House tours and house calls — where we get to see inside real homes — are the heart of Apartment Therapy. We’re honored when you choose to share your personal space with us (and readers!). It’s not only inspiring, but plenty of lessons on storage, organizing, and decorating can be found within these real homes.
First, the difference between a house call and house tour: They’re both glimpses into inspiring real homes. House tours are a bit of a longer peek if we’re able to send our own AT photographer to capture the home, or if the homeowner has a lot of photos. House calls are a shorter look, usually using images that the homeowner submits. The good news is that you DO NOT have to be a professional photographer to submit your home to us. But if you’d like some tips for capturing your home’s style in its best light for consideration, read on.
1. Take “straight” shots (and skip the wide angle and fish eye lens).
Try to keep your camera or smart phone straight up and down (parallel to the walls) when you snag your shots. Taking an extra moment or two to make sure that the vertical and horizontal lines in your room are straight before you hit the shutter button. Capture a few different snaps of the same angle so you can choose the straightest option. We suggest using a tripod to take the straightest photos. You’ll have results that aren’t blurry in the slightest, and using a tripod will help you line up straight shots when you’re capturing the architecture of a room. Alse: avoiding “fish eye” lens and super wide angles are also recommended, as they distort the way a room looks.
2. Use natural light when available.
Your shots will look cleaner and your white balance (when the white surfaces in your photo look white and not yellow or blue) will be easier to get right. Shadows won’t look funky. Photograph during the early morning hours or the late afternoon, when light is best in your home. Throw open blinds, curtains, and even doors to get as much natural light inside.
3. Use one type of lighting per photo.
Don’t mix different temperature and lighting types in one photo. (I personally prefer table lamps and light fixtures off or dimmed low). You’ll find your photos are much more natural looking. If the room just feels too dark without turning lights on and you are using a DSLR camera to capture your space, use your tripod and leave your shutter open longer to get the shot.
Use a microfiber rag to gently wipe away any smudges or dirt.
5. Take “whole room” shots.
Readers don’t just want to see close-ups of design details; they want to understand how a room is arranged and how the design looks as a whole. It’s fine to include a close-up of a design detail or two in your submissions, but please try to capture your main rooms in their entirety so we can understand your whole space. We also need at least one horizontal room shot to use as your submission lead. Supplement whole-room photos with more detailed vignette shots of elements that are worthy of a close-up or have a great story.
6. Don’t submit watermarks or Instagram screenshots, please.
Please only submit clean images, in other words, no images with watermarks or other overlays. And no screenshots of images from your Instagram.
7. Hide clutter, wires, and close your toilet lids!
You don’t have to style these homes like a magazine shoot, but try to avoid highlighting TVs. Stuff wires out of the way if you spot them. Move your laptop and phone chargers. Angle yourself away from mirrors and reflective surfaces. Straighten pillows and picture frames. And put those toilet seats DOWN. What not to hide: Your cute pets! Pets in the frame are always welcome.
Use our house tour and house call submission form.
P.S. Doing these things will help you create great photos of your home. Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee your home definitely will be published on Apartment Therapy because we receive many submissions each day. While we appreciate receiving all of them and love looking through them, we unfortunately can’t publish every submission to the site.