Photographing Your Expertise

Great photography is crucial to showcasing your professional offerings and helping potential guests understand, and trust your expertise. This guide will help you take pictures that communicate your expertise and make it enticing to guests.
A close up of a hosts hand applying white eye shadow makeup to a guests face.

Before the photoshoot

Plan

To ensure a successful photoshoot, it’s essential to meticulously plan the key elements involved. Begin by outlining all the offerings that will be available to guests, as these should be prominently featured. If you intend to collaborate with a friend as your photographer, take the time to coordinate in advance, ensuring they are aware of the crucial moments and intricate details you want to capture. Here are several important considerations to keep in mind during your planning:
Close-up of a barber using clippers and a comb to trim a man's short hair.

Get help

Ask friends/family to participate in your photoshoot both as guests, and one to help photograph.
Chef in a white uniform slicing a piece of raw meat on a cutting board in a professional kitchen.

Wardrobe

Wear something authentic and appropriate based on your offerings. Always avoid heavy patterns & logos.
Close-up of a person tying the laces on their black running shoes while sitting on concrete steps.

Lighting

Consider the weather and time of day that makes the most sense to host your offering. The more light available at the location, the better.
Interior of a cozy, rustic room with wooden furniture, shelves, and a kitchen area, emphasizing a welcoming and serene atmosphere.

Location

The location should be authentic to where the activity will take place. For the best outcome, photograph near windows, and avoid cluttered or busy space/backgrounds.

Guiding principles

When photographing and selecting photos of your offerings, the images should feel authentic, providing a premium but accurate representation of what you offer. You can provide both horizontal and vertical frames that include ample space surrounding the central subject, since the final images may be cropped in a square format in the center as seen below:
Person in a brown apron preparing toast with tomatoes and a dollop of cheese on a kitchen counter.
High quality, color images, may signal to guests that you offer a high quality service.
A hand picking up dried orange herbs from a silver bowl, surrounded by baskets full of other spices.
Place the subject/focus in the very center of the frame. This will help make it easier to quickly read the image.
Overhead view of two bowls of spaghetti with tomato sauce, a glass of red wine, and grated cheese on a blue and white tablecloth.
Include images from multiple angles: straight on, from the side, from above, etc. This will provide variety.

Selecting the best photos

Cover photo

Introduce the offerings with a beautiful image that captures its essence in a clear, elegant way. The subject matter should be a realistic representation of your offerings. Capture a variety of compositions within a wide horizontal orientation. In some instances we’ll crop in tight on the final version, so we need ample space to work with.
A beautifully presented dish of tomato slices with herbs on a white plate, placed on a rustic wooden table alongside a small potted plant and dried herbs, with a hand pouring water from a kettle in the background.
What to submit
Position the subject near the center of the frame, to create a clear, easily readable image that captures the viewer’s attention instantly.
Close-up of a plate with tomato slices topped with herbs, set on a rustic wooden table with a pot of fresh green herbs and a metal kettle pouring liquid.
The final image
A successful cover photo will be a wide horizontal shot with a clean, uncluttered background to ensure a clear and visually engaging composition.

Profile photo

The profile photo informs potential guests of who you are, and signals warmth, professionalism, and reliability. The final photo may be cropped into a tight circle, and feature only your head, face, and neck. For this reason, a strong portrait will feature you facing the camera, making eye contact, with a warm and friendly expression. Ideal locations include spots near windows or shaded outdoor areas, where the background remains simple and uncluttered, allowing the viewer to focus on you.
A person in a white shirt photographed indoors with a simple background.
A professional profile photo showing a person with long blonde hair, wearing a white top with floral patterns, standing in front of a wooden and glass door background.
Profile photo of a person with short black hair, wearing a red shirt, with a neutral background, cropped into a circular frame.
Close-up profile picture of a person with long dark hair, set against a blue tiled wall background.

