10.27.2011

31 Days: Day 27

Four more days left! Four. I can see the finish line...

With these precious remaining days, I wanted to be sure to go over a really tough room to photograph... the bathroom...


(This is a picture of my last apartment's bathroom which was beautiful. I just can't start this post with pictures of my current bathroom.)

Really this post is for any really tricky room in your house. The bathroom is just the number one most horribly difficult room to photograph in my current apartment.

First of all, it's just not a cute room, and since I'm a renter there's not a ton I can do about it. Secondly, there is NO NATURAL LIGHT. None. It's all about the tungsten in there. As we've discussed, this makes photo taking much harder. Plus, it's a very small room - how do I even get the angles I want!?

Well I have a few tips for overcoming these problems and have attempted to take pictures of my ugly bathroom for your viewing displeasure.

1. Adjust your white balance: If you're not working with natural light and you can adjust the white balance, do it! Here is what my camera thought white looked like before I fixed it.


Not white camera, not at all. But it didn't know better until I told it so.
From yellow to white...


2. Don't use flash: It may be tempting because everything is so dark in there, but don't use your flash. With all of those reflective surfaces, the flash is bound to be super noticeable. Let your photo editing software add in the brightness. The chrome faucet, towel rack, and cabinet hardware would have been a big problem not to mention the mirror!



(How do you like my fabulous laminate counter top? *dripping with sarcasm*)

3. Clean: Yes, clean for the pictures, but also clean because you are about to get all up in your bathroom's business. Since it's a small room, you can expect to be on the floor, by the toilet, kneeling next to the sink, you name it. Clean for your pictures and for your health.


4. Try try try try: Since it's a tricky room, give yourself permission to take two or three times as many photos as usual. Just keep taking them until you start to see things you like. It might take a while, but that's just the nature of tricky spaces.

5. Crop: I didn't know this would be in this post until I started editing my pictures. Because it's so difficult to get the angles you want in a small space, not many of the pictures looked the way I wanted them right out of the camera. Well the crop function saved my behind. Take this picture...

Here's the angle I took with the camera. I don't love it... but with a little cropping...

There's something I can live with!

There you have it, a lot of work for a little room. Which room is the trickiest in your home?

6 comments:

  1. Ah, my bathroom is TINY as well & so hard to take pictures of... As is our laundry room too! Ugh! I recently discovered that it's best not to use the flash on house stuff no matter how crappy the lighting is, totally helps.

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  2. I hate taking pics in my kitchen - especially of food. They all look like something off Lileks site. (You're familiar, right?)

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  3. The trickiest room in my house is the bedroom... Jen, I'm loving your blog and am going to go back and read all of your 31 days!

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  4. I've been following your "31days" and I was so glad to see this topic finally.
    I'm refreshing my tiny rented bath room.I will definitely follow your advice on how to take great shots to a challenging small space.
    Thank you so very much for sharing.

    cheers!

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  5. I'm glad you all found this helpful! I have to say, it wasn't super fun taking these pictures hah! Oh well, what we do for our pretty spaces :)

    Good luck with your bothrooms teresa and Renewed Upon a Dream! And Carrie, good luck with your bedroom - I've been putting off taking pictures of that room too...

    You should send me your results for Snapshot Sunday :)

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  6. I love this series! I only have my iPhone for photos (saving for a good camera) but Photoshop & Photojojo lenses have helped!
    I know you said you were renting but ask your landlord if you can do this: http://www.creativekristi.com/video-tutorial-how-to-paint-your-countertops-to-look-like-granite.html I painted my countertops to look like granite and I've heard from many people who asked their landlord & they agreed!

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