Shooting in a Hotel Room: How to?

[i2iSTUDIOS]

I would like to shoot some of my models in very nice lush hotel suites/rooms/pent houses. Any tips on how to get in them and shoot a model in them for a few hours without paying for the room?

I'm thinking of printing off some sample images of what I would be shooting and offer some prints to the hotel that they can use for promotional purposes if they would like. Any thoughts?

[liza]

It never hurts to ask. They might appreciate some type of promotional material.

[i2iSTUDIOS]

bump. :)

[Steve Parr]

Just remember that, looking at it from the "promotional" angle, the hotel would want to see shots that emphasize the room. The other thing to remember is that most hotels have one or two shots of each kind of room (suite, etc) on their website, to give guests an idea as to the kind of room they're getting. These shots aren't normally "professional", but they get the job done.

The option, of course, is that you simply book the room, pay for it, and make a weekend of it...

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Hi,
What I normally do is use flash for the model and leave the shutter open for the rest of the scene, for example f8.0 1 sec.

Sometimes I also use flashes for the backgrounds and small details.
When mixing light remember that often the rooms use tungsten light, a filter in front of your flash will lower the colortemp of them (for example amber).

Often however I love to mix the two together to get some nice blend effects in color.

See my site www.doorhof.nl/models for some examples.

Greetings,
Frank

[i2iSTUDIOS]

Hi,
What I normally do is use flash for the model and leave the shutter open for the rest of the scene, for example f8.0 1 sec.

Sometimes I also use flashes for the backgrounds and small details.
When mixing light remember that often the rooms use tungsten light, a filter in front of your flash will lower the colortemp of them (for example amber).

Often however I love to mix the two together to get some nice blend effects in color.

See my site www.doorhof.nl/models for some examples.

Greetings,
Frank

Frank, I can't find any examples where you have kept the shutter open for 1 second... All of your images are nice and crisp. Can you provide a link?

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Linda%20--32%20--%2011%20Juli%202005%20.jpg
Well ok 1/30 's :D

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Linda%20--171%20--%2011%20Juli%202005%20.jpg
And 1/13th

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Andrea%20108%209%20November%202005%20hotel%20Fidde r%20.jpg
And 1/4th



It depends on the situation, shuttertimes can run up when there is less available light.

Greetings,
Frank

[i2iSTUDIOS]

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Linda%20--32%20--%2011%20Juli%202005%20.jpg
Well ok 1/30 's :D

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Linda%20--171%20--%2011%20Juli%202005%20.jpg
And 1/13th

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Andrea%20108%209%20November%202005%20hotel%20Fidde r%20.jpg
And 1/4th



It depends on the situation, shuttertimes can run up when there is less available light.

Greetings,
Frank
fantastic. So you meter the combined light, that % do you like to be flash?

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

It depends on the scene, I don't work with fixed settings.

Sometimes I want more mix sometimes less and sometimes I shoot without flash.
I can't really give a standard.

[i2iSTUDIOS]

It depends on the scene, I don't work with fixed settings.

Sometimes I want more mix sometimes less and sometimes I shoot without flash.
I can't really give a standard.
So what you're saying is take the shot and show you what I can do... :D

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Don't know if I'm saying that :D

What I am saying is that there is no rule of tumb.
Every situation will demand a different approach, but also every photographer will solve the problems on his/her own way.

Some love to use only flash, others will use natural light only with reflectors.

[i2iSTUDIOS]

The model asked me to pay for her travel expenses, she's driving about 1.5 hours to my house then we'll drive about 30 minutes to the hotel...

I'm bringing thousands and thousands of dollars worth of camera gear and possibly paying $75 for the hotel room (if I can't work something out). I'm not sure how I feel about this. :(

She does want to do lingerie, implied nude, and fully nude which would be great to add to my portfolio so that's a plus. But she doesn't have the body IMO for too much glamour as she is thin, she doesn't have to chest to accentuate sexy in glamour photography. IMO...

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

This is always something you have to work out for yourself (again, sorry).

For me I never pay anything, except maybe indeed a room when I want to do the shot, I don't know how much you need the session, if you want the session real bad and it's a good model who is willing to do glamour than maybe only travel expenses it not bad.

If you are delivering good quality and the hotel is nice, and the model NEEDS the pictures for her portfolio I think it should be a 50/50 deal.
So you pay the hotel, she pays the travel expenses.

Greetings,
Frank

[Steve Parr]

The model asked me to pay for her travel expenses, she's driving about 1.5 hours to my house then we'll drive about 30 minutes to the hotel...

I'm bringing thousands and thousands of dollars worth of camera gear and possibly paying $75 for the hotel room (if I can't work something out). I'm not sure how I feel about this. :(

She does want to do lingerie, implied nude, and fully nude which would be great to add to my portfolio so that's a plus. But she doesn't have the body IMO for too much glamour as she is thin, she doesn't have to chest to accentuate sexy in glamour photography. IMO...

I think I'm missing something here.

Who's the one who wants to do the shoot, you or her?

If it's her, she's gotta' ante up and cover some of the costs. If it's you, why are you hiring a model who, by your own admission, hasn't got the, well, let's call them "assets", for glamour photography??

At some point, you need to consider what you stand to gain out of this, because it seems to me like you're being taken for a ride...

[delhi]

So this is not about the hotel room anymore is it? More like taking photographs of a girl in a hotel room possibly naked? Hmm... better check with the hotel policy. Lots of porn stuff going on these days and I'm not sure if the hotel policy allows that especially the expensive ones.

[i2iSTUDIOS]

So this is not about the hotel room anymore is it? More like taking photographs of a girl in a hotel room possibly naked? Hmm... better check with the hotel policy. Lots of porn stuff going on these days and I'm not sure if the hotel policy allows that especially the expensive ones.
nudity does not equal porn.

[Steve Parr]

nudity does not equal porn.

Certainly not.

Why are you paying for everything if this is a model who, by your own admission, has some short-comings for glamour photography?

[i2iSTUDIOS]

Certainly not.

Why are you paying for everything if this is a model who, by your own admission, has some short-comings for glamour photography?
what's what I'm asking myself right now.

[Steve Parr]

what's what I'm asking myself right now.

I'd bail on the idea.

Don't take this personally, but you're covering the costs of everything, including her travel. That's nuts.

Does she want the pictures or do you?

If you want them, I'm bettin' you can find an attractive model, with more "model-like-assets", in whatever town you live in. If she's the one who wants them, she needs to be paying some of the costs involved.

To foot the bill for everything, is just nuts...

[delhi]

nudity does not equal porn.

Of course not. But it does generate that kind of perception in the hotel if they are not notified ahead of time. Don't want to cause any unwanted arousal you know.

[PhotosGuy]

Of course not. But it does generate that kind of perception in the hotel if they are not notified ahead of time. Don't want to cause any unwanted arousal you know. I'll give you 100 to 1 odds that they'll say no. Because they're more interested in "CYA" than doing anything controversial that might reflect on the hotel & cost them their jobs.
The policy, "It's easier to ask forgiveness, than to ask permission", has always worked out well for me. ;)