A Guide to Luxury Hotel Photography

There is a certain standard that comes with a Luxury Hotel. It is not just about the appearance or the service, but also the small details and soft touches that come with operating world-renowned luxury hotels in Dubai or the United Arab Emirates. 

One of the major issues is to remember that these hotels need their own marketing reach as well. Part of that marketing journey is producing the highest possible quality photos that capture both the luxury and the details. Finding the right artists and specialists that can handle it at times can be difficult, especially on the local level. It can put a stop to your entire marketing campaign, or not make it as effective, as most of us buy with our eyes.   

Photographer Portfolios

Before even taking a single photo, it is important to find the right photographer. In the case of capturing the beauty and essence of a luxury hotel, this might require different types of photographers that excel in specific areas. 

At Flashy.ae we understand that one size does not fit all and ensure that you find the right photographer for the right job. We help vet and support photographers by having them show their best work and photo portfolio to their potential clients. Instead of websites needed to be built for photography portfolios, we have developed the best website to combine and aggregate all the best photography out there in the MENA market. 

Sure, there are a lot of sites out there for freelancers, but they cover a wider variety of skills. We felt that photography itself is so important and unique that it deserved its own site that is specially focused on the Dubai freelance photographer. For the purposes of a luxury hotel, we might consider up to four different types of photographers. 

Outdoor / Landscape Photographer.

A key factor is to work with a photographer in Dubai or the United Arab Emirates that understands how to handle scenic photography mixed with architectural photography. Luxury hotels in Dubai are statement pieces developed by some of the most world-renowned architects. It is important to showcase this and to give it proper attention. 

You are creating a photograph that is meant to sell an experience over just showing how great a place can be. This requires the use of wide-angle lenses and taking photos with the daylight and with the night sky, showcasing the luxuriousness in any setting. 

You need to work with someone that has an excellent appreciation and skillset to handle extremely different lighting conditions and to capture large areas without making them look warped or cropped. These types of photographers will have a wide set of tools to help them from ariel drones to specialised cameras that will be able to show the entire creation before you.

Food and Beverage Photography

The next focus is to showcase the exquisite amenities that the hotel has to offer. The first place after taking breathtaking pictures of the gorgeous exterior is the gastronomy that can be found inside. This continues the journey of selling the experiences, and the F&B photography produced can be fantastic when done right. If done correctly the items come to life and become creative food.  

Styling the food itself to look presentable, or if you’re doing an action shot to show movement requires a specialised food photographer who can handle food photography. A food photo on your camera phone is one thing, but when it is done by a professional, who balances the colour of the food with the light and angles, you get something that is akin to art. 

They're experts in setting up the food to be shown in a presentable format. The décor of the restaurant combined with the exquisite cocktails and food offering will cater to the luxuriousness the hotel would demand. In Dubai, there are so many exquisite gastronomy choices and finding that photographer to handle it all is critical.

Let's not forget dessert, and consider a pastry and cake photo shoot. It is a great medium for creative food photography and really capturing the flavours of the cake beyond the taste. Cakes themselves are a sign of decadence and are a representation of the hotel offering...  

For those that manage these fantastic restaurants in Dubai, hiring a Dubai food photographer from us should be one of your main priorities, as you want to ensure that anyone who comes across your site sees these mouthwatering images in their best light. 

Amenities photography

All the hotels in Dubai that are considered luxurious come with a plethora of amenities. From world-renowned spas to reflective and infinity pools, to state of the art gyms and saunas. All of these need to be captured to show exactly what someone can expect when they come to one of these hotels. For this, you will need a photographer that is focused on taking action shots. These are shots where someone is in the middle of an action, such as a spa procedure, or swimming in the infinity pool, and the photographer needs to capture several different types of lighting that will also go well with the person doing the action.

The major issue that can happen here is a blur effect, that the expert photographer needs to consider when taking the shot. They will most likely need to do a combination of multi shots and video to capture the right resolution of the action. 

This is important because most high-end hotels offer similar services, and to be able to stand out, it will require showing exactly why they would pick your hotel over another hotel. Having the right photographer offer the realism and lavishness of the amenities will also help attract more clientele. 

In-Room Photography

We continue our journey and save the best for last, the actual rooms themselves. This is where you will need an expert photographer who can handle interiors well. They know how to maximise their images to capture the grandeur of the rooms, without using common photography tricks such as using fishbowl images or exploiting angels to make rooms appear bigger than they are.

When it comes to luxury photography, honesty and realism are the best routes to go. You want the photographer to capture how beautiful the rooms are, from the single room to the most expensive suite, making each room option look desirable. They will focus on bright shots during the day to show how sun-drenched the rooms can get. This is also a critical point where the photographer can work on focusing on the details discussed earlier. They build a portfolio of each room, showcasing the room, the amenities inside, the view and the luxurious bathrooms. This is also a chance for them to showcase specialised products that come with each room.

It is important to take photographs of exactly how the room would appear for someone just arriving and checking in. That means they need to be spotless with the beds made and tucked in properly. It is all about the minimalist presentation to show that there is always more room there to start. No people or items should be shown in this room, as the photography should be coming from the first-person perspective when someone looks at the room. 

Considerations for a successful photoshoot

It is important to find the right type of photographers for the job and to understand that although you might be able to find an all-around photographer that can handle multiple types of photos when it comes to getting the details right with luxury hotel photography, it would be considered an advantage to break down the hotel into segments, one segment per photographer. 

To be able to find localised Dubai or UAE based photographers that understand the culture and the luxury of the hotels themselves can be a daunting task itself. This is where flashy.ae comes in to help provide a photographer portfolio to cover these needs. 

Using Flashy.ae removes the time-consuming process of finding and hiring a specialist, and then try to explain to them what the specifics are, and there's a back and forth that happens and your photography doesn't always come out the way you envisioned it in your head. The back and forth move evolved to digital communications and, in fact, hindered the whole process. 

That was the reason behind launching flashy.ae, a simplified marketplace connecting photographers with clients. It was built by photographers, with the mindset of bringing accessibility and focus to the art. We felt that it was time to bring these artists together and to provide a safe environment to consistently have them find work. On the other end, we felt that since we do extensive checks and review rounds with potential photographers, we are only offering the best every single time. 

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