The Luxury interior & Architectural Photography Guide

For interior designers, architects & custom home builders

Professional interior and architectural photography can be used as an asset for your business for years to come. In fact, it’s often times better to have fewer photos of your work that are the absolutely highest-quality, than it is to get every single project, room, or detail photographed.

Just like your Website, the photography of work should be controlled to the highest-end aesthetic that you want clients to have of your brand. Which means removing old, blurry, out-dated projects from your Portfolio, and focusing only on the best-of-the-best.

Portrait photos of you — the Principal Designer

One of the most important pages on your website is your About page. If clients do not know you personally, they are going to spend time “learning” about you, and having a professionally-photographed and recent photo of you is critical, especially because you’ll be meeting with clients in person. The Potrait of you is a way to ease any suspicious or worry from a client when they meet you in person - which will most likely be at the homeowner’s location.

From my experience, it’s really difficult to keep up photos of a Team as people come and go. And in most cases, Homeowners want to know the Principal Designer, the Owner, of the business. So if you have to pick, photos of just you are more important than the team, especially if you’re the one to meet them at the very first meeting in their home. Displaying a variety of photos of you in different settings helps as well, so you can often use for Instagram, as well as on your About, Services, and Contact pages of your website, which I recommend if you’re willing to do.

In 2026, many clients are going to care more about you as the Owner of the business, than your Portfolio of work, although both should be seen as equally important. But I often see Homeowners skip to the “About” page and spend more time reading and viewing it that the “Portfolio” page of your website.

Horizontal & Vertical photos

Many firms forget to take a balanced combination of good Horizontal and Vertical Photos. And many photographers often times get stuck either doing all Horizontal, or all Vertical images. You’re going to want both, usually 50/50 so you can use photos on your Website and on Instagram. In fact, 75% of high-end clients are doing to look at your Desktop version of your website to see your work in more detail.

Horizontal Photos work best for:

2-Page Magazine Spreads, Desktop Websites, iPad Tablets

Vertical Photos work best for:

1-Page Magazine Spread, Instagram & Mobile Phone Displays

The Money Shot

Front of the Home, Pools, Landscape Views, Kitchens, Dining Rooms & Living Rooms

The most important photos of a home are to get the most grand, most expensive-looking areas, which are usually the Kitchen and the Living Room. And a Photographer should be spending the most time on the Most Expensive “Money Shot” of the home, which usually going to be a combination of: The Kitchen & Living Room, Pool, and View out to the Ocean or City or Landscape in the dinstance.

These kinds of photos can really change the way Homeowners think of your business. And often-times a bad photographer will mess this up. I see it all the time. A beautifully-design home is ruined by a lack of getting the “Most Impressive” room or angle of the home. A lot of photographers will get close-ups of Pillows, or Door Knobs, and this is a waste of Time. Focus all your effort on getting 1 Horizontal Money Shot that will go as the first photo on the Home page of your website - that you can submit to magazines. As well as 1 Vertical Money Shot that can be used on Instagram or the Front Cover of a Magazine.

Not every project is going to have the ability to get it all in one photo, but if you can get as many elements as possible into a single Horizontal or Vertical Shot, this is where to spend the most time. Clients want to see Inspiring photos and design ideas, not Realistic photos and design ideas.

Below is a photo of a great example from Studio Brother John of Boulder, Colorado. This photo has a partial view of the Kitchen, Living Room, and view out into the Boulder landscape. The only thing it is missing is a Pool, which would have been a good idea to have floating over the Boulder landscape!

Here’s a great example of a Dining Room space with Landscape in the background. This home appears on the Smaller size, but the Photo is taken well to capture the best-possible view of the Home.

I am probably biased, but lots of Pool photos never hurt, in my opinion.

Detail Shots are Boring

What we are looking for is Design Ideas, Concepts, and Rooms that inspire. Many photographers focus too much on details like Fabric Swatches, Door Handles, Chandeliers, and Books on a Table. While they can look nice - this never conveys the design expertise you have. The focus should be 90% on the most-expensive, most-impressive, largest, and most grand spaces of the home.

Recommended Photographers

Aaron Dougherty

Based in Dallas

Aaron grew up in Chicago and started as a commercial photographer shooting product for JCPenny, Michaels Crafts, and Ace Hardware, which later led him to furniture and decor, and finally to luxury architectural and interior design photography. His background in product photography, furniture & and interior lighting as helped shaped his approach to luxury residential photography today.

James Leonzio

Based in New York City

James comes from a background of Engineering & Cinematography. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, along with a Master’s in Film Production from Chapman University in Southern California. He specializes in interior and architectural photography with a focus on natural lighting, brights colors and balanced compositions.