to devote enough time and become an expert in all. As with any skill, a photographer must practice and improve over the course of many years. As I wrote previously on the benefits of specialization, I will not be spending every day for the next ten years photographing surfing, weddings, food, babies, celebrities, wild animals, AND interior design. I don’t have the time or even the desire to do that, and thus I won’t be deemed in expert in all of those fields. I don’t know how to time the wave in order to capture the best shot of the surfer in the tube. I don’t know how to connect with subjects and capture the best portrait for an editorial piece. Don’t ask me how to get a baby to relax and curl into some cute jelly-bean pose. And that turkey on the cover of the Eating Well? Mine might look very different.
You get the point. Just as a disclaimer, this is not to say a photographer can't have more than one specialty. They absolutely can. But each specialty does require different knowledge and experience specific to each photography subject.
What Makes Shooting Interiors So Difficult?
With interior design photography, so many factors come into play that are different than in a portrait studio. We are working with space, with furniture, with windows, with light fixtures, with color, lines, and textures while telling a story through a photograph that accurately depicts the quality delivered by the builder or designer. Unlike real estate photography, interiors photographers don’t care about showing how big a room is, but rather the details that make that specific space special.
Hiring someone not used to dealing with multiple light sources all with various temperatures or not familiar with how different focal lengths can distort the size and relationship of various objects in a scene can lead to images that look distorted and too wide, contain considerable haze. A jack-of-all-trades photographer will often produce images in which the interior is dark, the windows are big white blobs and the colors are all wrong. I’ve lost count of how many times a new client has hired me to re-shoot a project previously photographed by another professional because they are unhappy with the results. In most cases those clients hired a professional whose portfolio includes a little bit of everything.
Hire A Specialist!
Yes, a trained photographer will hopefully take a higher quality image than your handy iPhone. But, if your goal is to create the best possible photos of your work, to impress and earn the best potential clients, then your only answer should be to hire a specialized interiors photographer, with passion, experience and the skills specifically suited to your needs. More importantly, you can save money, time and frustration by hiring the right person right off the bat.
If you are an architect, designer, builder or decorator with a project that you need to document, I would love to hear about it. Contact me for a free quote and see how Arris Photography can help showcase your work.