Exterior Design Photography in Frankfurt & Beyond
Hotels, properties and new builds from outside: in daylight, at the blue hour with the facade lit, and from the air where a flight is cleared.
Which light carries an exterior image, and why location, surroundings and time of day matter more than the camera.
The Art of the Exterior
Architectural and exterior photography for hospitality, real estate and construction – from the ground and, where cleared, from the air.
A building does not look the same at every hour. I photograph when the light is on the right side, and come back at dusk, when the facade lighting is on.
An exterior includes whatever stands around the house: the driveway, the planting, the neighbors. So position and focal length are decided on site, not at a desk.
Where the Building Stands
Exterior work happens on location — around Frankfurt, elsewhere in Germany, and wherever a project leads. The appointment follows the sun and the weather, because neither can be staged after the fact. For one building that often means arriving twice: once in the morning, once at dusk.
Hotel, Property, Construction
Three clients, three readings of the same picture: hospitality shows the arrival, a property portal shows layout and location, a builder shows the finished work. I ask what the pictures are for before the shoot and choose the position, the height and the hour from that answer.
From the Air
Some buildings only explain themselves from above: the grounds as a whole, the path down to the water, the distance to the neighbors. As an EASA- and LBA-certified drone pilot I fly where a flight is cleared. Where it is not, a panorama covers the same width from the ground.
A selection of the buildings I have photographed from outside, and a film about it.
Featured Hotels
Escape in Style
Kempinski Hotel Soma Bay combines European service with Egyptian hospitality on the Red Sea coast. The carefully chosen decoration gave me the feeling of being part of Egyptian history as I explored the resort.
Replacing the sky, even where it is difficult
When editing property and hotel images, replacing the sky can do a great deal for the overall impression. Sky replacement is the process of changing or exchanging the entire sky in a picture. A bright blue sky lifts the mood of whoever is looking at it, noticeably.
Aerial trailer
Filmed from above, a guest sees angles on your hotel or resort they would never come across otherwise. Set to the right music, that makes for advertising that feels current.
In the social media era guests are flooded with striking photos and videos, and what they expect has moved with it. The images and films a hotel shows are a large part of how people decide where to stay and where to spend their holiday.
Panorama photography
A technique that takes photographs in several rows and grows them together into one picture. The angle of the lens does not decide anything here and can be chosen freely. A panorama gives a wider field of view, and carries its detail all the way across.
Ras al Khaimah – The Frankfurter Travel – Waldorf Astoria
A look inside my hotel photography work
Hotels have very different briefs to meet. What the imagery has to do depends on who the house is for: where business and conference guests are the audience, the visual language stays clear and bright, while for holiday guests the mood and the lighting are softer and more emotional.
Radisson Blu – Stuttgart
Hotel Rose – Rüdesheim
Calista Luxury Resort (drone)
Hotel & Restaurant Zwei Mohren
Altdeutsche Weinstube
MASEVEN Munich Messe Dornach
Park Hyatt Zurich
Villa Ilias Santorini
Kempinski Hotel Bahía
The Westin Dublin Hotel
Kivotos Santorini Hotel
Anantara Villa Padierna Palace Benahavís Marbella
Kempinski Soma Bay Hotel
The Fontenay Hamburg Hotel
Breidenbacher Hof, a Capella Hotel
Excelsior Hotel Ernst Trailer
HENRI Hotels – Hamburg
A-ROSA Travemünde – hotel photography
Hotel Clement Heidesheim
Atlantic Hotel Wilhelmshaven
AMERON Berlin ABION Spreebogen Waterside
Atlantic Grand Hotel Travemünde
ATLANTIC Hotel Sail City
Hilton Berlin – hotel photography
Grandhotel Hessischer Hof Frankfurt
Couva Boarding House – Frankfurt
Hilton Cologne – hotel photography
Steigenberger Hotel Cologne
Hotel Zoe Berlin – hotel photography
Landscape Teaser
An exclusive glimpse into the world of landscape and exterior photography by Patrick Schmetzer
Work from the catalog
See all projects
Property – indoor
Interior & Architectural Showcase
Ecos Office Center
Office Architecture & Business
Flamingo Restaurant – Interior
Restaurant Design & Interior
Sebastian Herkner – ONE FORTY WEST
Design & Architecture
Construction project
Architecture & Construction
Arztpraxis
Medical Office Interior
Property – Frankfurt – An der Welle
Luxury Architecture Frankfurt
Von Poll property (Oestrich-Winkel)
Real Estate Architecture
Property exteriors, Rhine-Main region
Real Estate & Architecture
SenSaSion Bar interior photography
Bar & Lounge Interior
Thurn und Taxis Palais Frankfurt
Historical Palace & Events
Architecture photography questions
- The architecture of a building from outside — for hospitality, real estate and construction projects. The surroundings too, because considered landscaping carries the effect of the building with it.
- Yes. Exterior work uses daylight and whatever is there after dark: moonlight, street lamps and the building’s own lighting.
- The sky can be replaced in post — "sky replacement". A clear sky lifts the overall impression noticeably, and the technique holds up in difficult places such as roof edges and trees.
- Both. Drone photography can be selected as an extra on the real estate and hotel inquiries — I am an EASA and LBA certified drone pilot, trained by Lufthansa Technik. Panoramas are built from several rows of frames that grow together into one image with a wider field of view.
- You set that on the inquiry: number of properties, number of rooms, and pictures wanted per room. HDR and a high-gloss finish can be added.
- Property portals, website, print, social media, or resale to third parties — the intended use is a required field on the inquiry, so it is settled before the shoot.
- The whole Rhine-Main region, working out of Rüsselsheim am Main: Frankfurt am Main, Eschborn, Kronberg im Taunus, Wiesbaden, Mainz and Darmstadt are close by, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Idstein or Bingen am Rhein sit further out. Properties outside the region as well — beyond 250 kilometers an overnight stay is added.
More questions answered on the FAQ page.
Planning something like this?
Tell me which building it is about and what the pictures are for. Open points we settle by phone or email, and then you get an offer. Scope and price are fixed before I first stand in front of the building. The inquiry itself commits you to nothing.
A session starts at 250 euro plus VAT. What lies above that is decided by the scope. How pricing works
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Free guide
Pictures That Get Booked
Photo & video for hotels and restaurants
Planning the shoot, preparing rooms and team, and using the pictures so that they bring in bookings.
55 pages · PDF · In English · free