Secrets to AMAZING Airbnb Photography: A Step-by-Step Guide

My Lightroom Preset Pack - Included is Amazing BOOST! for Airbnb Photography and Commercial Photography: bit.ly/3zNNOdr
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In this video I am giving away my secret sauce to amazing Airbnb photography! If this style of content is your jam; Please Subscribe: bit.ly/3Bypg9L
Chapters:
00:00 What you'll get out of this video
00:45 Why someone needs professional Airbnb Photography
02:02 What makes Airbnb Photography different to Real Estate Photography
02:44 What camera gear do you need
04:29 How to take wide shots
06:49 How to take detail shots
08:20 Lighting techniques
08:52 HDR Photography
10:06 How to edit Airbnb Photos
11:10 Outro - Thanks for watching!
Thank you for watching the full video! What tip did you appreciate the most? Let me know in the comments below.
If you have a property in Adelaide, Australia and are looking for Airbnb property management I can highly recommend these guys, they are amazing! bit.ly/3CQt2ey
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#airbnbphotography #airbnb #airbnbtips #airbnbexperience #photography

[@jemlang]

What was your fave tip from my step-by-step guide? Have you had any challenges with shooting Airbnb Photography?

[@chryscanariona]

Amazing!!! Thank you!!!

[@66Property]

Thank you. Great refresher on airbnb photography! To the point as well. 👏🏽

[@jemlang]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching and commenting 🙏

[@neslisultan]

That was so good!! Thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@susulaga]

great video, really helpful !

[@LeeshaMcGuiness]

Love the tip on camera positioning ❤ I didn’t think about that! Great video 🤩

[@Vic-du2xx]

Great video! Learn’t a ton

[@katelyngraber1658]

This is the most valuable photography video I have found. Thank so much!

[@antonyvc1]

Terrific introduction, thank you.

[@utenuscheler1612]

Could you show in detail how you edit the photos? I can't seem to get great editing results.

[@jemlang]

For sure. Got one in the works. Hopefully will have it finished in the next couple of weeks.

[@utenuscheler1612]

@@jemlang Wow so excited :D

[@lf3554]

This is a detailed video subbed!

[@jemlang]

Thanks mate. Got a few more videos in the works about this.

[@LivingwithLeesh]

This is by far your best video!! Anyone watching this will immediately level up their photography 🤩 #proud

[@jemlang]

Thanks Leesh. Been working on this one for a while. Thanks for all your support x

[@NathanGodwin]

Really lovely video to watch and great tips mate

[@jemlang]

Thanks for watching mate. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@astronutties]

Great video, you make those properties look alive!

[@jemlang]

Thanks Astro. Hopefully other people will be able to do the same with the tips I’ve given in this video. Thanks for commenting and your support

[@TimothyBennett]

Great video, thank you.

[@jemlang]

You are welcome! 🙏

[@KenierMoore]

i love you , what a great video omg man. Great explanation, i hope your channel grows a lot

[@jemlang]

I love you too @KenierMoore! Thanks for the comment and feedback.

[@MrsNeanderthal]

Brilliant video Jem. The key stoning, spirit level and bracketing tips were really helpful, thanks.

[@jemlang]

Thanks @mrsneanderthal glad those tips helped

[@ernestogonzalez6175]

You are a game changer, thanks for sharing!

[@jemlang]

😊

[@editors_life]

Great Advice Jem!

[@jemlang]

Thanks mate. I've been enjoying your videos as well. We're both on our way to joining the YPP.

[@editors_life]

@@jemlang Thanks Jem! Glad you're enjoying them also!

[@sighauser407]

Nice vid m8

[@jemlang]

Thanks @sighauser407! Appreciate you watching and commenting. Cheers

[@dnikoloska89]

what is acceptable ISO for this kind of photography?

[@alejandroperezsacco2346]

Hello. Thanks for your video. In my personal case, Airbnb specifically asks me to take three takes for each photograph with the bracketing technique. I upload the dng files to the platform and they edit them in their own way. They also specifically ask me not to use flash in the captures.

[@jemlang]

Hi Alejandro. Thanks for watching and commenting. It's interesting that they have those specific requirements which are quite different to interior and real estate photography. This video is directed towards direct bookings with clients. This way photos can be used on multiple short term rental platforms including Airbnb. Also to note, I deal directly with clients, not with Airbnb.

[@MichaelCTruth]

Do they ask you to use 3 brackets 2 stops apart on all the images? Can you send me the photo guide from airbnb?

