Gary is commissioned by golf clubs around the world to undertake complete photo shoots of their golf courses. The resultant images can then be used by the golf course in a variety of ways.

 

The first and arguably most important step is the capturing of images of your golf course.

Objective of the Photo Commission

The overall objective of this part of the process is:

• To capture images of the majority (if not all) golf holes at your golf club
• To capture a number of “signature” shots of the course
• To capture any other images or scenes as the golf club may require

How this is generally achieved

The best way of achieving this is as follows:

• Gary Lisbon would come to the golf club and undertake a shoot for a 4 day (3 night duration).
• Ideal sessions are first thing in the morning and at night also.
• This would allow up to 7 sessions to capture a whole series of course photos.

All images are captured in digital format of sufficient quality to reproduce online, in brochures and on individual shots up to approximately A1 in size.

Larger sizes are possible; however there would be a loss of detail. In short, the quality would cover most applications (except large, full wall size landscapes).

Equipment used is professional Canon Digital SLR cameras and L-Series lenses. Images would be supplied on DVD as well as in a presentation folder with thumbnail images.

Benefits of using Gary Lisbon and GOLFSelect

Gary Lisbon works closely with GOLFSelect, Australia’s leading Corporate Golf and Golf Holiday company. The GOLFSelect business contains a number of areas – each designed to complement each other. The production of photos for your golf course would ensure it is further exposed to the high net worth individuals who play in golf days that GOLFSelect organise.

GOLFSelect would include your golf course images on its Corporate Golf and Holiday website (over 200,000 page impressions per month) to promote your golf course in a positive manner.

The weekly wallpaper image is downloaded by over 11,000 people from around the world each week and is a powerful awareness tool for your golf course.

Your golf course would also be included on the Australian Golf Course Screensaver on CD for no additional charge (worldwide distribution) giving further exposure to the golf course.

Timing

Timing is a key factor. The quality of the images captured depends on two main variables:

• Course condition (the better the course condition the higher quality the resultant images)
• Likely weather (which is not controllable however can be monitored) If these two variables are considered and times determined around them then the quality of the images captured will be higher and you will be more satisfied with the resultant images.

Proposed Photo Shoot Timings

The timings are open to discussion however the two best times for taking photos are first thing in the morning and prior to sunset.

Accordingly the following is a generally accepted itinerary to ensure the maximum number of quality photo sessions in the minimum amount of time.

• Day 1: Arrive early afternoon, Photo session in evening
• Days 2-4: Photo session in morning
• Days 2-4: editing of images during the day
• Days 2-4: Photo session in evening (and fly back on day 4)
• This itinerary allows for seven photo sessions and will help to offset any bad weather which may occur.

What if the weather is bad?

Weather is one variable that we cannot control (it would be nice if we could). The ideal setting for capturing of quality golf course photos of your course involves the following:

• Sunshine with no heavy cloud cover and clear skies with no haze The two primary factors which adversely affect the taking of images are heavy cloud cover and rain. When there is a complete cover of cloud this prevents the richness of colors presenting themselves.
• Scattered clouds can be good as they provide an additional point of interest in the sky level of the photographs however complete cloud cover is a golf course photographer’s nightmare.

So what if I arrive at your course and the weather is awful?

It is worth nothing because bad weather does happen. I generally try and work with the golf club to arrange another time to come back and take photographs when the weather is likely to be better.

In this situation there would be no additional photo commission charge for this other than any out of pocket expenses incurred as a result of the ill-fated photo shoot. This would generally mean airfares, car hire, accommodation and meals.

What can the golf course do with the images?

This is a commonly asked question by golf clubs and the answer is really quite simple:

The images can be used by the golf club in any capacity to promote the golf course with a few key exceptions:

• The images cannot be used for the purpose of resale. If it is the desire of the club to print photos for resale then Gary Lisbon can provide printed copies of images at very reasonable wholesale prices.
• The images cannot be licensed to other companies to promote products other than the golf club (ie. selling an image of the course to promote the latest motorised cart)
• The underlying copyright of the images remains with Gary Lisbon (GOLFSelect) however can be used as per above.

A useful website to understand why the copyright remains with Gary Lisbon is www.copyright4clients.com.

Gary Lisbon (GOLFSelect) would also retain the right to use these photographs in relation to the golf course. At all times these would showcase the golf course in a positive way.

The End Result

The end result of a successful photo shoot is the capturing of a series of images of your golf course which can be used by yourself in a wide variety of ways.

After the photo shoot has ended a large amount of post capture editing time is needed back in our studio. The digital age is wonderful in that you can see results as you take the photos however it also means many more photos are taken. These photos need to be categorized, sorted, discarded where necessary and refined to end up with a final set of images to be presented to you.

The end resultant photos are burned to high quality DVD, supplemented with a printed catalogue of all images and filenames and provided to the golf course in a protective folder.

Investment

Images of your golf course have the ability to powerfully portray your most important asset – your golf course. Accordingly an investment is required to capture these images.

This investment, which will pay itself back many times over, is not a great as you may think and is quoted on an individual basis.

Next Steps

If you are interested in Gary Lisbon undertaking a photo shoot then we would be delighted to receive your enquiry. Click here to contact us.