Why waste time? Let's get to the point by asking a question.
If you were going on vacation and you were booking a place to stay, and you were choosing between two different locations where all things were basically equal - price, location, facilities, etc. - which one would you book: the one that looked grungy or the one that looked nice? Odds are you answered the one that looked nice. Why? Because your visual perception influenced your decision.
When potential guests for your bed & breakfast are viewing information about your B&B, whether that be on a website, in a brochure, rack card, or advertisement, one of the most, if not the most, influential factors in making their decision is their visual perception of your facility. Does it look nice or does it not?If you are being compared side-by-side with another facility that has better, more attractive pictures than you do, your guest will book there, and not with you. It's that simple. Why? Again, visual perception. The other facility simply looked better, that's all.
Be honest. The text descriptions of B&B's on websites and in brochures all begin to run together - they all sound the same. It is the pictures of your facility that sell your guests. It is the pictures that may be the deciding factor on whether a guest stays at your facility or at another.
That's why the pictures are so important, why they should be the best they can be, why they should be professionally prepared, and why good pictures are worth the investment.
So what are good pictures and what are not? The following primer will help you understand and may illustrate things you never noticed. We are not going to waste your time trying to impress you with technical babblings. We are simply going to teach you what you need to know. Let's begin.
White Balance
White balance basically means whether or not the colors in pictures are correct.
Below are two images. The first image has an incorrect white balance and the second image has been corrected.
You've probably seen images with this "bronzed" appearance,. This can be caused by taking the picture with the wrong lighting or having the incorrect settings in the camera. Most often this will happen when an amateur has taken the picture or when a professional photographer has not taken the time to correct or does not know how to create the correct white balance.
The above example shows white balance at its worst. The unprofessional "bronze" effect can vary by degree but the end result is an image that does not make your B&B look attractive.
However, the effect can be subtle, too. It can be the difference between a good picture and a great picture. Below is a picture of a silver coffee serving set.
Pictures such as this of a beautiful silver coffee service are always a nice touch to add to a website or brochure. But images such as this should be at their best.
The first image has an incorrect white balance. It is subtle, but it is there. The lighting from the lamp has tinted parts of the image bronze. If you look at the silver coffee set, you can see this bronze color. In the second picture, the white balance on the silver coffee set has been corrected. It looks silver now, not bronze. And it looks better. It looks brighter. In the last image, the lamp and flower below it have been corrected. The entire scene now looks a lot better - more natural as the eye would see it. And it makes your B&B look more professional, more attractive.
Exposure Problems
One of the most common mistakes made by amateurs and yes, even professional photographers alike is bad exposure. Especially in interior scenes that include a bright window.
You have probably viewed pictures such as this many times, and may even have them on your website or in a brochure.
The first of the three below show an image where the exposure for the room interior is correct, but the view outside the window is so badly overexposed nothing can be seen.
The second picture is the opposite. The outside scene can be seen, but the room interior is so badly underexposed detail is lost in shadows.
The third picture shows a proper exposure for both and reveals an absolutely gorgeous guest room. This is how the human eye would see the scene.
If a potential customer were viewing these pictures on a website or in a brochure, which image do you think would look best to them? Which image would best say "this beautiful bed & breakfast is where I want to stay"? If the pictures of your B&B are more like the first two, and your competitor's is like the last, your competitor will get the booking.
Of course, the easy way for the amateur (and the lazy way for the professional photographer) to correct this would be to simply close the curtains or shades. But that is not the answer. The open windows make the room look larger, more spacious. The light coming in the window makes it look warmer, more inviting.
It looks more like a place where you would enjoy staying.
Coming soon... Part 2
