How to Take Photos to Promote Your Holiday Rental Property
Use a decent camera., Photograph the whole of the rental property., Make sure you have good lighting., Dress the rooms., Caption your photos., Show seasonal changes if you're advertising a year-round property., Avoid including people in your...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Use a decent camera.
It's not expensive to get a high resolution digital camera these days.
Grainy photos look amateurish, and that's not the image you're trying to convey! -
Step 2: Photograph the whole of the rental property.
Capture the inside and the outside, including its gardens and the swimming pool, if the place has one.
Include pictures of the bedrooms, bathrooms, and all common areas.
Take the photographs at the angle that shows the room in its most "open" light. , If the photo looks gloomy and dark, people will assume the property is gloomy and dark.
You may need to bring extra light into a room to make it look as bright as it actually is, or you can play around with photo editing software afterwards.
Do whatever works, but don't post dull photos! , Put nice, clean linen on the beds, the best crockery you have on the dining table, and colorful flowers in the vases.
You can also rearrange the furniture to fit the composition of the photo.
This is something professional photographers do when photographing interiors, and there's no reason you shouldn't imitate them. , You want your prospective guests to be clear about what you're portraying, so flatter each room in your captions.
Suggest what your guest might do with the room and mention how versatile it is. , If you're promoting your property as a base for visiting local attractions, include some photos of those too. , Generally speaking, you want viewers to imagine themselves in your rental property.
This is harder to do if the pictures are full of people or pets.
The exception to this is if the property has staff who will be helping to maintain the place or provide food, etc.
If the guests benefit from the presence of staff, place the staff in their best clothes or uniform and take a group photo at the front of the house or in the garden.
The caption can explain their roles, such as cook, gardener, pool cleaner, local food deliverer, masseur, etc.
Include pictures showing people partaking in and enjoying the activities available.
If you want people to come and learn a rural craft such as thatching or dry stone walling, it's okay to show people thatching and dry stone walling. , Sequence your photos accordingly.
Visitors to your site may not even notice what you've done but it will give them a sense of logical progression through the space.
Out-of-sequence photos can be disorientating. , If you have a comprehensive vacation rentals software package, you may be building your website on that.
This is beneficial, as it means you only have to do the major work once.
If you're using lots of different sites and have to upload separately for each, make sure you keep photos safely for future use. -
Step 3: Make sure you have good lighting.
-
Step 4: Dress the rooms.
-
Step 5: Caption your photos.
-
Step 6: Show seasonal changes if you're advertising a year-round property.
-
Step 7: Avoid including people in your pictures of the property.
-
Step 8: Imagine a walking tour through your property.
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Step 9: Put the pictures up on your website.
Detailed Guide
It's not expensive to get a high resolution digital camera these days.
Grainy photos look amateurish, and that's not the image you're trying to convey!
Capture the inside and the outside, including its gardens and the swimming pool, if the place has one.
Include pictures of the bedrooms, bathrooms, and all common areas.
Take the photographs at the angle that shows the room in its most "open" light. , If the photo looks gloomy and dark, people will assume the property is gloomy and dark.
You may need to bring extra light into a room to make it look as bright as it actually is, or you can play around with photo editing software afterwards.
Do whatever works, but don't post dull photos! , Put nice, clean linen on the beds, the best crockery you have on the dining table, and colorful flowers in the vases.
You can also rearrange the furniture to fit the composition of the photo.
This is something professional photographers do when photographing interiors, and there's no reason you shouldn't imitate them. , You want your prospective guests to be clear about what you're portraying, so flatter each room in your captions.
Suggest what your guest might do with the room and mention how versatile it is. , If you're promoting your property as a base for visiting local attractions, include some photos of those too. , Generally speaking, you want viewers to imagine themselves in your rental property.
This is harder to do if the pictures are full of people or pets.
The exception to this is if the property has staff who will be helping to maintain the place or provide food, etc.
If the guests benefit from the presence of staff, place the staff in their best clothes or uniform and take a group photo at the front of the house or in the garden.
The caption can explain their roles, such as cook, gardener, pool cleaner, local food deliverer, masseur, etc.
Include pictures showing people partaking in and enjoying the activities available.
If you want people to come and learn a rural craft such as thatching or dry stone walling, it's okay to show people thatching and dry stone walling. , Sequence your photos accordingly.
Visitors to your site may not even notice what you've done but it will give them a sense of logical progression through the space.
Out-of-sequence photos can be disorientating. , If you have a comprehensive vacation rentals software package, you may be building your website on that.
This is beneficial, as it means you only have to do the major work once.
If you're using lots of different sites and have to upload separately for each, make sure you keep photos safely for future use.
About the Author
Adam Ramirez
Creates helpful guides on cooking to inspire and educate readers.
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