A couple of weeks ago we were down in Cozumel, MX helping the Coral Princess with some images for their Facebook and web campaigns. It was a challenging assignment. I was asked to photograph everything from food to a rock n’ roll band. These are the assignments where you skills are tested and you grow as a photographer. I said I would write up a couple tips for everyone once we got back. So as promised, here they are.

Make a plan and stick to it: It seems obvious, but you want to be punctual. Have a scheduling meeting planned before you arrive. At the planning meeting sit down and define a shot schedule. Once you have the images defined, determine the image requirements and timing. Once you have your schedule defined stick to it. Also, if you are on an extended assignment, check in with your contact on a daily basis. I normally email a few proofs along with the plan for the next day.

Focus on details: The folks that decorate hotels, put a lot of time and energy in to making everything just right. They craft little spaces where guests can hang out, chat, read, or in my case process photos. Find these little spaces, isolate them from the surroundings, and give them the focus that was intended.

Share the world around: Hotels, at least the ones that people vacation at, are places where people stay. They usually aren’t the reason people go. Another goal you should have is to share the surrounding beauty. These images will help to make the case for visiting. The best way to to do this is schedule activities for yourself and take your gear along, or at least a subset of it, wherever you go.

If you have to, make something from nothing: I was asked to photograph the band that plays at the hotel every week. The band was set up on the patio in front of the gift shop. One heck of a band, but not the best scene for interesting images. Here you really have to work for your images. To add the interest I wanted, I used the pop flash on my D700. I set the flash, as well as the exposure, to manual. I then set the flash mode to ‘rear-sync’ so that it fired at the end of the exposure. My shutter speed was low enough that I could pan a bit, which gave a nice and exciting blurred background, and then the flash fired at the end of the pan freezing the action.

Big beds: Beds should be big and inviting, not small and standoffish. To do this, you get down low and close to it. Also, I tried really hard to line the balcony rail up with the horizon. I did pretty darn good!

Pay attention: Be aware of your surroundings. Whether you coordinate closely with the staff, or you just happen to see something going on, be ready for anything. During this assignment, the hotel was hosting several weddings as well as a congressional budget meeting. These were prefect opportunities to extend the project.

Get to know folks: I was lucky, I have had a long relationship with many of the staff at the Coral Princess. However, it is important to get to know the people at the hotel. Not only is it a good practice to be kind and respectful, these folks are your co-workers. The better you know the staff, the less hurdles you will run in to. If you do run in to a hurdle, guys like Pedro will fix it.