What Is Twilight?
Throughout this article, we go into detail about twilight photography, its different styles, and why realtors should be leveraging twilight photos in their listings. (if you use Captivly real estate photography, you are happy to know that every one of our listing photo packages comes with a virtual twilight image. We are here to ensure the realtors that use us stand out from the crowd.) So, before we start digging in, let us take a minute to explain what “Twilight” is.
Twilight is the time of the day right between daytime and nighttime. This is when there is still sunlight, but the sun is just below the horizon. During this time of the day, the city lights start to pop on, and families toss some wood in the fire pit and gather on their patios.
Types Of Twilight Photography
In real estate photography, there are two different types of twilight shoots. The most common is virtual twilight photos, which are captured at any time of the day and then edited to mimic what the property looks like during civil twilight. The second type is traditional twilight real estate photos. This is where the real estate photographer will capture your listing later in the evening during civil twilight, right before the sun is completely down. This allows the photographer to capture the house with interior and exterior lighting. Giving a more inviting and elegant personality to the photos.
Virtual Twilight Photos
Twilight is a very short section of the day, and sometimes it can be challenging to line up schedules with a real estate photographer to make it out to your listing and have good weather during this portion of the day. Not to mention that traditional twilight photography can be costly and has customarily been reserved for higher-end listings.
This is where virtual twilight photography comes into play. This is a style of real estate photography where a photo can be captured throughout the day and is edited to mimic sundown. This will help your listing stand out from all the others by giving it unique characteristics such as:
- Highlighting the appeal of the magic hour
- Enhancing the ambiance of your real estate listing
- Build the perfect light contrast
This inevitably allows professional realtors to promote their listing in a unique way, enhancing the lighting without having to schedule an additional shoot with their photographer to come back at dusk.
What to expect when getting twilight real estate photography
When your real estate photographer is capturing photos for a virtual twilight edit of your listing, the process is rather simple. You can expect almost the exact process you would for regular listing photos.
Your photographer will show up during their scheduled time for the twilight shoot, capture the exterior of your listing, then they will edit the photos to mimic the listing as if it was shot during twilight. Normally delivering the photos with the rest of your listing.
Traditional Twilight Photoshoot
Tradition Twilight photography is when the realtor schedules an appointment with their photographer to visit a listing at dusk to capture their listing during twilight.
There is no doubt that this is hands down the most appealing way to capture your listing, but the downfall is that it can get costly. Considering your photographer will have to come out during the day to capture the entire property with ample light, this requires an additional trip to the listing.
Some of the great benefits of traditional twilight photography:
- Give potential buyers a perspective of the listing at night
- Capture the exterior of the house with the lights on in the house. Portraying a warm and inviting feel.
- Capture the glow of interior lights shining through large windows.
- Highlight landscape lighting, pool lighting, and lit firepits.
- Give your listing more exposure on the MLS and other websites by leveraging a twilight photo as your hero shot.
What to expect when getting a real twilight photo
While this process is still quite simple, there are more moving parts than if you were just to get a virtual twilight.
Here is a list of things that you can expect:
- Your professional photographer will show up about 30 minutes before sunset (giving themselves roughly 15 minutes to get set up).
- You may be asked to remove any solar screens from windows and ensure that the blinds and curtains are open.
- If you haven’t turned on the lights, your photographer will either ask you to turn them on, or they will go through the house to ensure all the lights are on.
The Top 6 Reasons Twilight Photography Will Take Your Listing To The Next Level
Draw In Potential Buyers With Twilight Photoshoots
Add a Premium Touch To All Of Your Real Estate Listings
When you bring twilight real estate photography into your marketing, you will start to bring your listings to life. Regardless if you are pairing your listing with a real virtual twilight photo or just simply a virtual twilight photo, your photos will begin to give off a premium feel. Complementing the colors of the dusk sky with outdoor lighting, you will be able to have potential buyers begin to see the true value of your listing. Even helping justify higher listing prices.
