Could you spare the time, please.

[Hells Bells]

And it has given me some inspiration for my own photos that need retaking next month.

[Jimbo]

Mark Twain wrote:

If you hold a cat by the tail, you learn things you cannot learn any other way.

When you're learning to take more effective publicity pictures, shooting interiors is a kindly teacher because you can go at a gentle pace with a mug of coffee and a bag of doughnuts for company.

I'd suggest putting the camera onto a tripod (or pile of books/small bean bag) and ensuring that it is level. Use your zoom lens as a framing tool. Pull wider from the telephoto end and see how objects within the picture form relationships with each other, and with the whole image, as they gradually emerge. Watch how objects in the foreground take greater prominance (and background objects less) as you pull wider. Note how a patch of strident colour or empty space may unbalance the harmony of the composition. Don't be afraid to move things around or add appropriate props to achieve a better effect. Switch the main and auxillary lighting on and off and observe what changes. Once you're happy with what you see, press the shutter and move to the next set-up. Any subsequent work in photoshop (or other editing programme) should be to add a final polish to a picture that's already 95% finished, not the start of a major reconstruction of the image.



Use colour sparingly to add interest to a predominently white room. Use colour to disguise utilitarian furniture in the foreground. Mix window and room lighting to give three-dimentionality and warmth to a picture. Shoot at a time of day when interior and exterior lighting are roughly equal to show exterior detail. Accept (or not, it's your choice) that wide lenses will induce distortion.

Jim

[wallypott]

Oh dear Jim, this is so far away from what I have achieved. Unfortunately out of one window is the view of a gigantic blue and yellow sack of builders sand. But I get your points.
Tripod - I can see that would be a good idea. I'm sure I read somewhere on a thread that it was important to take them from as high as possible.
Colour - need to do something about the red - but as it is the colour theme to the gites not quite sure what to do about it. Bed spreads maybe? Remove the throw off the sofa.
Open the windows to show the countryside outside, which is green and beautiful (if I manage to clear up enough of the junk).
They are relatively dark rooms so what time/weather should I take them in? I'm presuming the optimum would be bright day and bright interior lighting.
Have I got that right.
Next I'll have to have a go at the outsides again.

Thanks Jim, so helpful and in doable chunks.

[Jimbo]

I read somewhere on a thread that it was important to take them from as high as possible.

I don’t think that you should generalise. Just shoot from whatever viewpoint in your judgement shows your rooms to best advantage.

… need to do something about the red - but as it is the colour theme to the gites not quite sure what to do about it.

Red is such a powerful colour and attracts viewers’ attention like black holes capture passing comets. And I think that digital cameras are more sensitive to red than was the case with film. My (Canon) cameras render reds rather too stridently for my taste and I usually desaturate them a little. But, as red is your theme, maybe it’s enough just to soften it with contrasting props like cushions or throws where it takes up a big chunk of the picture space. Or don’t worry about it!

… so what time/weather should I take them in?

I prefer cloudy-bright conditions, when the sun is obscured, for most of my interiors. If you have to shoot on a sunny day, try to organise things by following the sun's progress across the sky to avoid sunlight shining directly into any window of a room in which you’re working.

Jim