Needless to say, the pictures in your listing are the most important tool for getting more bookings. The angle of the lens you use will affect the perception that travellers get of your place. Here is a comparison of pictures of the same rooms using lenses with different angles.
- “Standard” Lens: Most point-and-shoot cameras come with “standard” lenses. Taking photos of rooms with those lenses tends to be difficult, given that they will only cover a section of the room. You will have to take several pictures of the room for travellers to grasp its setup. The room may end up feeling smaller than it actually is. These lenses, however, may be great for showcasing details of a room, as it is the case of the basin below.
- Wide-Angle Lens: Wide-angle lenses are great for taking pictures of rooms. Each picture will showcase most of the details of the room. They also provide a better sense of the size of the room. Wide-angle lenses are becoming more affordable by the day. In fact, many point-and-shoot cameras below USD200 already include them.
- Fish-Eye Lens: These are my favorite lenses for rooms. You can showcase all of the details of one room in just one picture. Travellers will feel confident that you are not hiding anything from them. Given the “surreal” feeling of these pics, I recommend combining them with pics taken with wide-angle lens. That way travellers won’t feel that your property is as a Dali sculpture. Fish-eye lenses are expensive, though. You usually need to buy the camera body and the lenses separately.
Here is a comparison of pictures of the same room taken with different lenses.
Picture taken with standard lens (Zuiko 28mm)
Picture taken with wide-angle lens (Zuiko 14mm)
Picture taken with fish-eye lens (Zuiko 8mm)
Picture taken with standard lens (Zuiko 28mm)
Picture taken with wide-angle lens (Zuiko 14mm)
Picture taken with fish-eye lens (Zuiko 8mm)
P.S. I happen to the be the lucky owner of a fish-eye lens. If you live in New York City and you want to take fish-eye pics of your room(s), let me know. I can pass by, meet you in person, and take some pics for you in exchange for orange juice and cookies.
Alexander is LetMeGo's co-founder and jefe. Here is his LetMeGo 
Interesting information Alex, thank you!
Now I get what everybody means when they say our photo’s don’t do our place justice……Thank you for demonstrating rather than just preaching about better photo’s! Now I just need to find someone with the wide angle lens to get me some better pics for the 2010/2011 season ;D
I have been experimenting with Microsoft ICE and Photosynth (both for free) and get some very nice results. Just have a look at my living room: http://www.roqueperlic.com/uk/defaulttest.htm
You can easely include the picture in your own web site. Did not try it yet with Letmego.
It looks great! We will experiment with it, for sure
I have been saying from day one I need some fish-eye shots. It is so tough to capture the feel of the room in the standard mode. Great pics. I wish you were in California, I'd trade B&B for fish-eye pics. Just about to totally revamp my site and if I hear one more person tell me my pics don't do it justice I will scream!
We drove through Cambria a few years ago as part of a Pacific Highway road trip. I would do it again! If I am close to Cambria in the near future, I will let you know
Unfortunately my standard digital can't be fitted with a different lens. I'll have to buy a different camera to suit, or pay someone to do this, because the fish-eye lens shots are amazing.
The fish-eye lens pics are great, can you come to Champagne, France and take some pics of our rooms???? I'll let you stay for free of course!!!
Hahaha. Thank you! I will let you know whenever I travel to France next time
With most simple camera it is possible to do panoramic photos. I sometimes use this tecnique in rooms with few space. I take 2 photos and stitch them together with software program. I use program that came with my Canon camera.
On our Holiday apartment home page and in photo gallery you can see few such photos. (http://www.casa-alpina.si/en)
Even more useful are VR Panoramas. which give you a sense of moving in space. I'm new in this and my first steps can be seen on ( http://www.bovec.org/en/photo-gallery/vr-panorama... ) This could be also a good idea (and something new) for photos of rooms.
Thanks a lot for the idea Simon!