Offering photos

Photos of your offerings show potential guests exactly what they can purchase. Prepare your offerings so that they are photo-ready. This will be a main selling point on your page, so you’ll want to focus on fine-tuning the final presentation. These photos should focus on the what the offering is. If you need someone featured in the photos, be sure to coordinate with a friend to participate during the photoshoot. Below are some successful examples:Beauty
Close-up of a stylist cutting brown hair with scissors and a comb.
Offering 1: Haircut
Back view of a woman with long, perfectly styled blonde hair cascading down her back, showcasing a beauty offering.
Offering 2: Highlights and coloring
A hair stylist working on a client's hair, showcasing a beauty service in a salon environment.
Offering 3: Formal updos
Fitness
Person lying on a massage table having their leg stretched by a fitness trainer in a clinic room with anatomical charts on the wall.
Offering 1: Alignments
A man in red shorts and blue shirt holds a medicine ball on a vibration plate machine while a host supervises in gym.
Offering 2: Strength training
Person in a gym doing rope exercises, wearing blue shirt and red shorts, with kettlebells and dumbbells in the background
Offering 3: HIIT workout
Food
A white plate filled with a gourmet dish consisting of roasted vegetables and braised meat, garnished with fresh herbs, placed on a wooden table next to a fork and knife.
Offering 1: Main course
A dish of ravioli topped with cheese shavings and sage leaves, served with a glass of white wine.
Offering 2: Homemade pasta
Orange sorbet served inside a hollowed-out orange, garnished with a leaf, in a silver cup on a wooden table.
Offering 3: Desserts

Gallery photos

Potential guests will be able to view a collection of additional images that showcase your process, professionalism, expertise, personality, and style. The photographer may include your setup, process, tools, environment, and behind-the-scenes work that highlight what makes your service unique, interesting, or desirable. They include things like:
Close-up of chef's hand adding final touches to a plate, emphasizing attention to detail and professionalism in food presentation.
Expertise in action
Top-down view of a kitchen setup with a cutting board and knife, freshly sliced blood oranges, and bowls of endive and blood orange slices.
Tools, equipment, and details
Rustic table setting showing fresh salad with orange slices, mint leaves, and chopped nuts in two bowls, complemented by vintage scissors.
Offering conclusion

What to submit

In order to publish your listing page, you will need to provide images for the following. Keep in mind that the more images you submit, the more variety we have to work with:
Close-up of a barber trimming a client's beard, with a detailed graffiti-style mural on the wall behind them.
Cover photo
5 images
Man in a light blue striped shirt featuring green and blue artwork, posing against a simple background.
Profile photo
3-5 images
A set of professional hair cutting scissors and comb neatly arranged in a beige case, placed on a wooden surface.
Offering photos
5-7 images
Close-up of a person trimming another person's beard with an electric razor in a barber shop.
Gallery photos
5-10 images

Things to avoid

The profile photo informs potential guests of who you are, and signals warmth, professionalism, and reliability. The final photo may be cropped into a tight circle, and feature only your head, face, and neck. For this reason, a strong portrait will feature you facing the camera, making eye contact, with a warm and friendly expression. Ideal locations include spots near windows or shaded outdoor areas, where the background remains simple and uncluttered, allowing the viewer to focus on you.
Person applying makeup to another person indoors, emphasizing the importance of a warm and professional profile photo for potential Airbnb guests
Staged or inauthentic
Avoid images that feel artificially posed.
A person in gym attire sitting on a bench near a barbell, the gym is dimly lit with minimal background distractions.
Harsh lighting/dark imagery
Avoid harsh camera flashes and dark, moody environments.
Massage in progress with hands pressing on a back, separated by a pink diagonal line.
Abstract details
Ensure images convey clear scenes by avoiding excessive close-ups.
A top-down view of a table filled with various Korean dishes, including grilled fish, kimchi, and soups, divided diagonally by a pink line.
Clutter/busy compositions
Avoid overly busy or complex settings.
Three individuals taking a selfie near a parked car under a tree; highlights the importance of simple, uncluttered backgrounds.
Selfies
Avoid selfies. Instead, ask someone to take photos for you.
Man in denim jacket giving thumbs up and holding food in a cone, standing in front of a building with a group of people.
Overtly posed images
Photos should be candid and natural. Avoid hand gestures.
People conversing outdoors, one person holding a phone displaying a booking screen, and two individuals sitting in a car.
Collage
Submit individual images, not a collage of several photos.
Outdoor scene with person using a telescope, TG Technologies logo, and 20% off promotion.
Text and logos
No logos or text can be overlaid on the image.
Image in black and white of a person in a white t-shirt and black helmet, outdoors with a blurred background. A red diagonal line across the image suggests it is not a suitable profile photo.
Black and white
No black and white filters should be applied.
Heavy retouching filter applied to an image of silhouettes of four individuals on a rocky shore, with a vibrant sky and ocean waves at sunset, split by a red line.
Heavy filters
Photos must be natural color without heavy filters.
An image showing an example of what a stretched image looks like.
Stretch and distorted
Select an image that hasn’t been stretched.
Example of low resolution image.
Blurry or low resolution
Select a photo that is in focus and does not have shake/blur.
The content of this page is proprietary and confidential information of Airbnb and shall not be used, disclosed or reproduced, in whole or in part, for any purpose without the prior written consent of Airbnb.Questions? 
media-ops-production@airbnb.com