How should I prepare my property?

Clear the surfaces, open the blinds, switch on every lamp and make the beds the way a guest would find them. The full room-by-room list is in my guide to getting your property ready for a shoot.

Can you shoot at sunset?

Yes. I plan the day so the exterior and the main rooms get the last hour of daylight.

Holiday let photography that books

15yrs

Nick Gray. Ex Hennessy and Porsche.

Nick Gray, property photographer, at golden hour

Holiday let photography

I run 24 holiday lets

I run 24 holiday lets across Northern Ireland. I see the booking data every week, so I know which photograph gets the click and which one gets scrolled past. That’s what I shoot for.

The first five photos

On my own listings, the first five photographs do most of the work. A guest sees them in the search results and the top of the gallery, and decides there whether to keep looking.

I shoot every holiday let with that order in mind: the cover, the main living space, the best bedroom, the setting, and the one detail people will remember.

Golden hour and the setting

A holiday let is sold on how it feels to arrive. I time the exterior and the main rooms for the last hour of daylight, when the light comes in low and warm, and I shoot the setting too: the lake, the coast, the garden, the walk to the door.

Light sells. I’ve spent fifteen years learning where to find it.

The details guests book for

Guests book the hot tub, the view from the bed, the fire lit on a cold evening and the bed itself. Those get their own frames, shot close and in good light, so each one can carry the listing on its own.

Film for Reels

I shoot film on the same visit as the stills and grade them together. You get a walkthrough for the listing and short vertical cuts for Reels and stories.

Ready for Airbnb and Booking.com

Files are delivered at sizes that suit Airbnb and Booking.com, landscape for the gallery, with the key images checked for how each platform crops them.

I run 24 holiday lets. I know which photograph gets the booking.

The Lakeside Huts

Northern IrelandArchitectureTimberSunriseGolden hour

Timber cladding, green panelling, an oak worktop and a butler sink. Two shepherd’s huts and a plywood cabin on a private lake, shot at sunrise and at golden hour so the timber and the water read together.

Shepherd’s hut door open onto a lake and wooden hot tub in late afternoon sun, Northern Ireland

Timber shepherd’s hut with hot tub and jetty on a private lake in evening sun, Northern Ireland

Green panelled shepherd’s hut kitchen with oak worktop, butler sink and woodburner, soft daylight

Valais Blacknose sheep looking in through a cabin door in late afternoon light, Northern Ireland

Plywood cabin bedroom with a picture window over the lake, afternoon light

The House

Bushmills, North CoastInteriorsGolden hourPhotographyFilm

Plantation shutters, herringbone oak, tan leather and a stone lamp. I shot the room in the last hour of daylight, when the sun comes low through the shutters and rakes across the grain of the floor. Stills and film share one grade.

Bushmills living room at golden hour, low sun through plantation shutters across a herringbone floor

Bushmills living room looking towards a glass staircase, evening sun striping the floor

Two glasses of red wine and a cheese board on a coffee table in a Bushmills living room, warm evening light

Leather sofa and stone lamp between shuttered windows as the sun sets, Bushmills

Tan leather sofa, linen cushion and stone lamp in raking golden-hour light, Bushmills

Walkthrough

Questions

Before you book

01
How should I prepare my property?
Clear the surfaces, open the blinds, switch on every lamp and make the beds the way a guest would find them. The full room-by-room list is in my guide to getting your property ready for a shoot.
02
Can you shoot at sunset?
Yes. I plan the day so the exterior and the main rooms get the last hour of daylight.