Taking photos is easy, getting it right is a little more challenging. If you, a tour operator, want to provide your guests with the best souvenir of their experience and charge for it, you need to follow PicThrive’s Five Fundamentals for great tour and activity photos.

5 Fundamentals of tour photos - picthrive

1) Take Group Photos

Take a group photo either before, during or after the tour and activity. If there are constraints, at minimum capture a group shot before the activity.

Make sure that families, couples and friends have their own individual photos rather than taking a large group photo of everyone in the tour. They want to remember the experience of their tour. You can even have them take a photo standing around your company’s banner, showing off your brand.

 

2) Capture moments your guests can’t

It’s simple, capture moments that your guests can’t and you will be providing a premium product. You know your course better than anyone else. You know where to get the iconic photos of the experience and showcase the joy that the guest is experiencing that’s going to enhance their memory.

Tight shots of the guest participating in the best parts of the experience. Take scenics showcasing the beauty of the experience, wildlife, shots clearly showing the guest in the foreground with a beautiful background etc. Ensure the guest can see their faces.

Anything that your guest can’t capture and most importantly the fun, memorable parts of the experience. Take advantage of our Souvenir Photos feature to add outstanding iconic photos that you have previously taken.

 

3) Provide photos from more than one location

Do not take photos from only one location. Guests want to remember the whole trip, not just a small fraction of it.

When you take photos from just one location you run into a few risk factors. All the photos look the same, not all the guests will be in the photo and people can look ugly or scared in the photo even though they loved the trip.

Unfortunately, guests are less likely to buy photos if these factors exist, and if they do, it may only be one.

If you are unable to capture more of the experience, make sure you take advantage of our Souvenir Photos feature that can add preshot photos to any album. This will add additional value and help a guest remember and share more of the experience.

 

4) Use a real camera and lens

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Your guests all have smartphones and a really good at using it for photos. Smartphone are great cameras, but they are not action cameras. People will be too far out of the frame and they won’t be able to see their faces. They cannot capture the peak of the experience. Real cameras, properly capture the moment in the best way possible.

A guest will not view the product being sold from a smartphone as quality. A smartphone photo is not a real photo – ask any photographer. The difference in photo quality between a real camera and a smartphone is night and day. If you want to provide the best way for a guest to remember the experience do not insult them by using a smartphone. They could easily take the same photo and wouldn’t need to pay for it.

The colors, focus and detail are significantly better with a real camera and lens. It’s that simple. Your guests can easily tell.

 

5) Make photos part of the experience

Photos add to the tour and activity, they provide a way for the guest to remember and share it with friends and family. So make the photo experience special and part of the tour.  These aren’t just photos, they are lifetime memories shared between families, couples and friends. They are once in a lifetime moments that they will never have again. So help your guests capture them.

Make sure that the guests know from start to finish that their unbelievable experience has been captured. Prepare them to for the photos by making jokes, for example and suggest that people smile or do something fun. The photographer should be made part of the experience, making it fun and exciting.

At the end of the experience, remind guests that they can view and purchase their photos immediately after their tour. By having photos built into the entire experience and your guests will be happier and so will you.

 

About PicThrive

PicThrive is the leading photo sales and marketing platform for tour and activity operators. It makes photos easy, mobile & more profitable for tour operators.

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