Hotel Photography: St Martins Lodge
As a professional interior photographer, photographing hotels is part of the job. It’s important for the photographer to understand that each hotel is unique - this totally reflects the images required.
Most important question: Why does the client require photography?
After undergoing a multi-million pound renovation, I was asked to provide a brand new set of marketing photography for St Martins Lodge in Leicester City Centre.
The hotel is a luxury boutique hotel, the images needed to be of the highest standard. Fresh, clean and well composed.
The images needed to represent the large variety of rooms available. We didn’t need to photograph every single room. Just enough to make sure it was clear to the the potential guest how the hotel is designed.
My top tips for photographing a hotel
Less is more. Keep each image simple with no unnecessary clutter. Every single item in the image has to have a reason to be there. If you can’t find the reason - it’s not for the photograph, take it out.
Make sure each bed is well presented. There is nothing more unappealing in the marketing photography where the bedsheets haven’t been neatly tucked in. Take a few extra moments to make it perfect.
Capture the details of the room. This may include the tea and coffee / bedding / TV / furniture. Small touches like this add a homely feel to the photography.
Don’t forget to photograph any hotel facilities available such as meeting rooms, cafe, restaurant, garden and so forth.
Social media images - Make a few images on the side to share on social media. But make sure to keep the file sizes low, big image files will slow the loading times of your website.
Bring a colleague to second check the hotel, a fresh set of eyes will make sure you’ve not missed anything prior to the photo-shoot.
Bright and sharp images work. If the room is dark, open the curtains and use a tripod for the extra long exposure. Dark images just scream unprofessional photography.
Capture the meeting room. Clear and clean images work.
Don’t forget to include any of the hotels’ branding in the photography.
Include and communal points of interest for the guest.
