One's own personal taste aside, what makes a great interior architecture photo? This is an answerable question. What's unanswerable, is what is considered good taste? Is there such a thing as good and poor taste? Everyone has their reasons, conscience or not, of what defines their tastes. If we can eliminate the taste factor, what are we left with?

I believe you can define six principles that border on fact. First, we have to define the use of the image. Let's say, in this argument, the image will be used for Luxury Real Estate.

1. Attractive content. This is subjective at its core. However, we can rule out messy, cluttered or dirty environments. The subject matter should look purposed, responsible, cohesive or purposefully contrasted. For instance, the laundry room shouldn't have dishes in it. The bathroom shouldn't have sporting goods and the pantry should be neat and tidy. In other words, staged.

2. Appropriate view. This is getting less subjective but the view of the space should make sense. It shouldn't contain too much information or be too wide. The POV of the viewer should feel natural with the view not to high and not too low. The height of the camera should be roughly 5' above the ground. We do not want too much floor or ceiling and we don't want an awkward view of the furniture. But we want the camera high enough to see the tops of counters and tables.

3. Wider isn't better. A wide angle lens is important for real estate, but shooting too wide in all scenarios can be detrimental to your images. For one thing, this goes back to #2. We don't need everything in the frame. We want to narrow the focus, draw attention and create movement. The other issue is distortion. All ultra-wide lenses create distortion of common items, particularly near the outer edges of the frame. Round objects will appear oval and straight lines will curve. It's unsightly and by using a narrower field of view, you avoid these issues.

4. Color balance. When dealing with real estate, there are always issues with lighting and color. The light coming in from one window can be completely different from another window due to what is outside. The lights inside the home can be many shades of orange or blue depending on the bulbs used. The human eye has the natural ability to see through all these various colors without much hassle, but in a flat 2D image, these color casts can become pronounced. There are several techniques to combat these issues and the best interior real estate images minimize these various color casts so the interior of the home is accurately represented.

5. Window views aren't important. All too often some will prioritize the window view more than the interior. In most cases, the interior outweighs the exterior. If done incorrectly, this view can look fake and unnatural. If your shoot took place at noon on a sunny day, it will never be brighter inside the building than outside. There isn't light powerful enough to overpower the sun (well maybe). During daylight hours, the view outside should always be brighter than inside. If the window view is distracting to the interior, tone it down or blow it out.

6. Tell a story. The images shouldn't be treated like a commodity. They should tell the story of the home and they should also communicate the flow. If every image is from the corner of the room with the lens as wide as it will go, you will fail to grow as a photographer.