Hotel Photo Styling: Furniture Arrangement to Achieve The Look and Feel You Want

By Photo Stylist Naomi Dunleavy
   

When you are in a room, you have the freedom to walk around and see everything from different angles in the room. With an image though, you’re restricted to only seeing what the camera has captured, from the angle the photographer has chosen to shoot

It’s my job as a photo-stylist to make sure that not only does everything that is within camera view look its best from camera angle but that the arrangement of the furnishings (hard and soft) within the room also communicate well with the camera and convey the look and style of the room

We normally do a pre-shoot visit (recky) to familiarise ourselves with the interior and get a feel for the hotel. I take snapshots of the rooms to be photographed to familiarise myself with the furniture layout and to determine if any props are needed for styling. I also take snaps of interesting pieces and furniture throughout the hotel for possible props

So I’m already pretty familiar with the interior by the day of the photo-shoot. But before I actually style a room, I wait until David does camera lockdown (chooses the camera position, angle and height and the camera is locked in place) and shows me the image on the laptop. We then discuss the furniture placement in relation to the camera angle; what we like and what doesn’t look quite right. Sometimes, what might look fine when you’re in a room may not translate well in an image so, we rearrange the furniture; moving pieces, removing some or adding some from within the room (but which were out of shot) or even from a different room, until they give me the look I want

Click on the image below to read about how we rearranged furniture and introduced a writing desk and nursing chair to complete this family room and make it look more cohesive in The Granville Hotel Waterford

and how through mostly rearranging the furniture in this seating area of the Fleet Street Hotel, we gave it a cosier feel

Photo Styling at The Granville Hotel: Furniture Re- Arrangement for a More Cohesive Look

By Photo Stylist Naomi Dunleavy

I loved the family bedroom (image below) in The Granville Hotel but when I looked over the snapshots I’d taken on our recky (pre-shoot visit to a hotel) I didn’t like the layout of the seating, particularly the couch which looked ‘leggy’. I also felt that there was too much of a void in the middle of the room which divided the room in two

By rearranging the furniture that was already in shot and adding some other pieces from the hotel, the relaxation, working and sleeping areas were clearly defined but the dynamics of the room was changed so that they now integrated well, giving the room a cohesive and more welcoming feel  

We pulled the coffee table closer into shot to eliminate the void in the middle of the room and moved the couch over to the left of the image. I purposely didn’t get it all in shot as this would have made the room look too cluttered

We tried placing the two chairs opposite the couch but that made the bookshelf just sort of hang there out on its own. I thought that by putting a writing desk (which was originally in the entrance to the room) under the bookshelf, it would integrate it more into the room.  We added a second lamp to the one that was originally on the desk for symmetry and to add to the formality of the writing desk. I finished the look by borrowing a beautiful Victorian nursing chair I had spotted earlier, from one of the corridors in the hotel. Ok the chair isn’t technically right as it’s a little lower than it should be but it was a perfect colour match and complimented the traditional style of the room  

I love the new layout and would definitely book this room. I think that the overall look is now more cohesive and the room looks more inviting and complete. I’m always a little nervous though about a client’s reaction when we rearrange their furniture so I was relieved and a little flattered when Richard, the general manager told us that the owners have decided to keep the furniture arranged just as we left it!

From Hotel Photo Styling:  Furniture Arrangement

Click on the image below to read how through mostly rearranging the furniture in this Reception seating area of the Fleet Street Hotel, we gave it cosier feel

Photo Styling at The Fleet Street Hotel: Furniture Re- Arrangement for a Cosier Look and Feel

By Photo Stylist Naomi Dunleavy

David had photographed seating area of the Fleet Street Hotel a few years ago. Their marketing manager asked us back to photograph the room but this time they wanted us to style the room for a cosier feel

The seating area is in the middle of an open-plan L shaped room with the reception area to the bottom left and another seating/drinks area to the right. The furniture is arranged in a formation to allow for a smooth flow from the reception to the drinks cabinet (top left) and drinks area (right) but I’d always felt that the seating area looked very sparse on camera. So, even before David locked down his camera, I knew I wanted to bring the furniture closer together and arrange it around the fireplace for a more communal look

After he locked down the camera and showed me the image on the laptop, I also decided to remove the drinks cabinet from the room (as it was just too prominent and we were also photographing the separate seating/drinking area in which I knew it would sit better) and replace it with a plant from the hallway for a softer look (I have it propped up on a box for added height)

The new look (see image below) was mostly created just through furniture re-arrangement. The only furniture we added was the mint chair, the small glass coffee table (in front of the window) and the two lamps and these were all borrowed from other areas in the L shaped room, so staying true to the room

We placed the two navy couches opposite each other, either side of the fireplace and the pink chairs side by side, facing the fireplace. Positioning seating furniture no more than arms length from a coffee table but far enough away to comfortably walk between the two makes practical sense and gives a cosy look  

I have a thing for lamps. I much prefer the dim light they project to the harshness of an overhead light. So, I use them whenever I can in sitting-rooms. In a traditional style room you would position the lamps, either side of or behind each couch but because this room has a boutique style, I felt they had more impact positioned on top of the silver stools that were already either side of the fireplace. The lamps were borrowed from the drinks area. See in our final image that you can only see the reflection of the overhead light whereas in the ‘Before’ image it was a lot more dominant

