Photograph Your Airbnb Experience

High-quality photos play an essential role in helping your story and potential guests get excited about booking your experience. This guide is meant to help you take and select images that best showcase your experience.

Getting started

1

Ask a friend to help

Ask a friend to help you photograph your experience in order to gather new photos.
2

Host an “experience”

Host a pretend experience. Recruit friends to act as guests during the activity.
3

Submit 15-20 photos

Submit 15-20 images based on this guide. The more options the better!

Planning

We recommend photographing new images that showcasing the entire Experience. Below are some ways you can prepare before photographing. Ask a creative friend to help you take pictures, so you can focus on hosting the experience during the photoshoot.
Surf instructor high-fives two students on the beach with their surfboards after a successful session.

Guests

Invite 2-4 friends to pose as guests for the photoshoot. Ensure that all participants approve of being photographed for your listing page.
Person in red shirt and black hat holding a fish while standing in a lake with trees and mountains in the background.

Wardrobe

Wear something relevant for the experience. Solid colors tend to bring a vibrant energy to photos. Always avoid branding, logos, and heavy patterns.
Man in yellow shirt standing with mountain bike on rocky terrain under clear blue sky.

Lighting

Consider the weather and time of day that makes the most sense to host your activity. Select a time of day when the light is optimal for the space.
Interior of a cozy, rustic room with wooden furniture, shelves, and a kitchen area, emphasizing a welcoming and serene atmosphere.

Location

Select one or two of the most visually appealing locations to represent your experience. Get approval to photograph at any/all locations.

Variety is key

Images from multiple vantage points and distances can help tell a more dynamic story, so be sure to photograph multiple perspectives. This will provide you with a range of images to choose from, and helps weave the story together. Try to capture images focused on the action and the people, across the following themes:
A Host standing in a modern industrial kitchen with brick and cement walls.
Host portrait
4-5 images
A group of people participating in a cooking class, with various ingredients and kitchen tools laid out on the table.
Activity
5-6 images
Close-up of a dark chocolate bar with various toppings including dried apricots, nuts, and berries
Close-ups
4-5 images
Interior of a bright, spacious coffee shop with two women talking behind the counter and various coffee products displayed in the foreground.
Location
2-4 images

Activity

The activity photo should convey all the essential information that a potential guest needs to fully grasp the nature of the experience. This image plays a crucial role in illustrating what one can expect during the activity, effectively capturing its essence and engaging their interest.

Host portraits

Provide 4-5 images of yourself in front of 3 different simple backgrounds. A compelling portrait should feel friendly, approachable, and authentic. Position yourself at the center of the frame, with your shoulders square to the camera, looking directly into the lens. Relax your body and share a warm smile. If there’s more than one host, capture images of you all together and individually.

Close-ups

Get a little close to the action. Place the subject/action at the center of the frame, with space surrounding it. Isolate hands, tools, processes, and moments on clean backgrounds. Capture the finished product if the activity results in one.
Shoe making
Close-up of a person painting a piece of leather with a small brush.
Person applying glue to the sole of a handmade shoe with a brush.
Colorful spools of thread in various shades, including red, yellow, blue, and green, neatly arranged on a wall-mounted rack.
Handcrafted leather sandals on a workbench with tools in the background.
City tour
Close-up view of the ornate facade of a historic European building under a clear blue sky.
Close-up of two hands engaging with a tactile map, showing detailed streets and landmarks.
Sign for 'Metro Opera' station against a backdrop of buildings
Close-up photo of a statue. Indicating, how to photograph a close-up of a statue on a city tour.

Location

Capture exterior and interior views from straight-on perspectives. Incorporate images that feature both empty spaces and people. Be sure to get permission to take photos at all locations.
Example of a straight-on composition of an entrance of the exterior of a building.
Exterior entrance
An example of a straight-on composition of the entrance to a restaurant inside a building.
Interior entrance
A cozy cafe with a rustic white brick wall, a wooden bench, a light blue table, and hanging plants above. A person is seated alone, working with a cup of coffee and a water jug on the table.
Interior straight-on
Modern restaurant interior with hanging plants, wooden seating, and light blue tables near large windows.
Interior alternate angle
A strong submission will tell a complete story of your experience from start to finish in 10-20 photos.
Various scenes of a chocolate-making class, including preparing ingredients, pouring chocolate, and packaging finished products.

Minimumrequirements

5 photos 800 x 1200 resolution Center focusedWell-lit, color photo

Rejection reasons

Two people taking a selfie with a red diagonal line across the image, indicating rejection.

Selfies

Avoid selfies, instead ask someone to take a photo for you.
Denim-clad person with a thumbs-up gesture on the left, snack-holding individual on the right, separated by a red diagonal line.

Overtly Posed

Photos should be candid and natural. Avoid hand gestures.
Collage of four photos with a red 'X' marking, showcasing reasons for experience photo rejections: people posing unnaturally, blurred images, irrelevant content, and poor lighting.

Collage

Submit individual images, not a collage of several photos.
Split image with TG Technologies logo and 20% off text overlay on an image of a person looking through a telescope

Text/Logos

No logos or text overlaid on the image. Avoid clothing with logos, branding, etc.
Close-up of a cyclist's torso and arms, with a blurred background. Image in black and white.

Black & white

No black and white filters should be applied.
Silhouettes of two people on a rock at the beach with a vibrant sky, split diagonally by a red line. Image indicating a retouched image with heavy filters applied that would be rejected.

Heavy filters

Photos must be natural color without heavy filters.
Three people wearing winter coats, one person holding a thermos, with a red diagonal line across the image indicating the image is too dark.

Too dark

Select an image that is well lit.
Four people jogging through a historic stone alleyway decorated with string lights, divided by a diagonal red line indicating the image would be rejected due to distortion.

Stretched

Select an image that hasn’t been stretched.
Close-up of a person with blonde hair and sunglasses hugging an elephant's head. The image has a red line across it indicating the image would be rejected.

Animals

Photos of animals in captivity must depict good animal welfare. Avoid direct contact with wild animals.
Person leaning against a tree trunk in nature, wearing a floral shirt and dark jeans. Image is blurry.

Blurry

Select a photo that is in focus and does not have shake/blur.
Two people reaching out to each other across a lake with mountains and a forest in the background. Image is cropped in on an area without enough information. The image has a red line indicating the image would be rejected.

Poor crop

Select images that can be cropped with all the information in the center.
Two groups of people having conversations on a city street, one group includes a person gesturing while talking. Image is tilted.

Tilted

Select images that are not tilted.

Avoid

Irrelevant photos Stock photos A.I. enhanced photosScreenshotsDuplicate photos
Lack of varietyPhotos of unaccompanied minorsFeaturing alcohol consumption in unlicensed locationsPhotos with explicit content: e.g., photos that feature nudity, drugs, etc.
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