Advice on hotel brochure shots

[magmac21]

I have just got my first job doing some images for a hotel brochure and need a bit of advice on how to light these sort of shots. They will be mostly indoor ...bedrooms, dining etc. I have done this sort of thing before and found that availible lighting and a tripod gives nicer results.What does everyone else do for this type of work ? I have a Metz 45 flash as well which I was going to try bounced off the ceiling ?Any advice or tips would be most welcome. Thanks

[rssfhs]

I have just got my first job doing some images for a hotel brochure and need a bit of advice on how to light these sort of shots. They will be mostly indoor ...bedrooms, dining etc. I have done this sort of thing before and found that availible lighting and a tripod gives nicer results.What does everyone else do for this type of work ? I have a Metz 45 flash as well which I was going to try bounced off the ceiling ?Any advice or tips would be most welcome. Thanks

I haven't ever done any hotel brochures, but I have taken several photos of hotels where I have stayed. I don't think you need a flash. Tripod. wide angle lens and natural light gives great results. Here is one I took while in Lisbon last year:

[DaveG]

I have just got my first job doing some images for a hotel brochure and need a bit of advice on how to light these sort of shots. They will be mostly indoor ...bedrooms, dining etc. I have done this sort of thing before and found that availible lighting and a tripod gives nicer results.What does everyone else do for this type of work ? I have a Metz 45 flash as well which I was going to try bounced off the ceiling ?Any advice or tips would be most welcome. Thanks


I'd just stay with the natural light in the rooms. You won't light anything nicely with one flash in any case. I suppose that the Metz might be useful to provide some fill flash to lower the contrast if necessary. Try not to back light things although that Group in High Dymamic Range might be just the answer for this type of shot. If you have Photoshop CS2, or want an excuse to upgrade, then have a look at what this will do!

You will need a VERY wide angle lens to do this work and that means the 10-22 or a lens like it. Be very careful to make sure that the camera on a tripod, parallel with the wall and that there's no yaw or tilt. Really bad distortions will occur if the lens isn't nice and level.

Put people into as many shots as you can. They add scale and warmth to the shot. I've done many "ad features" for newspapers and "Find someone to pose in the pictures while you are there." is an unacceptable instruction. That HAS to be something the client does, along with getting modelling releases signed. What if there's no one there? What if they want to be paid? What if they sue when the picture is used in an ad? THIS IS THE CLIENT'S PROBLEM not the photographers. So the client should start to line up some tame subjects (staff in street clothes for example) for you.

[vwpilot]

Check out my post (last one in thread) in this thread on shooting hotel interiors. I have done a decent amount of assisting a photographer that does a LOT of these and gave a little advice about it.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=73048

To do it right, you do not want to do it with simply natural light or with just a few basic flashes, its a very light intensive type of shooting.

No offense rssfhs, but that shot, for natural light isnt bad, but its not what a hotel would need for a brochure, there simply is just no way to light a room properly without lighting.

In that photo you have dark holes on the left top and bottom, the fireplace is a dark hole, the right side of the photo is a dark hole. You have all kinds of shadows on the wall and its pretty crowded and needs some seperations between some of the pieces of furniture (I realize if you werent doing a shoot you could not control that, so its not a knock on your photo, but as an example its not the best thing).

Again, I'm not trying to criticize you or knock your photo, it just would not be what a hotel would need for a brochure.

But generally we use 3-5 strobes run off two packs, we will use a combination of umbrellas and grid spots, we also generally use a handful of small work lights or similar to light small places where the strobes might not be needed or overpowering, we will sometimes hang up sheets over windows behind sheers to cut down on the hot areas that large windows can cause, we will carry multiple sizes of extra bulbs so we can cut down light hot spots or even out the lights so they all look the same, and we use all kinds of other props to make sure the lighting is as even as possible so that there are no dark or hot spots. Its pretty intense. We can often spend 1-2 hours per room to get the lighting right.

Anyway, that might give you an idea of some of the work involved. Good luck with it.

[chtgrubbs]

I would agree with VWPilot. I have shot alot of interiors for architects and designers and it is very labor intensive. Doing 4 interiors in a day is good work and that is with three people working, the photographer, photo assistant and the designer.

[chtgrubbs]

Oh, sorry I forgot to answer the lighting question. Sometimes you can get away with natural lighting plus 1 or 2 bounced lights for fill, sometimes I have used 7-8 lights for interiors with low levels of natural light. It just depends on the room You really need to scout it out with your contact person and discuss what they want to show.

[rssfhs]

No offense rssfhs, but that shot, for natural light isnt bad, but its not what a hotel would need for a brochure, there simply is just no way to light a room properly without lighting.


Well, you obviously know your stuff! It seems to me though that not every hotel would have the budget to hire all those people, with all that equipment. For a Hilton brochure, I can understand...

The shot I posted above was straight from the camera. Here is a retouched version. I just did a few PS adjustments and I think it looks not so bad. I'm no PS guru, so I'm sure in the right hands the photo could look even better.

To my eyes anyway, I wouldn't think it strange if I saw such a photo in a brochure for a small hotel. What do you people out there think about it?

[vwpilot]

That looks a ton better, the detail was obviously present in the shot you took.

I am also by no means an expert. I assist a photographer that does this so I have learned quite a bit, but would still not be confident enough, even with the right gear, to take on a job like this on my own, its quite tricky.

You are also right that not all hotels will want work done like I have described, it is costly with fees running on average $1500/day or so which would get the hotel maybe 5 shots at most in a good day.

But where the difference lies is in the little details. Where a photo like you posted above looks good and could pass in a brochure, when a hotel manager sees what is possible with the right gear and knowledge, it immediately becomes apparent what the difference is and many will then find the money.

The photographer I work for has, sort of, made a name for himself doing this work. Several of his current clients were ones that were using other photographers, then when they would see the work in a brochure or on a billboard of the hotels he was working for and they saw the differnece, he started getting more and more calls.

I'm sorry, I dont mean to piss on the original posters parade and I'm not saying that he is not capable of doing the work that the hotel will be pleased with. I'm just trying to give them a perspective on what kind of work it does take to really do it right and make it really on par with what many established companies could be expecting.

One thing I would suggest if you can do it. Try shooting tethered to a laptop. This way you can see the shots immediately on a larger screen and can see right away where there are any holes that have to be addressed or if there is furniture that is too cluttered and has to be moved around or wierd reflections of glares that need to be addressed. Its much easier to see this stuff on a computer than it is through the viewfinder. If you can shoot tehtered it will make you job much easier and much more satisfying when you can take care of problems while you are still there and not sitting at home editing the photos for delivery the next day.

[PhotosGuy]

One thing I would suggest if you can do it. Try shooting tethered to a laptop. And have the client rep "sign off" on the shot before you leave the room! ;-)