[@wolfiemedia]

Great video :) May I ask - you prefer to do your own bracket shots on a tripod, but how many do you take? One in and one out it sounds like - is that enough? Also, you flash through the bit I'm really interested in, the bit where you export to PS as layers and (somehow) brush one layer to the next. Could you make a video on that? That would be awesome! Subbed :)

[@jemlang]

Thanks mate :) WIth the bracket shots I tend to take in total 3-4 depending on the scenario. For a normal interior shot with a window pull I will take one with the flash for the internal, then take the window shots with the flash off speeding up the shutter each time and will take 2-3 shots. I keep an eye on the meter for the exposure while adjusting the shutter (which is set to Multi on my Sony camera). For the internal I tend to go for +0.3. Then the window shots I step it down from -0.3 to -0.7 to -1.3 to -1.7 for example. It really depends on how sunny the day is and how different the exposure is for the outside to inside. When doing the edit I will most of the time use the shot that was taken around -0.7 for the external shot combined with the internal shot. But I take the extra ones just incase I need them which I do sometimes. It is always better to have them than not have them and if the highlights are completely blown it's harder to recover them. If it is for a balcony shot or a shot from an undercover courtyard I will just take 2. One for the internal shot then one for the sky/gardens. That is a great idea. Reason why I didn't spend a lot of time on it is because it can be quite detailed and didn't want to overload people with all the info in this video. Thanks for the sub and your comment mate :)

[@wolfiemedia]

Oh wow, @@jemlang aren’t you a nice guy! Cheers for the detailed reply 👌🏻 I’m just starting with real estate and I currently use LRC, blend 3 exposures and then mask the windows manually and adjust that mask “as a layer”. I like the results, but blinds, especially Venetian ones are a complete nightmare and take forever. That’s why I was looking around KZbin to find out how to do it in PS with layers, then you made it look soooooo easy ha ha. I was hoping to keep it all in LRC for a simpler workflow (and I don’t know PS either). Guess I’ll have to give it a try this afternoon 😁 Have a great day mate 😎

[@jemlang]

Yeah I found that as well with LRC. It does an 'ok' job but I get better results in PS. Blinds are a pain but are a bit easier in PS. Exporting to PS from LRC does add extra steps but once you get in the rhythm it works really well and the results are worth it. I'll have a look at doing a video about the window pulls in the next couple of days. Yeah give it a go. Good luck!!

[@alinateodorovici8393]

Hello! Can you please tell me if details shots can be shoot only vertically or for booking for example, it has to be shot orizontally? Thank you very much

[@jemlang]

Detail shots on Airbnb's platform can be in either horizontal or vertical. Their layout will accomodate for both. Vertical does look good on the app and is my preference for detail shots. Booking.com does do both as well, but their recommendation is to shoot horizontal.

[@JamesLima]

Thanks for the video! Here is a question I didn't see covered. Do you always shoot horizontal? If I use the airbnb app, vertical photos get more space, just like instagram, for example. Or do people favor booking using laptops, where horizontal pictures would get more exposure? Thanks!

[@jemlang]

Awesome question! For the wide shots I just shoot horizontal. For the detailed/lifestyle shots I mainly shoot in vertical, sometimes a couple horizontal. Over the years Airbnb have been improving how photos appear for both app and website so horizontal and vertical shots look good.

[@JamesLima]

@@jemlang perfect! Thanks so much for the answer, your work looks amazing! Cheers from Brazil!

[@beckhobson]

Nice video mate! How do you find hosts who are wanting professional photos? Do you just message them through Airbnb?

[@jemlang]

Great question! I get most of my bookings through short term rental property managers and word of mouth. I also get a small number of enquiries come from my website. I have found cold messaging hosts on Airbnb to not work. Not everyone sees the value in having professional photography to help their listing which is fine. It is better to put the energy and focus into owners and managers who do value professional photos.

[@LuckyInLondon]

Hey Jem. Random question, but where did you get that rubber-looking diffusor dome for your Godox? Cheers! ~ Frank

[@jemlang]

Hey Frank. That is the MagSphere from MagMod. It attaches onto the flash with the MagGrip using magnets. They have a couple of different kits you can get with different diffusers and modifiers. Been using it for years and highly recommend.

[@LuckyInLondon]

Thank you Jem! @@jemlang

[@max801]

Thanks for the tips. Do you have any suggestions about pricing Airbnb photography?

[@jemlang]

Hey Max. My pleasure. Sure do. With Airbnb photography being more involved than Real Estate photography you can charge more than an RE shoot. The other thing to note is the amount of value the professional photos give to the owner of the Airbnb. They bring in more bookings & listing views so they get more revenue by investing in the photos. Occasionally an owner won’t see the value in the shoot and expect the pricing to be lower as they are comparing to RE photography. So it’s up to me or the Airbnb manager to sell the value. However from my experience the clients that don’t see the value are the ones that are the hardest to work with. So it doesn’t bother me if they don’t go ahead. For rates I charge depending on the size of the property and location. I have different rates for apartments and houses then depends on the number of bedrooms for those properties. I also ask clients if there are any unique features that would add to the time and editing for the shoot. If it’s more than an hours drive I change travel as that’s time I can’t be earning from other shoots. Hope this helps. If need any further advice feel free to ask.

