Of all the rooms, baths are often the most neglected in photographs. However, wonderful pictures of the modern retreat can portray the best in modern conveniences of a newer home. Older homes may have upgraded baths that make a home more attractive. And sometimes baths are just plain fun.
Baths have attributes that make them unique for photographing and can make them easier or more difficult. Some of the aspects that make them more difficult include the following:
- There can be a lot of mirrors which makes it hard for the photographer to stay out of the image.
- Older baths can be narrow or "tight" spaces, making it difficult to back up adequately to photograph the entire bath.
- Two room baths (a sink area and a bath tub/toilet area) can make proper exposure for both rooms at the same time more difficult
The good news is that there are also features of bathrooms that can make them easier to photograph:
- Mirrors help to bounce the light around and the roooms are usually smaller making it much easier to completely brighten the room with artificial flashes.
- The shiny metal and clean surfaces can make for a very appealing and interesting photograph, especially if there is some color added.
- Often the bath photo is a smaller photo on the brochure because of its reduced importance, and this gives room for being less than perfect.
Here's a list of staging pointers that can really help prep a bathroom for photographs:
- Always turn on all the lights
- If the bath tub has a curtain or the shower has frosted glass, open up the curtain/doors if the fixtures within are attractive.
- Make sure to remove clutter like shaving cream, shampoo/conditioner, razors, etc.
- If there are candles that can be lit, light them.
- Make sure that the towels on the towel rack are either neatly presented or removed.
- LOWER the toilet seat if it will be visible in the photo!
- If the fixtures are not so shiny and can be made prettier with a quick wipe down, then wipe them down.
- Turn down the flash power - you won't need it in a small room.
- If the bath has two rooms, make sure to place a remote flash in back part of the bath.
A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT SHOOTING WINDOWS: If you plan on doing this kind of window cut/paste, let me give you an important suggestion. If you decrease the light to 20% of the previous light and take the photo, the room is going to go dark. What does that mean? It means the frame around the window is going to go dark and it means that the window blinds are going to look dull grey. This is of course not going to look very good and will hurt your final image. How do you fix this? You can shoot your flash right at the window, fully illuminating it. This might cause a hot spot that you need to edit away. You can also set up a slave flast to the far side pointed right at the window. Then aim your flash over at the slave, and the slave fires illuminating the window. This will help to eliminate the hot spot.
To see photo examples of what can go right and wrong with bath photos, see the photo examples at http://www.encinitascarlsbad.com/page.cfm?page=Photography&Topic=Bath. In general, it is important to consider the angle that you are at with respect to mirrors and what is being reflected in them. Position flowers so that they reflect in the mirror and you get an even bigger spot of color! Close doors that will look like dark holes. Consider the reflection of the shower fixtures in the glass doors. Be careful about where you bounce your flashes to minimize hot spots.
If this tutorial has been useful to you, you may wish to check out a complete home photography tutorial at my Carlsbad Real Estate site. Link: http://www.EncinitasCarlsbad.com/page.cfm?page=Photography.
Margaret Hokkanen is a leading Carlsbad real estate agent. She is known in San Diego for her photography, brochures, and video home tour DVDs.
