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 achieved

The best way of achieving this is as follows: Gary Lisbon would come to the golf club and undertake a shoot for typically 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 with professional Canon Digital cameras in digital format of sufficient quality to reproduce online, in brochures and on individual shots up to approximately A1 in size.

Aerial photography and videography is captured using a DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone - capable of producing 4K video and 20 megapixel still images.

Timings

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, citing of images, photo session in evening

This itinerary allows for seven photo sessions and will help to offset any bad weather which may occur.

Adverse Weather

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 the light is greatly flattened resulting in unattractive, colourless images.

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 the weather is awful during the shoot?

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.

How can we use the images

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  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.

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. At the conclusion of the shoot a final series of images are provided in high resolution both online and on a USB for the golf club to keep.

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. Gary offers a wide range of packages designed to meet your specific needs. At a basic level the shoot might comprise of a series of "on the ground images".

A complete package would consist of on the ground images, aerial images of each hole, video flyovers of each hole and a compilation video put to music which can be used for marketing purposes.

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 having Gary conduct a photo shoot of your course then we would be delighted to receive your enquiry.

Click here to contact Gary or give our office a call on +61-3-9563-6776 or +61-418-465-337.