You’ve won the listing and are preparing the home to sell. As you set up your marketing plan and hire real estate vendors, knowing the best time to schedule a photo shoot ensures you receive high-quality images and marketing materials.
The timing of your real estate photography shoot includes the best time of day for real estate photos and the best time in the pre-marketing process. Keep reading to learn more about real estate photos for your listing.
What is the best time to take real estate photos?
The best time to take real estate photos primarily depends on the position of the sun, the weather, and how you want to market your listing.
While post-production allows more leniency in photoshoot timing, photographers capture the best real estate images when the sun’s position is behind the camera or during twilight hours right after the sun sets.
Consider the home’s front-facing orientation
As mentioned, photographers must work with the sun, especially for the front exterior images. Real estate photographers capture the best outdoor photos when the sun is directly behind them; you’re left with harsh shadows and dull colors when the home obscures the sun’s position.
Before scheduling a photoshoot, determine which direction your listing faces. If you aren’t sure, your photography provider can suggest the best time to schedule a shoot.
Here’s when you should book a photographer based on a home’s orientation:
- North-facing properties: 10am-2pm
- East-facing properties: Morning
- South-facing properties: Early morning, evening
- West-facing properties: Afternoon, evening
You can quickly determine the home’s orientation by pulling up the address on Google Maps. Without manipulating the map, north is the top of the screen, east is the right, and so on.
Highlight features with twilight photos
Most listings look great with the sun positioned behind the real estate photographer. However, twilight photography (30 minutes after sunset) can further boost a listing’s visual marketing strategy.
Twilight images, captured between sunset and dusk, emphasize a listing’s unique features. Consider scheduling a twilight photoshoot if your listing has an outdoor entertainment space, a pool/jacuzzi, city skyline views, or professional landscaping with exterior lighting.
Additionally, interior twilights are a fantastic option if your listing offers soft lighting, eye-catching fixtures, and cozy spaces.
Luxury agents often hire professional real estate photographers to capture daylight and twilight images. That way, prospective buyers see the property’s appearance throughout the day.
Best time for real estate photography
You must prepare the property for the listing photoshoot, open house, and showings during the pre-marketing process.
As for the photo shoot, there are several necessary steps to ready your listing before you schedule. Below are a few tips to help your listing look its best for the professional photographer to work their magic.
Declutter the space
A cluttered space doesn’t photograph well. Decluttering is the most crucial step in preparing for stellar listing photos.
Potential buyers want to see a home’s true potential, not sock mountain in the corner of the primary suite. As you guide your sellers through the pre-listing process, walk through the house and note what items should be out of sight.
You can show your sellers examples of clutter-free listing images to help them gauge what they can toss/store.
Wipe down the surfaces
After the homeowners declutter, encourage a standard cleaning. Dusty baseboards won’t appear in real estate images, but crusty countertops will. Additionally, make sure the windows are clean with minimal to no streaks.
De-personalize and stage
Once the home is decluttered and clean, remind your clients to depersonalize the rooms. Remove any family images, cards, notes, or drawings from the refrigerator and other areas of the home.
While leaving up framed family pictures is fine, the seller may prefer not to have photos of their family posted along with their home address.
If the homeowner wants to remove family images, consider staging the empty walls with framed abstract art pieces. You can hire a professional stager to help decorate the home or use items from your own staging inventory.
On that note, collecting some staple pieces you can lend to your listings for the real estate photoshoot is a good idea.
Spruce up the curb appeal
The front exterior image is usually the first photo potential buyers see. A well-maintained facade can capture attention and encourage viewers to click through the rest of the listing’s pictures. Similar to decluttering, do a walkabout with your sellers to determine what landscaping tasks create the most impact.
Sprucing up the curb appeal can be as simple as mowing the grass and laying fresh mulch. Ask the homeowners to temporarily remove flags, vehicles, holiday decorations, and toys before the photographer arrives.
High-quality real estate photos
While scheduling the best time to take photos is crucial, you must use a photographer who consistently provides high-quality real estate photos. Both marketing consistency and quality are key for your real estate business to succeed.
Once you find a professional photography provider you love, consider them your business partner for all your listings.
Use Virtuance as your one-stop-shop
Virtuance offers high-quality real estate photography services and more. By partnering with Virtuance, you elevate your real estate brand with images proven to sell listings faster and for more money than the competition.
Virtuance is your one-stop-shop for real estate visual marketing services, offering enhancements and add-ons like blue sky guarantee, aerial photography and video, floor plans, and single listing websites.
Schedule your listing photoshoot with Virtuance today!
