Why flooring photography matters

When browsing for new flooring online, what captures your attention first? Research shows it’s almost always the product images. In today’s digital marketplace, visually rich and high-quality photography isn’t just aesthetic, it plays a crucial role in attracting and engaging shoppers, building trust, and influencing purchase decisions. Recent studies confirm that compelling product photos are among the most powerful tools for increasing consumer confidence and inspiring buyers to choose one product over another (Pereira et al., 2023; Xia et al., 2020).

In this in-depth conversation with QEP Australasia, expert architectural photographer Chris Daile explains what goes into capturing the perfect flooring photograph.

1. Can you share a bit about your background and what led you to become a photographer?

Prior to being a photographer, I was working as an architect for a leading Melbourne firm and as part of my studying architecture prior I was drawn to one of the elective subjects, being photography. At the time, my photography lecturer, who was a very well-known artist/photographer, complemented me on my work and suggested I would be a great shooter if I didn’t want to stay in the architectural area. His comment stuck in my head and a few years later I became tired of the industry and decided to follow my passion for photography and went back as a mature age student (23 years old) and completed a fine art photography course and came out with the top marks of the course. After a year or two of assisting some of Australia’s top photographers, I started picking up some of my own clients and never looked back. Thirty years later, I still love architecture and photography and combining the two was always my dream.

2. What’s the secret to making flooring look its best on camera?

After many years of shooting interiors and floors – both carpet and timber – the secret to making them look great involves using a mix of available daylight and flash backlighting where possible to highlight the colour and texture of the flooring in the most natural way. I also use a range of specialist architectural lenses to keep all my horizontal and vertical lines parallel. These are manual Tilt-Shift lenses and require a fair amount of skill and experience to use correctly. Creating a fresh and natural looking interior is key to making the viewer believe everything is just being lit naturally from a window.

3. How do you approach setting up the perfect shot on a flooring shoot?

Setting up the perfect shot involves collaborating with the client, stylist and floor layer to determine which angle the boards or carpet should be laid and if there is a large available light source backlighting the scene. This might be a large bifold door, floor-to-ceiling window or open entrance.

4. What makes shooting flooring different from other types of photography?

Traditionally you would split the scene into thirds – both vertically and horizontally – but flooring shots command there to be more floor shown, up to approximately 50% of the shot. With a full interior floor shot, placement of furniture and props is also massively important to draw the viewer’s eye to the ground. Because you are also tilting or shifting the camera to see more floor space than a typical interior shot, it is important to avoid any distortion of walls or furniture and that’s where keeping the front of the lens dead vertical is important.

5. How do you make a product like flooring (where showing the true colour is so important) look true to life on camera?

Different light sources in a scene create different colour temperatures, i.e., daylight can be cool, and overhead lights can also appear warm sometimes, so it is paramount to create a neutral white point via the use of a grey card (18% grey) early on in a shoot so that the correct timber floor colour is represented going forward. Mixing light sources in one scene can create spots of warm and cool tones on a floor but this can be tweaked further in retouching when I use a calibrated monitor and a colour correct lamp to view the flooring swatches.

Key principles of great flooring photography:

Use balanced lighting: Blend daylight and artificial light to capture natural colour and texture
Keep lines straight: Choose the right lens and camera setup to avoid distortion
Plan the shot: Collaborate with your team to find the best angles and layout for the floor
Showcase the floor: Let the floor dominate the image, using furniture to guide the viewer’s eye
Stay true to colour: Set white balance accurately so the flooring looks just as it does in person

Image credit: Chris Daile Photography

Architecture & Design Team

Australian Flooring Supplies

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