Last Updated on September 12, 2019 by Lucienne
Styling your space for professional photography is as important as getting the pictures taken. In a previous post about our Cosy Garden Cottage I mention how important it is to take good quality photos of your space. Well it was time for me to update my photographs and this time I learnt about ‘styling’.
My photographer friend, Lourens, and I got together again to take some fresh photographs of our cottage. This time he suggested we ‘style’ the cottage for the photographs. We need to what? I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. He sent me some reading material to look through for some ideas. What a learning curve.
Getting the basics right
Lets start with the basics for styling your space for professional photography.
Clean!
This may seem very obvious but I mean REALLY clean. Look at your walls. Are there any finger marks? Look at your counter tops. Are they dusty? Look at how your beds have been made. Are the covers straight? Are the cushions sitting upright properly. Look at the pictures on the wall. Are they sitting straight. You would be so surprised at what a photograph can pick-up.
Declutter
While having those essentials such as an ironing board, clothes horse, dustbin or fan are very necessary items for your guests, these are not the most exciting things to photograph. If you store these in view remove them for the shot. It helps to declutter the shot and give a more open feel to the space.
Hide Cables and Plugs
Try to hide all your cables and plugs from view. In our cottage there are a couple of plugs in the kitchen that I hid with some chopping boards. I much prefer the look so I have kept the chopping boards there since the photo shoot.
Adding some homely touches
No-one’s home is completely free of anything lying anywhere. There are always items on the coffee table or next to the bed. Think about these and add some in strategic places. Put in some fresh flowers. I always have flowers from my garden in the cottage. Place some magazines on the coffee table and next to the bed. Add a fruit bowl and some plants to the space. I added these all for the photo shoot and liked the effect so much that I have kept them there since.
Setting the scene
This is where styling your space for professional photography really comes in. Look at what you have in your cottage and use those items to set a scene. Now what is really important here is to only use the items that you provide for your guests to use. Setting scenes with items that your guests won’t have the use of is not being honest about what your provide. For me it was also a good check to see what was missing and what I needed to get for the cottage.
We worked with three scenes for our photo shoot.
Tea in the courtyard garden
Or first scene was tea in the courtyard garden. I made some tea using the tea pot and mugs that stay in the cottage. I got some cupcakes ‘for tea’ and placed them on a plate that stays in the cottage. What I realised is that I was missing a table cloth. I bought a table cloth for the scene and that table cloth now stays in the cottage for the guests to use.
Breakfast in bed
Who doesn’t love breakfast in bed? Especially when you are on holiday. I bought some hot cross buns and popped them on one of the cottage plates. I made a pot of coffee with the cottage plunger. What I realised in this scene is that the cottage did not have a tray. I bought a tray and now that tray stays in the cottage for the guests to use.
Cheese and wine
The last scene was cheese and wine. Again all the items in this scene are items that stay in the cottage. The plates, the platter, the wine glasses and the place mats. The only things that our guests would need to buy to recreate these scenes is all the food as we are a self catering cottage. But what is nice is the fact that the scenes give an opportunity to show what the cottage is stocked with.
Keeping your photographs up to date
It is so important to keep your photographs up to date. What I realised from this photo shoot is that I have added a lot of items to the cottage since the previous photo shoot. Pictures on the walls have changed. The colour of our towels have changed. Going through the process also gives one a more critical eye.
Lourens has tought me so much about styling a space for professional photography. I love his work and invite you to take a look at his web page Vision Collective for more of his stunning photographs. You can also take a look at the results of our shoot on my Cosy Garden Cottage listing on Airbnb.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you would like to read some more of my posts about Hosting on Airbnb please follow the links below.
Writing That Very Important Guest Welcome Book
10 Special Touches That Get 5-star Reviews
How do I price my listing?
