By Michelle Chaplow

This is the second in a collection of three blog posts, giving sound advice to hoteliers. Here we talk about the technical specifications for hotel photography.

Hotel Photography making of, Hotel Essence Photography crew

“Making of” photo with photographer, assistant and stylist. Hotel Essence photography crew.

In Part one we discussed the Key points of exactly what you should be photographed on a hotel photo shoot, we highlighted areas of the establishment, that provide sound basis to really capture the very essence of a luxury of historic hotel.

Let´s think about the technical specification of Hotel Photography

Many hoteliers, know they need photos, but they have no idea on the technical specification, by following the guidelines below, you can rest assured that you will receive images that correspond to the correct specification.

Tips how to prepare a hotel photoshoot.


Technical checklist

Digital and Print Let your crew see your brochure and website layouts. This will help them to shoot suitable visuals – especially if you intend to use panoramic crops.

Big Pictures create visual impact Ask your photographer to shoot in “full frame” as it will display well on your website and is perfect for magazine editorial.

View In order to capture a room AND a view, use a digital technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR). This requires the photographer to shoot multiple exposures so that the areas both inside and outside the room are both perfectly exposed.

Photo Selection Take advantage of a professional set of eyes – ask the photographer to help you choose the best images.

Files Ask for high-resolution “TIF” images for print and low-res “JPEGs” for digital media. Insist that primary photos are selected and sorted into sensibly-named folders for YOUR easy retrieval.

Social Media files Ask your photographer to provide a third copy of all the images at 1200pixels on the longest side, for social media – it will save you a lot of time in resizing and they will do a better job.

Back-ups You should have three digital back- ups: one on-site, one off-site and one with the photographer.

Even if a hotelier, knows nothing about photography, by following these guidelines, they can rest assured that they will have images in the correct sizes and specifications for brochures, websites and social media.

In part three we look into project management and tips on how to choose a photographer for a hotel photography assignment.