Real Staircase Photography in Real Homes

Real Staircases in Real Homes

It’s interesting to consider as you browse our website that the images we use are of Abbott-Wade staircases in real homes up and down the country. Some are taken by a photographer after the installation but many are taken by our fitting teams after the installations are complete and also by our customers who are are keen to showcase their beautiful new staircases.

It is also interesting to note that you will not see the same staircase duplicated in a different colour or design because unlike other staircase companies because we do not use photographic sets or rendered images.

What are rendered images?

A rendered image is a 3d drawing which can be designed to represent a simple image or a very real interpretation which can be difficult to distinguish from a real photograph. Renderings are a useful tool in the design of staircases as they allow manufactures and customers to visualise a potential installation and identify any possible problems before the manufacture and installation process has begun. High quality renderings are sometimes used in the brochures and websites of some companies to show different designs of staircases but can be misleading as they can be mistaken for a real photograph of a staircase installation – but not at Abbott-Wade.

What’s the big deal?

We know that when our customers look at what they believe is a photograph of one of our installations, they are looking for reassurance of the the quality of our workmanship. When a rendering is designed to look so much like a photograph that is easily mistaken for the real thing it can become a misleading ‘testimonial’ to prospective customers.  A rendered image can be deceiving as it shows a flawless staircase and is a testament to the abilities of a graphic designer not a staircase installer.

The images above for example have been produced by the Abbott-Wade design team to demonstrate to a customer how their staircase would look once completed. However, add a convincing backdrop with walls, carpet and furniture, and it becomes easy to see how people are fooled. Look out for photographs where the home has the same layout in more than one photograph, noting the positioning of doors, windows and sockets in relation to the stairs as renderings are often not easy to identify as the same staircase can be shown in completely different styles such as spindles or glass with different wallpaper and carpets. Images are sometimes shown as a mirror image to make harder to recognise as a duplicate.

Not all such images are renderings however. Sometimes some companies create a set in studio where a staircase is temporarily fitted with the sole purpose of being photographed. Sets are reused with a new balustrade installed in place of the last one to be photographed. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but it doesn’t come cheap and the cost is ultimately passed on to the customer. Sometimes rendered images and photographs of staircase sets are inverted to show the mirror image to make it less obvious when a staircase is used more than once.

At Abbott-Wade we only use photographs of real staircase installations because we want our customers to see exactly what we do and the quality of our craftsmanship. We can do this because we are confident in our work, our fitting teams and our relationships with our customers  – after all, would you want your staircase to feature on our website if you weren’t 100% pleased with it? The means that every photograph you see on our website is in itself a testimonial from one of our customers but more exciting than that – one day, your new Abbott-Wade staircase could be on our website too!