The Benson Photo team is no stranger to planning around construction, and fast-paced, busy healthcare facilities often present similar photography challenges. Between protecting patients’ privacy and navigating ongoing construction, we have to plan our sessions carefully to generate as much content as possible from the limited spaces and time allotted. Thankfully, post-production editing tricks allow us to create final images that show these rooms as they will be used.

Décor is often one of the last additions to a new space, but it’s arguably more important to us than whether the lights have been installed. Flowers, wall art, and plush toys can lessen the feeling of sterility and coldness in a treatment room, and it’s much more difficult to create a whole piece of wall art in Photoshop than it is to simulate lighting.

While some of these changes are not immediately apparent on first glance, they go a long way in improving the appearance of these spaces.

In this waiting room, we made several subtle—but impactful—adjustments to help “complete” the space. While the bright sunlight streaming in from the window helped light up the room, it also created glare on the wall art and poor contrast in the view outside that we were able to fix in post-production. The wooden lighting fixture along the back wall hadn’t yet been completed when we arrived to photograph it, so we “installed” those lights afterwards. Lastly, the presence of volunteer “clients” added energy to the empty space and helped us show the room as it will be used.

It may seem daunting and overwhelming to try to “dress up” these spaces when a number of elements are missing, but careful preparation, quick thinking, and post-production edits are all in a day’s work for Team Benson!