Beginner Tips and Tricks for Photographing Your Reproduction Furniture and Antiques

You've spent countless hours, months, and possibly years collecting antiques and antique reproductions. Perhaps you sell reproduction furniture on a personal website, or maybe you love to share your collection on your blog. You are undoubtedly confident in finding beautiful items, but you're a bit taken aback to realize you aren't that great at taking photos of the items to present to viewers and potential customers.

Photography is perhaps one of the most powerful tools in selling any item online, including antiques and antique reproductions. When it comes to antiques and reproductions, photography may very well be the most critical aspect that can make or break the selling of a piece. If you're not selling, you still deserve to have the best photographs of your collection, which you undoubtedly worked very hard to acquire and collect.

The good news is you don't need to be a professional photographer or hire one to take better photos of your collection. Here are some tips and tricks to help photograph your pieces to appeal to potential buyers and your audience.

Prepare Before Photos

You probably don't have a stage or photography studio in your home, but there are a few things you can do well before you begin taking photographs to help improve your shots.

Assembly

If the piece you are taking a photo of has extras, such as pillows or drawers or any parts of pieces that need assembly, make sure to do so. Double-check, if possible, that the furniture has been assembled correctly. Otherwise, if it's whole already, you can skip this step.

Packaging and Labels

If the piece of antique reproduction or vintage furniture has recently been delivered, remove any transportation packaging and any labels or price tags, if there are any. Be extremely careful not to ruin the piece's patina if you can. These items are often distracting and shouldn't be in the photo.

Clean, If Needed

With a soft, lightly damp microfiber cloth, clean the surfaces of the piece gently and use a secondary to dry it immediately. Theoretically, a reputable antique and antique reproduction maker should be able to tell you what finish the furniture uses to help determine what you can and cannot use to clean it. But if in doubt, start in a very inconspicuous place and gently test with a cotton ball or Q-tip to see how the finish reacts.

We have several well-detailed articles on cleaning furniture if you would love to know more.

• - How to Clean Your Reproduction Furniture
• - Caring For Antique Furniture

Uncluttered Background

You no doubt want the focus to be the piece of furniture. As a seller, you may wish to attempt to find a space in your home that has little to no clutter or even use a simple backdrop (even hanging a blanket might do it.) Consider a color-neutral background that is bright. This can help reduce unwanted reflections and glares and prevent color shifts.

Shooting Your Furniture

Let There Be Light

One of the most critical aspects of a great photo is the lighting. Professional photography may have several options, from a key light to loop lighting, soft light, and more. As many of us are not professional photographers who have invested in a high-quality studio, it will be up to us to find the perfect lighting arrangement to showcase our antique reproductions better.

You will most likely try to find the best light within your home. But how do you find it?

What side of the house is the sun shining on, or usually shines on the longest? Use a room on that side of the house. This could mean the kitchen, dining room, living room, or guest bedroom.

Once you know which side of the house and room the sun is shining into, it's time to learn how to harness that natural light best.

In most cases, you'll probably want to choose direct light. For example, to photograph a sofa in direct sunlight, you'd place it directly in front of a window. Next, you'd set yourself so as not to block the direct light from the window but still be able to take a photo of the front of the sofa.

It may not take long to realize direct sunlight can cast very dark, harsh shadows, obscuring parts of the furniture and the details. You can do a few things to diffuse the light to soften the harsh shadows and light.

Diffuse Direct Light
Removing overblown highlights and too-dark shadows from direct light photography can be relatively simple but may take some of your time. Here is how you can diffuse the light in your home:

• - Thin white paper sheets. Many of us may have a pack of printer paper in our homes that is plain white and thin. You can diffuse the direct light by taping (using clear tape) white paper over a window.
• - Frosted or thin white shower curtains can also do a great job of softening shadows and diffusing the light.
• - Sheer curtains. You may already have these hanging in your window! Sheer curtains are wonderful at softening direct sunlight.
• - Window clings. Several inexpensive and beautiful frosted window clings can be used on the window without adhesives or leaving a mess behind (such as leftover stickiness from tape.)

Multiple Angles
Once you've found the natural light source in your home, found a way to diffuse direct sunlight if needed, and taken a photo of your antique or reproduction, you may feel ready to post—but hold onto that thought if you are a seller.

If you're selling the piece, you want to take photos from all angles—front, left side, right side, and back. Shooting from different angles allows your potential buyers to see more of the piece, which can often highlight its features, design, and details.

Highlight The Unusual
If the piece has a striking, unique carving, addition, or characteristic, consider adding close-up shots to highlight that unique feature. For example, you'll note that we have several stunning close-up shots of our Swan Table to highlight the hand-made, exquisite carving of the swan itself. This allows us to show customers the artistry and breathtaking details that would otherwise be lost in certain photograph angles.

High Resolution
Whether you are using an expensive DSLR or your mobile phone, taking your photos in the highest resolution can assist you in creating beautiful images. High-resolution cameras can crop out unwanted details in the background without sacrificing quality. High-resolution cameras will provide more pixels and capture finer minutiae, and a buyer will no doubt enjoy being able to zoom in to see all the details.

These tips and tricks will help you to take improved photographs of your antiques and antique reproductions. You don't need an entire photography studio, but taking the time and effort with assembly, presentation, and diffusing your light can make the difference between a grainy, blurry photo and one worthy of the fantastic piece you photograph.

Want to know about how to edit your images once they are taken? Make sure to visit Laurel Crown's Resource pages often, as we'll cover everything you want to know as a beginner about how to edit pictures to elevate them further.