Professional Hotel Photography brings out the true essence of your hotel in images. High-resolution images have a great impact on bookings and improve the reputation of your brand. Great photos can lead to more interest in your hotel and ultimately earn you some revenue.
Pre-Shoot Planning
Scout the Location
Before the photo shoot, to assess the lighting and layout, arrange a visit of your photographer. Focus on key features and a list of places like beautiful architectural details, views and unique amenities that would help the photographer plan some key shots. Knowing the space before shooting can help them to place compositions well based on good angles.
Develop a Shot List
Developing a shot list that includes the lobby, guest rooms, dining areas, amenities and exterior is a great place to start working. With your photographer, you can make sure all of these are covered. Wide-angle shots, close-ups and lifestyle images will give prospective buyers a more well-rounded view of your property. A shot list helps you know what you must cover in the shoot and ensures no important part of your hotel is left out.
Choose the Right Time of Day
The impact of natural light on your pictures is huge. Try to shoot with soft lighting, such as in the early morning or late afternoon. It gives a natural and warm visual appeal to your images, which appeals to viewers.
Assemble the Right Equipment
Camera and Lenses
The high-resolution cameras and wide-angle lenses are perfect for hotel spaces. Professional equipment makes it possible for the photographer to accurately highlight the hotel features that stand you out from others in the market.
Tripod and Accessories
Achieve shake-free images by fixing your camera on a tripod stand, the crucial element when shooting in low-light conditions. It also makes aligning your camera a lot easier and makes fine adjustments to the small changes in framing. Another way handheld shooting can lose accuracy, and it will take time to set up the perfect shot. While regular tripods are about 2 metres high, there are super high stands of around 16m for large buildings or interiors of hotels.
Your photographer carries necessary accessories like a tripod, remote releases, protective filters and lens hoods to capture the best photos.
Lighting Equipment
Lightning equipment is crucial, especially in interior photography, if there is less natural light. Having portable lights or flashes can make your pictures more lit and appealing. The effective method is shooting a bracketed sequence and merging the images using HDR or DRI software.
Backup Equipment
Your photographer needs extra batteries, memory cards and a backup camera body to avoid any distribution during the shoot. That will take care of technical issues for a smooth photo shoot process.
Prepare the Space
Clean and Declutter
Before shooting, Professional photographers will also assess the space and environment where shooting takes place. Always organise the surroundings and eliminate unnecessary items. Instruct your cleaning staff to use a cleaning cloth and wipe any dust, greasy substances and fingerprints. So that there is no residue left behind and everything looks clean and shiny in the final capture.
Stage the Scene
Consult with your team to arrange furniture and decorations in a manner that suits the aesthetic of your hotel. One should also include things such as flowers, books or other amenities to make the place appear warm. Staging contributes a lot towards enhancing the outer look of the house to attract potential guests.
Check for Details
Paying attention to work details allows for achieving the most precise results. Check things like wrinkles in the linens and smears on surfaces must be erased. All the Objects must be in an organised position. The preparations to photoshoot in advance will be impeccable and ready to be used photographs on various channels.
Technical Considerations
Camera Settings
Camera settings allow the photographer to capture the best production. The three variable camera settings involved in every photo are shutter speed, aperture, and ISO (film or sensor) sensitivity. settings are vital to get good-quality images that are well-illuminated to reflect each sequence of the hotel.
White Balance and Colour Accuracy
Colour representation has to be accurate, particularly in online listings, for the pictures to be as reliable as the original objects. The White balance enables you to get the correct colours of your hotel interiors to ensure that the images are equally good on all the marketing items.
HDR and Bracketing Techniques
HDR and bracketing work well to capture regions that require extreme detailings but also have significant contrast or brightness.
It captures details for areas of mixed lighting or high contrast. They grab more tones and details and provide dramatic and realistic images.
On-Site Shoot Execution
Start with Wide Shots
Start by taking an overall shot that will reveal the general environment of each place so that the prospective visitors of the hotel get a feel of the general outlook. Spherical panoramas are suitable for display in an interactive context for instance displaying interiors on a computer. These images assist the viewers in getting an idea of what their stay will look like and provide a background for more elaborate photos.
Focus on Key Details
During photo shooting focus on such aspects of the hotel that differentiate you from other hotels available. These narrow scenes are important so that viewers recognise the hotel’s features, especially to the guests.
On-Site Shoot Execution
Retouch and Editing
Retouching and good editing techniques enable one to have appealing pictures that in turn give the right impression of your hotel. Start by correcting the exposure, selecting the right white balance, boosting the contrast, checking the saturation, reducing noise and increasing sharpening to make it look more professional.
Optimise for Different Platforms
Optimising with different platforms means using photos in different places including on your website, Facebook, Twitter, catalogues and flyers. Always ensure that images are the right size according to the website you are publishing.
Final Checklist
Once the shoot is done, go through all the captured pictures to check the quality of the shots and to be sure all the shots you listed have been captured. This way it eliminates the possibility of overlooking some opportunities. Also, make files that are saved at the end of the day to help out in case of data loss.
FAQs
What is hotel photography called?
Hospitality photography means capturing the spirit of a hotel.
Why is hotel photography important?
Statistics show that hotels with high-quality images significantly boost online engagement and booking rates.
How do you light a hotel room for photography?
A hotel light with 150 lux light levels is ideal for hotel room lighting, but you should experiment with it to ensure you have ideal indoor lighting for the building.
In conclusion, achieving the intended goal of hotel photography mostly depends on preparation for the photoshoot and paying due attention to details. When shooting a hotel, it is good to work in harmony with your photographer and ensure all factors considered during the shoot produce high-quality, professional-looking photographs. It is very effective in attracting more guests and improving your brand image, which is worth improving the prospects of your hotel organisation.