A New Career? | interior photography tips!

I’m only half-joking about the new career! However, I must say that I love taking my photos. What I like even more is “developing them.” That being said, I would love to share some interior photography tips I found helpful! Last night, I showed you just one photo of that gorgeous dining room, and when I was looking at the thumbnail on Pinterest, I thought to myself… “hey… that ceiling looks bowed.” However, I know that it’s not. Great. Distortion. That is just no good. So, I went online and found a tutorial about removing camera lens distortion.  Here it is. The dude’s voice is a bit creepy IMO, but his advice was sound.

He doesn’t tell you how to open your photo in Gimp, though…

WAIT… LAUREL… STOP!!!

What the hell is gimp?

Oh sorry. Gimp is a lot like Photoshop, only its FREE. It is a bit tricky, but definitely not insurmountable, and there are tutorials all over YouTube. There are also other editing programs that help me make the photos look their very best. On Windows Live Photo gallery, I can brighten, sharpen, improve contrast, and color correct very easily, which also does simple editing like straightening and cropping. Also, XN View is great for editing.

For example:

Raw photo (but reduced)

Please note the lovely boarded-up door. That is to the kitchen, which should be done sometime in January, and it’s going to be killer! Obviously, I couldn’t have the boarded-up door in my final photo.

After manipulating the photo to get the desired effect, here is what you saw yesterday:

Here is the picture after I edited it:

Yes, folks. They are the same photograph. Notice the light coming through the left-side window.

Below is the finished product after the lens distortion was removed. The difference is that the coffered ceiling beams and windows are much straighter.

Well, there it is…Some interior photography tips: It’s fun and it’s free! Also, if you’re looking for inspiration for a beautiful dining room, check out my favorite dining room items here.

xo,