A-Z Handbook: How To Make The Best Twilight Real Estate Photography

Twilight Real Estate Photography is a viral key in promoting agents’ real estate listings. Housing statistics reveal that up to 70% of the potential buyers decided to invest their money after viewing the lists. However, processing a perfect twilight photo is unlikely to be achieved by many photographers. Therefore, the handbook today will dive into the pivotal notices that people should know to master this shot.

What Does Twilight Real Estate Photography Mean?

First and foremost, in real estate photography, twilight photography is defined as a specific photography style where exterior shots of the property are captured in the twilight moments (typically after sunset or before sunrise). While most daylight photography aims at showcasing fully all the detail of the building; with a dreamy sky, the purpose of the twilight one is to engrave a glowing impression on the viewer, which may play a decisive role when viewers are still up in the air. 

What Is The Best Time To Shoot?

As aforementioned, the perfect time to shoot twilight real estate photography is at dusk or dawn, which is often referred to as the “golden time” because it only lasts from 5 minutes to less than 1 hour. 

Due to the tight time, Twilight photographers are expected to be clever enough to envision how they want the final result to look, and foresee all possible natural effects. The below will suggest the main outcome that radically changes due to uncontrollable factors.

a, If the sun is starting to touch the horizon then it is likely that the refracted color in your photo will be orange. Yet, suppose it is already under, the result will be a peach fuzz cloud, together with a purple-pink sky, or a pink-blue one.

b. Results will also be affected by local light sources. For example, if the property is photographed in a city, streetlights can cause light contamination. 

Since the natural light is diversified within every second when the sun goes down, photographers should be ready to make twilight photography settings on point before the sun starts sinking. On the other hand, this proves that besides talent and experience, luck is also the deciding factor in the photo.

How To Do Twilight Real Estate Photography?

After understanding the introduction to Twilight Photography, surely lots of people are eager to know how to process this shot at the best quality. Let’s explore below. 

What Should Be In Preparation Before Taking Twilight Real Estate Photography?

a. Ask the house owners, or real estate agents to prepare the following tasks in advance.

– Let all interior, exterior, and landscape turn on at the ẹnoyable level. In case a light source is too harsh, it should be replaced with a more pleasing intensity. And, remember to keep the light color in consistency.

– Remove any objects that cover the window. Window plays a determining part in delivering the glowing beauty of the building.

– Decoration or any furniture placement should be ready in advance.

b. Bring the right gears along the way.

– In an attempt to optimize the efficiency, keeping the camera frame stable by putting the body on a tripod, and using a remote control to fire your shot is a must. These tools are the greatest helpers in preventing any handshake, the culprit for causing damaged photos. An alternative is to take advantage of the timer mode if the camera has one. 

– A flashlight or a headlamp are also indispensable tools when taking twilight real estate photography. Because the shooting time is in the evening, when the light is quite low, it is common to adjust the light using assistive devices.

What Camera Settings Are Best For Twilight Photography?

Due to the limited processing time available, photographers must ensure accuracy when capturing twilight photos. Here’s a guide to optimizing camera settings for twilight real estate photography:

a. Manual Mode: Switch your camera to manual mode (“M”) for greater control over lighting, and turn the RAW setting. This mode allows for flexibility in adjusting settings.

b. ISO: Aim for an ISO of 250-320 to minimize noise in the photos. Avoid using excessively high ISO settings.

c. Aperture: Use the normal aperture setting for real estate photography, typically around f/8 or f/11 to ensure that everything in the frame remains sharply focused, meeting the quality standards desired by realtors.

d. Shutter Speed: For twilight real estate photography, where most subjects are stationary, a shutter speed ranging between 1/100s and 1/250s is usually sufficient. However, if the property is located in a busy urban area with traffic, consider using a faster shutter speed to capture motion effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it worth it to do a twilight shot?

After the instruction above, everyone comes to realize that twilight is one of the most troublesome techniques in the photography world. Hence, the charge may not be worth the payoff for the photographers who have already rushed off their feet. 

However, twilight real estate photography is a wonderful marketing strategy for any property. The dreamy look breathes a new stunning life into the online listing, which makes the viewers can’t take their eyes off it.  Thus, it would be such a waste not to have this service in the catalog. 

How to overcome this challenge? – People can use virtual twilight photo editing as a solution.

How To Enhance Twilight Real Estate Photography? – Virtual Twilight Photos

When the result lives up to the expectation, photographers can employ digital editing software (Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.) to renew the twilight appearance, which is called Virtual Twilight. Some places call it Day-to-Dusk Conversion, or Virtual Dusk. This real estate photography editing technique was invented due to the tacky time requestment of Twilight Real Estate Photography. 

Unlike traditional one which requires photos to be taken within a certain time limit, virtual twilight allows photographers to resemble the twilight effect despite the time originally taken. In fact, with the help of editing programs, photographers are no longer bound by a specific shot. They can divide their job into different time zones, which provides greater flexibility, and efficiency. 

On the other hand, there are two shortcomings of these techniques. One problem is that editors should have twilight sky photos in advance to replace the original sky, whereas the second one is about the high skill to turn on the light naturally. Nevertheless, both of these are cleared out easily with the help of real estate photography editing services which are in increasing demand.

Read more: What to do when the partners rise real estate photo editing pricing

In Conclusion

Twilight Real Estate Photography requires much dedication to succeed. However, with the advance of technology, photographers can genuinely refurbish the twilight look, and continuously reach high-end customers. Particularly, once you point at shooting extravagant houses, dusk photography will likely allow you a solid competitive advantage.