People and Pets Bring Interior Photos to Life
Even the best-designed room can look hollow when it's not occupied. Add people and animals to spark interest in your interior shots
Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor of Architecture and Master in Urban Planning degrees, and over ten years experience in architectural practice, split between Chicago and NYC. Currently I'm focused on writing and online pursuits. My daily blog can be found at http://archidose.blogspot.com
Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City.... More »
As I type this, there are 597,721 photos on Houzz. The number will probably top 600,000 by the time you read this. But I'd wager that only a small percentage of these home design photos have people in them.
Architecture and interiors tend to be photographed without people in the space. The fact that spaces intended for human use often depict no human life is perturbing, but considering that architectural photography is inherently slow (I've worked with a photographer who set up his tripod and shot intermittently for five hours to get the right light), this isn't surprising. For professionals and amateurs alike, architectural photography is different than portrait or action photography.
Yet people do find their way into photos; I can think of one magazine that won't even present houses without people in them. Their presence gives scale to spaces, humanizes environments and activates what can often be lifeless images. A previous ideabook presented some situations in which people helped interior photographs,; this one takes a similar look at interior spaces, yet some in atypical ways.
Architecture and interiors tend to be photographed without people in the space. The fact that spaces intended for human use often depict no human life is perturbing, but considering that architectural photography is inherently slow (I've worked with a photographer who set up his tripod and shot intermittently for five hours to get the right light), this isn't surprising. For professionals and amateurs alike, architectural photography is different than portrait or action photography.
Yet people do find their way into photos; I can think of one magazine that won't even present houses without people in them. Their presence gives scale to spaces, humanizes environments and activates what can often be lifeless images. A previous ideabook presented some situations in which people helped interior photographs,; this one takes a similar look at interior spaces, yet some in atypical ways.
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| This first photo is fairly straightforward. A solitary figure adds balance to the scene (the globes of the lighting fixture grab most of the attention), aids in giving depth to the space and shows the sliding glass wall in action. |
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| A similar thing happens in this photo, but with a dog. Yes, even a pooch can help photos. This one draws our attention outside, away from the huge fireplace that dominates the sparse interior. The dog's distant gaze lets us know that the view is more expansive when seen from the porch. |
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| Kitchens are popular spots for inserting people into photos, probably because they embody more action than just sitting around. Also, in an open plans, the kitchen is the nexus of daily life where people are at ease. In this modern house in Montreal, the mom and daughter humanize what many people may see as a sterile space. |
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by Robert Granoff
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| The woman in this photo, on the other hand, shows how a kitchen can be a flexible space used for tasks such as computing. Again, having a dog in the photo is a great touch. |
I love the way people are used in various photos in this Japanese house. Three bodies are visible in this shot, vertically stacked yet each in a different space. Their placement is compositional, but it makes the complexity of the house apparent.
| In this view, the child on the left occupies the same position as the top person in the previous photo. Both look out a triangular window that follows the line of the roof above the hallway. The placement of the mother and son in this photo also leads our eye, directing us toward what is important. (They also make up for the lack of furnishings.) |
| This space may need some furniture too, but we don't think about that with the dog sitting in the middle of the floor. |
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| Talk about leading the eye: This Japanese house's distinctive terrace is cut into a sloped roof/wall, but we can't help but look at the houses and sky beyond. |
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Not sure that the wall on the right is for climbing? The person falling from the top makes it as clear as the glass behind him.
| Stairs are static entities that imply movement, but adding a person makes that movement tangible (note the slight blur). The addition of the figures also softens the space between the concrete and glass, amplifies the openness of the stairs and accentuates the reflectivity of the glass. |
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by Nic Darling
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| The stairs in this Philly house have quite a different character than those in the previous example. The sturdy wood construction allows bikes to be hung from them, and the cuts in the solid guardrails are playful for both the kids and grown-ups. |
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This is one of my favorite dog photos on Houzz, because it shows design tailored just for canines. The outdoor shower cleans off messy paws and fur, and the small opening in the wall lets the dogs enter and exit the house at their own will.
Ideabook published on Aug. 8, 2012.
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IMO, modern rooms tend to have a museum-like quality, whereas with the traditional spaces, I'm too busy imagining myself living in them to be bothered by a lack of people.
Becky - Good one! Thanks for sharing it.
Have to admit many of these photos featuring folks in "modern" environments reminds me of "Unhappy Hipsters" - just thinking about that website makes me smile.....
http://unhappyhipsters.com/