Tips, tricks and things to avoid. (Part 1)
Why Straight Lines really do matter in Interior Photography
Straight lines play a vital role in interior photography. They’re not just about technical precision—they shape how viewers perceive your space.
Clean verticals and horizontals create order, guide the eye, and highlight your property's architecture and design.
Here’s why they matter, how to spot issues, and—most importantly—how to fix them.
The Power of Straight Lines
When done right, straight lines in your photos convey:
Professionalism – They make your images look polished and intentional.
Trustworthiness – Guests associate clean, well-composed photos with quality and care.
Visual Balance – Straight lines help anchor the viewer and emphasise symmetry and design.
When done wrong, they can have the opposite effect.
What to Watch Out For
Vertical Lines - any image of an interior, or exterior, that has vertical elements such as windows, door frames, corners, wardrobes, and kitchen units must appear vertical in the final photo.
Horizontal Lines - The lines where the wall meets the ceiling or floor, tops of window frames, and shelves etc should remain perfectly horizontal.
When these lines are skewed, your photo looks distorted—and worse, amateurish.
Why It Matters
If your images have tilted or distorted lines, it immediately lowers the perceived quality of your listing or website. It might seem like a small detail, but to a guest, it raises questions:
“If the owner didn’t take care presenting their space, what else might they have overlooked?”
Quality photography builds confidence—and trust leads to bookings.
How to Get it Right
The good news? Avoiding the "funhouse effect" is simple.
1. Keep Your Camera Level
When using a wide lens (or your phone's wide-angle setting), make sure the camera is perfectly level horizontally. Try this experiment: Open your phone's camera and aim at a doorway. Now tilt the phone up and down slightly. Notice how the door warps and loses its rectangular shape?
That’s perspective distortion in action. Keep your device level to avoid it.
2. Avoid Tilting Side to Side
In a one-point perspective setup (where you’re facing square onto a wall), tilting your camera left or right will throw off your horizontal lines. They’ll start slanting—what I call “going squiff”—and distract from the space.
Here we have a one-point perspective image (taken straight on). Notice how both the horizontal and vertical lines are perfectly aligned, creating a clean and balanced composition.
This is a classic example of three-point perspective, where vertical lines play a crucial role. Horizontal lines are less important here, as they are never truly horizontal in this perspective anyway. In older cottages, verticals may not be perfectly straight—so instead, look for elements like window frames, which are typically built to be vertically aligned.