I recently shot this home for Ben Hirsh of Hirsh Real Estate. This dining room photo end up being one of my favorite out of the series.
Sometimes vacant spaces are difficult to define because there aren't any furnishings or accessories to interpret the space. This dining room has many interior features that make it very attractive and inviting. When shooting a vacant space be sure to anchor the space with architectural features such as windows, doorways, chair rails, etc. Shooting big blank walls will only leave the viewer wondering how this space works or more likely, confused as to use and scale.
To turn it up a notch, show and light the adjacent room or space. The dining room has a butler pantry that helps expand the space and make it interesting. Yup, I stuck a flash unit in the corner of the pantry to show off cabinetry.
And lastly, control the window brightness. Having too much brightness come through the windows becomes distracting because it's the first thing your eyes are drawn to and will take away from the room's elements. Even as bright as the windows were, I used a total of three flash units to get this shot. It took me about 15 minutes to set-up this shot and about five minutes in post. It was well worth it because it's one of my faves.