[@max801]

@@jemlang thanks for the reply. Do I need to go through Airbnb or is it possible to contact directly the host?

[@jemlang]

@@max801 you don’t need to use Airbnb. You can offer your services directly to clients.

[@max801]

@@jemlang thank you very much

[@Landscapetherapyproject77]

Hi Jem, what an amazing content, mate. I´m starting as an Airbnb photographer in Brazil and I have a doubt. I heard the photos must be sent in raw format. If that`s true, no edition is allowed? What about the bracket photos? Do I have to send them separately? I know, too many questions, but I`m lost. Thanks in advance!

[@jemlang]

Hey that's awesome! With Airbnb photography it depends on if you are working directly for Airbnb or if you have booked the clients off the platform yourself. If it is directly through Airbnb then they will provide you a brief of what is required for their photos. If it is a direct booking with a client then you can provide the edited photos as JPG to the client and they will upload them to their listing.

[@Landscapetherapyproject77]

@@jemlang I'm working directly to Airbnb, but they take an eternity to answer my questions. I just don't know what to do with the bracketing photos. Do you think they will edit it? Sorry for taking your precious time 😕

[@jemlang]

From what I have read they use AI to edit them together so would need the bracket shots unedited.

[@Landscapetherapyproject77]

@@jemlang you helped me sooo much. Thanks a lot, Jem 🙏

[@Landscapetherapyproject77]

@@jemlang Hey, Jem. My first two jobs were approved. You were right about AI editing photos. I sent all photos in raw, including the braketing separately and they accepted. Thanks for your help, once more.

[@LumenSeeker]

When you are exporting the images are they in DNG format? If so can you show how to edit in photoshop then convert to DNG?

[@jemlang]

I edit using Lightroom and export them as JPG. If I need to edit them in Photoshop I will do the initial adjustments in Lightroom then send the image through Lightroom to Photoshop. "Right click image, Edit In>Edit in Photoshop or if multiple exposures are selected, Edit In>Open as Layers in Photoshop. Then when finished in Photoshop just save the image which will then open it back up in Lightroom. Then I will export the final edited images as JPG's. Hope this helps.

[@TheSamoura88]

This helped so much! I do have one issue that I'm struggling with. When I have natural light coming through the living room windows it hits the bottom half of the wall and there's a serious two tone effect happening that I can't seem to get rid of even in post, unless I raise the brightness too high. Or green towels in the bathroom creating blotches of green tint reflecting along the walls. Help!?

[@jemlang]

Glad was able to help. Couple of things you could do with those situations. You could do a double exposure/bracket shot and mask the harsh light. This is something I do sometimes with skylights. Or you could really lean into it and emphasise that hard light. In some cases it can look really good. It will depend on the property and if it matches the style. You can take creative liberty with these things. And if you get it wrong, as long as it doesn't look terrible, you can take what you have learnt and try it differently for the next shoot. With the green towels, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If the reflection is meant to be there then that is ok.

[@TheSamoura88]

@@jemlang Thank you for the advice! I think I might be overthinking it a bit. Something clicked when you said creative liberty, Thanks again

[@jemlang]

Awesome!!! I totally get it. Glad was able to help out mate. Good luck with the edits ;)

[@calebenson2543]

Great video! How do you go about getting Airbnb clients?

[@jemlang]

Hi Cale thanks for watching and commenting. I get most of my bookings from my website. I have a dedicated page for Airbnb Photography with good SEO. So when someone searches Google for "Airbnb Photography 'town/city'" my page is the first one that comes up. It's also good to get in with a Short Term Rental Property Manager. That way you get repeat business through them. Also word of mouth helps a lot. If you are new to Airbnb Photography, you could reach out to some listings that post on Instagram and offer to photograph their place for free in exchange for a night or 2 night stay if their photos could be better. I have found directly messaging owners on their listings on Airbnb doesn't work. Hope this helps!

[@calebenson2543]

@@jemlang appreciate that insight! Do you do your SEO yourself or outsource that? Any tips on getting to the top for searches is appreciated!

[@jemlang]

I have done my SEO myself. For my portfolio website I use Wix which has good SEO options built-in. So haven't needed to outsource it. If you are doing it yourself, my suggestion is to fill out EVERY field there is to give Google as much information possible for indexing. If you are using Wordpress, Yoast is a good plugin from what I have seen and you may need to setup an account with Google Search Console.

