Our environment has a profound influence on us. For example, interior design has been shown to impact how we behave and feel, which explains our interest in the subject. Home and Garden Photography not only provides inspiration for our own living spaces but also often satisfies our curiosity about how other people live. It’s a reliable staple across mainstream media and less subject to trends and ups and downs than other photography genres.
Table of Contents
What is Home and Garden PhotographySkills to SucceedPeople SkillsTechnical SkillsAerial PhotographyPost-Processing SkillsThe MarketGarden Photographers EquipmentHiring for Home and Garden PhotographyTo Specialize or Not to SpecializeWhat Clients Look for When HiringPricing Home and Garden PhotographyA Reliable Genre
What is Home and Garden Photography
This specialty is distinct from architecture photography, which focuses on the structure itself. Home and Garden Photography usually concerns itself with everything in and around the physical structure and hones in on individual touches. This includes furniture, art, decor, cabinetry, and flooring. Home and garden images may or may not include people as they are an important visual element to show how the space is used. So it’s not a coincidence that many photographers who lean towards this specialty often also offer portraiture photography. Good home and garden photography showcases how somebody designed and crafted their living space and how they interact with it. In fact, a lot of home and garden photography assignments include the inhabitants or designers of the photographed space. Like a good portrait, it often reveals something deeply human about the owner. The Charlotte, North Carolina home and garden photographer Joel Lassiter says,
Skills to Succeed
People Skills
Photographers specializing in this genre need to be attuned to other people and their spaces to bring out their personalities in their photography. It also requires considerable people skills to make the homeowner feel at ease while showing the area at its best.
Technical Skills
At the same time, it also requires an analytical mind and technical skills. Trent Bell is a Maine home and garden photographer. He says, The Los Angeles home and garden photographer Teal Thomsen agrees, Photographers also need to be able to light large indoor spaces with a mixture of natural and artificial light. Eyes naturally compensate for low light and varying color temperatures emitted from different light sources, but the camera does not. Often, studio-style lamps or strobes, gels, and reflectors are required as well as color correction in post, to show the space as we perceive it.
Aerial Photography
Being able to offer aerial photography can give you a competitive edge. The incredibly prolific aerial and home and garden photographer Julia Lehman regularly takes her drones to assignments. She says,
Post-Processing Skills
Especially if there are different light sources, some editing in post-production to adjust color temperature is often inevitable.
The Market
Home and garden photography is a firm part of lifestyle content. Specialist home and garden photographers work for a large variety of editorial and commercial clients, such as
Specialist magazines (for example, interior design and garden magazines)Lifestyle and celebrity magazinesLifestyle sections in newspapersAdvertising agencies that commission photographers for commercial shootsInterior designers and companiesInfluencers who need material for their social media feedsFurniture and homeware companiesTV channels that produce lifestyle content
Garden Photographers Equipment
A high-spec camera is essential, as home and garden photography is often printed over a spread or larger for advertising projects.Studio-type lamps or strobes and reflectors are needed to illuminate a large space and balance natural light flooding in from the windows.A drone can give photographers a competitive advantage, as it allows photographers to capture aerial photos, showing the living space in a different context.
Hiring for Home and Garden Photography
If you are wanting to get hired as a home and garden photographer, we have some advice as well as some important factors for you to consider.
To Specialize or Not to Specialize
Should you specialize as a home and garden photographer or stay more of a generalist? There are pros and cons to both approaches. A specialist is often seen as more of an expert in their field, which can help with relationship building: it’s easier to categorize a photographer with a clear specialty. Then, if a home-and-garden assignment comes up, it’s more likely that your name will spring to mind compared to a generalist. However, there are also advantages to keeping your portfolio more open. There are, for example, a lot of photographers who do home and garden as well as portraiture photography – maybe because they are both about showing personality. The Munich home and garden and portraiture photographer Elias Hassos believes that specializing in these two genres has helped his career. He says,
What Clients Look for When Hiring
Suzanne LaGasa, the Creative Director of the highly-respected Dwell magazine, says, Of course, every client and every publication has its own style and content. The closer aligned a photographer’s portfolio is, the greater the likelihood of being commissioned. Suzanne says, For more information, please look at their rather brilliant Fruit Bowl manifesto.
Pricing Home and Garden Photography
The prices you can charge vary widely depending on the job, the client, and your experience. Editorial typically pays less than commercial shoots, which tend to have higher budgets. Pricing also depends on whether you need assistants, lighting equipment for indoor shoots, and a drone for aerial photography. Trent carefully calibrates how much he charges. He explains, Of course, you can charge a premium if you have a unique selling point (USP) like a particular style, or be able to capture aerial images. Julia, for example, finds that she can charge more when she includes drone photographs in the production, as clients value the unique perspective it yields.
A Reliable Genre
Learning to light interiors well takes time, skill, and equipment. It’s a specialist skill, so photographers versed in this specialty can often build up a more reliable client base and a steadier income stream than in other fields.
About the Author
Sonia Klug is an inquisitive writer specializing in writing about digital technology and is fluent in three languages. Other than working as a writer at Wonderful Machine, she also contributes to The Independent and various print magazines. You can learn more about Sonia on her website and connect with her via LinkedIn. This article was originally published here and shared with permission.
