Style Pin 03 - Styling a kitchen

Let's talk about styling a kitchen today.As most of you know by now I've been styling and training stylists for 20 years. One of the easiest lessons in teaching assistants is to have them style a white kitchen. It's an effective tool to start learning about composition and styling any room (in other words "where to put the props" for the camera). To produce a kitchen shoot, once again, less is more. In the case of a white kitchen, pops of color are key.This week's styling lesson: this is a kitchen I styled for Kitchen and Bath Ideas Magazine. I like this photo because with minimal proppage I achieved the desired effect. You notice all the bells and whistles in the kitchen and the living things add life and warmth to the room and just the right pop of color.Pick a color: 1 or maybe 2. If you're going with two colors make sure they are complimentary, also make sure one is the dominant color. Like the YELLOW (dominant) and green (secondary) in this example.Make a color triangle  aka "The Magic Triangle": When deciding where to place colorful props, use my color triangle rule. Place props in a triangle in the frame of the lens (note: it does not need to be a perfect triangle it just needs to be 3 color focal points that form a triangle of some sort). This is where's it's important to look at the capture (definition: capture is an image that you snap. It's either on the back of the camera or on your computer monitor if you're tethered to the camera). You should be able to draw a triangle from all the pops of color in the props. Move the props until you see the triangle of color through the lens and on your image. Snap the photograph et voila! * note the magic triangle is a training tool. eventually you will steer away from this rule, but you will notice in your styling it will show up on it's own once styling becomes intuitive. just for fun look at some of your favorite interiors photos and see if you can spot the magic triangle.Don't over prop: the biggest mistake I see with designers styling their own rooms, is that they forget to edit and place too many props in the room. Over propping creates a photograph with lots of static or what some may call "noise."  There is no where to rest your eye. Here's a great example of over propping:I feel like one of those hats and half of the items on the bench could go and you'd still have the same overall effect.Want to see more examples of photos done right? Follow me on pinterest!Let me know how it goes, I love to here from you! Feel free to ask me styling questions, I will answer them as soon as I can.Happy Styling! xx