Leverage Real Estate Twilight Photos To Stand Out From The Competition
Sell Your Listing For More, Faster.
We have seen the data multiple times, along with seeing the truth firsthand consistently. Professionally shot listings lead to houses selling quicker and for thousands more than homes that were shot with subpar photos.
Now taking this even further, we talked with a real estate broker who had put twilight photography to the test. They decided to analyze the data when comparing daytime photos to evening photos (both captured by a professional real estate photographer). This is what they found:
“This house was tracking at about 1,000 views in one week with about ten call-ins. Then we changed the photo the next week (nothing else) to a twilight shot. Guess what? Where views normally drop off (because it is considered a stale listing after one week), they picked up by approximately 50% to 1,500 views and 15 call-ins in a week when inquiries traditionally drop off.”
Twilight Real Estate Photos Showcase Features Not Seen During The Day
Do you have a pool with beautiful lighting, a patio with gorgeous Edison lights, or a patio with a magnificent gas fire pit? If so, these are all reasons to make sure you are adding twilight photos to your listing. All of these are things that just can’t be captured during the day but will add an immense amount of value to your listing photos.
Ideally, you are getting real twilight photos to promote the true image of your listing and all of the features that stand out in the evening. Truly promoting the ambiance of your listing. Allowing prospective buyers to paint themselves into the picture as they look at the sunset scene.
Highlight Unique Details
If you are selling a property that has great features or a luxury listing, then you will benefit greatly from professional twilight photography. When you build twilight photos into your listings, you can promote details that cannot be showcased throughout the day. Including lighting down the driveway or on landscapes such as flower gardens and trees.
Leveraging this lighting will allow you to make your listing look as big as it really is. Not to mention if you have a large property or a spectacular view of a lake, capturing a twilight image with a sunset in the background will quickly show how unique your listing is.
When should I not schedule a twilight photo shoot?
Dare I say never. It is always valuable to have twilight images of your listing. Now the caveat here is that sometimes you may want to utilize a daytime photo for your hero shot of the property. For example, if you have a house on the shore of Lake Erie or with ocean views in North Carolina, you may be better off leveraging a daytime shoot for a photo with ample sunlight hitting the water. Or, if you have a house that only has a couple of windows in the front, then the twilight photo won’t be able to promote the warm light coming from the front windows giving you more potential with the daytime photo.
Regardless, just about any home will look better at dusk than it will during the day due to the coloring that comes with twilight. This will help you and your listing stand out from all of the competition and adds an extra layer of elegance that will take your listing from average to extravagant!
So, Do I Really Need To Add Twilight Photography To My Listing?
Now we may be a little biased, but once you understand the value of twilight photography, it is evident that it’s more than worth it. It is essential.
So regardless if your listing has a beautiful outdoor patio, a lit pool, or you are just looking to make your listing stand out from the others, a twilight photo is a perfect addition. If you can justify the cost of a real twilight photo, that is always the best choice, but if you are listing a standard property, a virtual twilight will definitely do. (Another reason why Captivly Real Estate Photography is the premier company for realtors since we include a virtual twilight image in every one of our listing photo packages.)
Frequently Asked Twilight Photography Questions
Can I Get A Virtual Twilight Of Commercial Real Estate?
Captivly provides twilight photography services for both residential and commercial real estate listings. Quite often, when capturing architectural photography, twilight exterior shots will help take your pictures to the next level. Adding in a layer of elegance that can only be achieved with the colors presented at dusk.
Should lights be on in real estate photos?
Can Your Use Drone For Twilight Photography
Do Lower-Priced Listings Deserve as Much Attention as Luxury Listings?
It’s easy to think that higher price listings deserve better and marketing. Naturally we will deduct that a multi-million dollar listing will deserve far more than a first time home that is $180,000. But, that is the wrong way to look at it. You and your clients deserve the best marketing for their – no matter what the value of the property is. Statistically over 95% of home buyers are looking at houses online, and the way that you visually market your listings are one of the most important things to ensure you stand out from the competition.
