Thoughts behind an image promoting a Blue Mountains B&B

In Sydney it was 26 degrees and gloriously sunny and with perfect weather there was nothing stopping an ideal shoot for Bilpin Springs Lodge, a terrific self-catering hotel in Bilpin catering for families. But as we drove closer to the blue Mountains, the weather turned - 11 degrees, cars had pulled off the road to shelter under trees to hide from the hail - the nets above the apple trees in apple orchards along the road were weighed down by hail. In other words,  a typical photoshoot that always presents challenges no matter how much you plan.

The photographic brief was to photograph interior shots including two family rooms, two bathrooms and some exterior shoots so initially I focussed on interior shots such as the image below to allow the weather to improve.

Normally I avoid shots like this when photographing restaurants and hotels - I call them Marie Celeste shots - beautifully empty rooms - my reasoning is if I saw an empty restaurant I would never go in so why do restaurant and hotel websites never include people in their images? However, bathrooms and bedrooms can be devoid of people, common areas such as hotel foyers and restaurants should never be.

Finally the weather cleared so I was able to work outside- the client wanted an image of the back of the lodge to show guests there was lots of grass for kids to play on.

I could have settled for the photo below.

But it lacks life though it does show green lawns and a car nearby to placate any guest who feared they would have to walk miles from the carpark.

To inject life, my client acted as a model.

This photo adds lots of value to the brief of showing the lawns behind the lodge. It shows that the lodge is dog-friendly, that cars can be parked nearby, there are horses but they are safely behind fences and that the proprietor is friendly.

But the photos is not without flaws since it was a spontaneous image taking only minutes to set up. There is light on the horse's foreleg causing the viewer to look there and not just on the happy (i.e. friendly) proprietor. The dog is in shadow, the man's forearm is too bright, the jeans and base of the shirt are illuminated, the horse's face is a little too dark, the fence post is intrusive, there is too much emphasis on the car, there is a distracting light on the porch and worst of all, the proprietor looks a little apprehensive and this is a bad message for if the proprietor is wary of the horse, maybe it would be too dangerous for families to stay there?

So with a little bit of photoshop, the image has been enhanced and the client can guarantee increased bookings for his lodge!