Luxury hotel and resort photography is an exciting and interesting genre of commercial photography. If you are drawn to travel photography, this hotel and resort photography might be a natural fit for your skillset and interests.

There are numerous factors you'll need to consider and skills you should master if you want to excel in this field. Check out our advice that covers things such as lighting, equipment, and how to create outstanding architectural images!

What is a hotel photographer?

Let's start by defining what a hotel and resort photographer does. The role of a hotel and resort photographer is to depict the property at its very best. The photographer should have an eye or interest in architectural or real estate photography. As a hotel photographer, you will likely be called upon to shoot a variety of property styles - from ultra-modern boutique hotels to historic resort properties.

Travel photography, architectural photography, lifestyle, and interior photography are all components of the hotel and resort photography. One client might request images of the outside of the property, while another asks for poolside shots with models.

An excellent hotel photographer needs to have a broad range of skills.

The Client

Like with all commercial photography, it's all about what the client wants - and your ability to deliver. You will need to understand very well what their expectations are for the images. They may or may not already have a vision of the final product. They might be expecting you to develop a vision and bring it to successful fruition. Sometimes, you might have to try and steer them in a slightly different direction to give them the caliber of photography they ultimately want. It's all a delicate dance between photographer and client. Your images are ultimate their marketing tools. It's critical to be able to deliver a superb product effectively.

Necessary Gear

If you want to create professional images of a hotel or resort (inside or out), you will need the right gear. Here's a comprehensive list of equipment you will need:

Wide-angle lens: A wide-angle lens is critical to leveraging space and architectural lines.
Full-frame sensor camera: Ideally, you would use the wide-angle lens with a full-frame camera. These two pieces are worthy investments. Consider a 24mm tilt and shift lens.
Sturdy Tripod: A sturdy tripod is critical for your interior images for several reasons. 1) Sooner or later, you will need to use longer shutter speed. 2) A sturdy, high-quality tripod helps prevent camera shake and helps you to produce better quality images. 3) A tripod will help ensure that the architectural lines turnout level. Use your camera's built-in level along with the tripod to achieve this.

Perspective and lines

When you're shooting interiors or architectural images, as we stated above, your vertical lines must be straight. You will need to consider your perspectives as well. If you're shooting a one-point perspective image, be sure that both the vertical and horizontal lines are straight. If you're shooting a two-point perspective, your angle should be higher than 30 degrees.

Be careful with wide-angles

Yes, we said you need a wide-angle lens. However, you should be selective in how you use it to capture a space - because you want to show the room or area accurately without distortion. If you go too wide, you risk the room appearing larger or more spacious than it actually is. Most hotels (and guests) wouldn't appreciate a misrepresentation like that. Lastly, if you're using a wide-angle, avoid shooting compositional elements too close to the edge of the frame. That can lead to distortion.

Lighting

You must learn to control lighting skilfully. Once you do, it means that you will be able to manage your shooting environment. In turn, that means working whenever the client needs you to work, day or night.

If you must use artificial lights, you should probably use strobes; however, you will need a second pair of hands to assist you. When using artificial lighting, including strobes, it's critical to give the sense that the lighting is natural, not artificial. It should never be obvious that you've used artificial light. If at all possible, place the strobes close to an existing light source. This gives the impression that the light is coming from a different source - like a window. This will result in lighting that looks more natural in the image.

If you are using strobes inside, things get a bit trickier. You will need to use a wide-angle lens and a tripod. We suggest shooting with and without strobes to be able to compose and achieve a final image that includes lit portions without the strobes.

Another option is to use HDR to avoid using artificial lighting. HDR combines multiple exposures into one image using specialty software. In recent years, more photographers have taken to using HDR software, given the great results they can achieve. If you're a one-person show, you might use HDR rather than fiddling with strobe lighting, as that requires a second pair of hands.

Aperture

Ideally, if you're shooting indoors, we think you should set the aperture at around f8, f9, or f11. These settings, along with accurate focusing, help you achieve very sharp images. If you're shooting outdoors, though, you will likely want to shoot with a wider aperture. If you're going to shoot with a smaller aperture outdoors (don't go wider than f5.6), your tripod will be a must.

The angle of shot

When you're shooting interiors, such as a hotel room, consider the angle from which you're shooting. Try shooting from a lower angle to make the image more interesting. A lot of photographers will shoot from the hip level instead of eye level. Keep in mind that this won't always work if you're shooting in a larger space. In those spaces, you might try doing the opposite: shoot from a slightly higher angle. The more experience you gain, shooting architectural photography, and the more you experiment with composition, lighting, and perspectives, the better your work will become.

Post-Production Editing

This factor is simple. Just about every professional photographer today uses post-production editing software like Lightroom and Photoshop. If you're not already utilising post-production editing, you're likely leaving substantial improvements behind. It doesn't take much to produce significant enhancements to your images. Post-production editing is critical.

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