We replaced the square wooden coffee table in front of the window with a circular glass one from the drinks area as it complimented the larger round one in the centre of the room and the glass meant it wasn’t too solid looking in the room. We also introduced two mint coloured chairs from the dinks area (left one is in shot) and positioned them either side of the small coffee table

I tied the two curtain tiebacks together to make one larger one; this allowed the curtain to hang more fully and add warmth to the window. I also pulled back the right curtain completely out of shot. Doing this, as well as not showing the right mint chair in front of the window and, only partially showing the right pink chair, all subtly indicate that the room is larger than what the viewer sees. This is something we do quite a lot as I feel it has a lasting effect on the viewers, drawing them in like the “to be continued” caption in a TV series teasing you to come back for more

From Hotel Photo Styling:  Furniture Arrangement

More images from Fleet Street Hotel Photo Shoot

Click on the image below to read about how we rearranged furniture and introduced a writing desk and nursing chair to complete this family room and make it look more cohesive in The Granville Hotel Waterford

Steve Davis

I was commissioned to photograph Steve on a set of a TV promotion. As a kid growing up, I remember watching him at the peek of his career. In the 1980s, Steve won the more professional titles that any other player, including; 6 world championships, he was world number one for seven years, was the first player to complete snookers Triple Crown in 1988 and he received an MBE in 1998 and an OBE in 2001

On a personal level, it was quite a trill to photograph this true sporting legend. Steve was a pleasure to work with and a very funny guy.

I wanted to shoot a classic portrait that everyone would recognise as Steve but also shoot something a bit different with moody lighting, below are the results.

 www.davidcantwellphotography.com

Bowens Ringlite Converter Shoot

I recently purchased a new ring flash, The Bowens Ringlite Converter. I was asked to shoot some lifestyle images for a client and I had a certain look in mind that required a ring flash. I wanted a paparazzi look to the images. Below is the flash and camera setup and some shots of the shoot.

The Results

I have attached colour and B/W of  off the shoot. You will see the effect of the ring flash. The shot in the car also had 500 Bowens Heads on either side of the car lighting the drivers seat and the back of the male model. For the door image, I used ring flash on the models and 500 head to light the car interior. 

 

A week later, I photographed Alan Pan Estee Lauder International Makeup Artist. I used the Ringlite Converter again on this portrait, Im loving the effect.

www.davidcantwellphoography.com

Build Your Own Sandbags

I have been shooting out doors with the Bowens Travel Packs lately and have been looking online for sandbags, I found this "Make your own" tutorial by Dale Murray Photography .
I love finding stuff like this

http://dale-murray.com/DIY/sandbags/sandbags.pdf

David Shing on the big Cull of "Friends"

I was photographing a conference this week for IAB an irish company proving , promoting and protecting the Irish online advertising industry.

They had David Shing from AOL as the main speaker .


Below is an article from the Guardian Newspaper in the UK. This will give you an idea of what David's views are with regards to the future of social media and businesses. Very interesting

Of course I didn't miss the opportunity to Photograph David. I set up some lights in the room next to the conference so I could shoot a portrait of him .

David Shing, the man who helps figure out future trends for AOL, is fed up with Facebook and Twitter.

In fact he has told his bosses that de-friending and unfollowing are going to be the next big thing as users realise that the increasing "noise" on social networks is counterproductive.

"The web is so overwhelming, so then it becomes underwhelming [because] it's so hard to find anything," he says.

He believes the new challenge for both individuals and marketers trying to promote their brands using social networks is to stop adding to the noise.

"If I have 2,000 friends on Facebook or Twitter, how do I work out which one will actually pick me up in the airport? Social tools can help us but then also hinder us, they dehumanise what we do. We need to make the web more human. It needs to enrich your offline life."

Shing,believes new F8 applications on Facebook that enable users to automatically share music tracks, video or even newspaper articles could be counterproductive and encourage far too much clutter.

"I don't want people to know that I still listen to Dolly Parton," said Shing. "I want to be more in control of my digital footprint, not less. I'm no longer 11 years old so I'm not in a popularity contest."

For the record Shing is 41 and has only 700 followers on Twitter and a similar number of friends on Facebook. He doesn't tweet much because he's still trying to figure out its value.

"Facebook is about your real friends and Twitter is about who you would like to be friends. For example I am friends with Yoko Ono on Twitter and she's tweeted me back, but that's it, she's not really a friend.

"People are going to start defriending people who constantly tweet and post on Facebook with rubbish info," he said.

Similarly for brands, he said it's very dangerous for companies to get involved on social networks unless they can guarantee a meaningful conversation. "If I invite a brand into my home, there better be a good reason for them to come in."

Shing, who spent three years in London heading AOL Europe's marketing before moving to New York to be its "digital prophet", believes the future is all about the "attention economy" – a world in which content is valuable enough to dwell on and more likely to be curated by friends than pushed by "in-your-face advertisers".

Or as Joe Fernandez from Klout.com – a kind of page ranking service for people – put it: "The web has shifted from being page-centric to people-centric."

He believes companies also need to get back to basics and treat early adopters more seriously. "We need to focus on them and look after them. If you don't they are going to go somewhere else as we saw with the bum rush from MySpace."