A picture is worth a thousand words…let your pictures do the talking
If I had to pick one way for you to stand out from the crowd, it would be the inclusion of twilight images in your listing. Period, full stop. Please, run this experiment: look through all the newest listings on Airbnb or VRBO and take notice of which listings actually make you stop. Not just create interest, but grab your eye and MAKE YOU STOP.
In all likelihood, the images that really grab you are twilight images; pictures shot in that fleeting light between when the sun goes down and when the stars come out. These are not the easiest or fastest images to make, but when they work, they work better than anything else you can do in photography. If you want to get noticed, you want a twilight image.
Commercial Twilight Image Photography
If you think twilights work well for the MLS, you should see how they work for commercial properties! Whether you want to show off your business, or an Airbnb or VRBO (yes, this is a business!), a twilight is your ace-in-the-hole.
In today’s world, your website is your business, and how you present yourself online is saying something not just about how you want to be viewed, but also about how you view yourself. You can get by with good images…. but what would it say about you if you had an image on your main page that took people’s breath away? What about a giant image of your main building behind the receptionist’s desk? That one image can say more to a client than just about anything else you can do.
For our commercial clients, we go far and away over what we do for MLS. We get you not just “a” sunset, but “the” sunset…. guaranteed! We remove all the distractions for an image- things like telephone poles, cars, and other buildings. We make the image about YOU. This is what we call a Hero image- it is the image that says who you are!
Why Is It So Expensive?
A good twilight is crafted. How long does the sunset last? A fleeting 15-20 minutes max. At this time we have to nail a number of exposures.
Unlike some photographers, we do not fake sunsets. It can be done digitally and will be less expensive...AND everyone will be able to tell. Many fake twilights give you the feeling that something is just not right - like something is off. Do you want your potential client to look at your listing and feel that something is "off”? No. So we do everything for real, with actual light.
A twilight image - a good one! - is not just a matter of pointing the camera, waiting for the sunset, and pushing a button. A good twilight will combine exposures from the sky, the home, the home’s interior, lights, the grounds, and many other differing components. These different facets all peak at different times…. which means that the camera is stuck there, immobile, until I get the components I need to make the final image.
One twilight image will take 30-45 minutes or more to shoot. And if you have ever seen me shoot a twilight, you know I am running between cameras to get those exposures in the few minutes each bit of light gives me. In conclusion, a twilight image is a lot of work, and an image I can only obtain once a day.