The Melbourne Hotelier’s Guide to Hotel Photography

If you are in the hotel business, you probably know how hotel review sites, social media and mobile apps influence the decisions travellers make when choosing a hotel. They read reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, recommendations on Facebook or Twitter as well as looking at travel blogs, often with their mobile apps while on the go. Besides price, location or amenities, their decisions are clinched by the appeal of the images. The old adage of “what you see is what you get” holds very true for hotels.

For hoteliers in the competitive Melbourne market, using the services of a hotel photographer Melbourne-focused plays an integral role in presenting your premises in the best possible light.

Hoteliers can’t afford to take a casual approach to photographing their properties. Here is a brief guide on how to get the best results and what it involves.

Engage a Professional Melbourne Hotel Photographer

Professional photographers are equipped with the array of equipment necessary for perfectly balanced photographs. There are special creative, technical and organisational challenges inherent in hotel photography that require their expertise.

Creative and Technical Challenges in Hotel Photography

Cameras do not “see” the way the human eye does and a lot of effort is put into photographs that mimic what is natural to the eye. The “natural look” is really important to draw the viewer “into the picture”, evoking the subtle feeling that they are actually there in the hotel. How does the hotel photographer achieve this?

Lighting: The contrast between bright and darker areas like the interior of a room and sunlit view out the window is often beyond the range of the camera. Likewise, a dark grained mahogany table set against the light pastels of bed sheets presents a photographic challenge. Lighting to balance contrast makes the crucial difference in creating images natural to the eye.
Unwanted reflections require a solution with diffusers or scrims. It isn’t enough to switch on all the room lights and you wouldn’t want to draw the curtains on a great view. Subtle lighting will create the natural, cosy ambience that draws in the viewer.

Space and lenses: How much of a room can be taken in by the camera may be limited by space. Using a wide angle lens is an option but the distortion is obvious to the viewer. Visual information of the room in its entirety in this case may not be as good as highlighting features and details; furnishings, textures and the little touches that convey comfort, quality and intimacy. A wonderful bed to sleep in may be the only image needed to convince a customer that the rest of the room is as comfortable.
These are only very brief insights into the techniques of our specialist Melbourne hotel photographers at We Shoot Buildings. Every hotel has its own unique characteristics to be considered.

Written by Grant Kennedy