[@shanemartinphoto2974]

How do you go about getting airbnb clients? since its hard to get ahold of the actual owner

[@jemlang]

Having a great website with SEO helps. With keywords such as 'Airbnb Photography' and adding your local town/city. It's also good to get in with short term property managers. This takes half of the work out of looking for new clients as they will be an ongoing repeat client.

[@SlamDrunk1]

My clients have problems with the setting of exportations for airbnb.

[@jemlang]

Are you able to provide more details?

[@cephotographyuk]

Looks like their requirements have changed. Seems they just want a bracketed .dng file now and they do the processing? Can you confirm? Thanks 😊

[@jemlang]

For shoots that have been booked directly from Airbnb that is correct. They use AI to combine them.

[@werito82]

Are you doing a single shot or bracketed?

[@jemlang]

For the lifestyle shots they are a single exposure. For the wide shots, when there are windows and require HDR/window pulls in the editing I will do multiple exposures. I do this manually just out of habit but would be ok to do bracketed.

[@charliee123lol]

mate, fucking good vide

[@FlagnarBoobz]

What in the fuck is "navel" height lol

[@jemlang]

🍊😂

[@acidtears]

how do you get creases out of bed sheets? 🥲

[@jemlang]

If it is before shooting the room, using an iron or a steamer can help get them out. I normally suggest this to clients before the shoot. If it is after you have taken the photo, Photoshop can to a degree. Using the heal tool.

[@acidtears]

@@jemlang Yeah, sadly the client did not take good care of ironing the sheets beforehand and I did not even anticipate this being an issue.. I've been trying to use the heal tool and low & high frequency Gaussian blur to a. reduce the overall wrinkles and b. target individual wrinkles but the results look awful. However, it's my first attempt at using PS in this way so plenty to learn still. It was my first shoot of an AirBnB ever and I learned a lot! Really wish I'd have watched your video a few days prior, not 2 hours before ahaha Thanks for the advice & reply! Loving the Amazing BOOST pre-set :) Used it as a baseline for my own pre-set.

[@jemlang]

That is unfortunate. I would put this down to a learning opportunity. I will help out on the day of the shoot where I can but will draw the line if the client hasn't put in the effort for the shoot. I've had one client who barely tucked in the sheets on the bed and it really showed in the photos. But because they didn't put in the effort I just shot it as I see it as their responsibility. There are a couple of tools you can try in PS. You could lasso the area and use generative fill, or the removal too, or use the healing tool, or patch tool, or clone tool. If they don't work then may have to leave it. Congrats on the shoot. Hope this is the start of many to come for you. And absolutely awesome you are loving the Amazing Boost! preset. :)

[@acidtears]

@@jemlang Thank you so much for your insight. As a relatively new photographer (2 years) I'm sometimes scared to tell clients "off". But seeing as this was ultimately their responsibility, I do see how I have the right to say "Sorry, but this task exceeded my expectations. I will deliver the photos as is." Although, then my fear tends to kick in, and I start to think that it's my fault for inadequately assessing expectations. I genuinely do see this as a learning opportunity now and started to use my drawing tablet that has been gathering dust, for the first time in Photoshop in a professional photography context :) Although the results leave plenty to be desired, I'm making leaps in progress & increasing my own knowledge drastically. The way I figure: if I can deal with wrinkly sheets, I'll be able to tackle ANY face which throws itself in front of my camera 🤗 I am not a big proponent of using AI in the arts, but for retouching jobs I think there is a big opportunity to implement AI-assisted brush tools, to more accurately create texture brushes based on context. Because to manually keep resampling areas, without even knowing if that area is the best area to sample in that context is tedious to say the least. Really hoping the right people are still working at Adobe and if not - I'm looking forward to the new generation of software designers for photo editing :) All the best!

[@jemlang]

Once you get a few more of these shoots under your belt it will help build your confidence. Which is great to be able to push back on clients when necessary. From my experience, 99% of shoots go really well. Its the 1% where things can go better where that confidence will help to deal with those situations. What I have found works best is setting realistic expectations and where I can, I'll exceed them. For example if a client requests something with the edit like removing dead patches of grass I'll say "I can't promise, but I will try" Then when I can do it they really appreciate that I went to the effort, but worst case if I can't then it has set that expectation. With AI, my view is that it is ok for doing touch ups on Airbnb & Real Estate photos. If it is removing the camera from reflections on tiles or mirrors, or a dead leaf on a plant or a crease on bed linen. It is has actually made it so much easier to do this compared to before. Where I don't think it is good is when things are unrealistically changed like adding a pool where there is no pool or furniture is completely different or a main tree is removed for example. I'm currently working on a video on my editing process for these photos which will include window pulls. If this of interest keep an eye on my channel for the video. Thanks for sharing your experience and glad my video and preset was able to help. All the best with the future shoots.