It’s Monday Evening. You just got a listing agreement signed to go live on Friday. [[[ FIST BUMP]]] Everything about this listing is lining up perfect. Until you check out the radar.

Ouch. Overcast, overcast, overcast, overcast.  Wonderful.  How are you ever going to portray this beautiful home with ugly gray skies every day of the week before your listing goes live?

Well, the show must go on.  It’s not the most ideal situation, but fear not, you can still make the home appear as if it were shot on a bright, sunny, spring day. After all, you want buyers to have a positive first impression, not a gloomy, dismal one.  And dismal is the exact word I would use to describe the weather during this listing shoot last month.

The rain was on and off, but it was less like rain, and more like mist. The sky wasn’t just clouds passing through, but fuzzy gray from horizon to horizon… this gray wasn’t going away any time soon. But in this situation, the listing was already live so there was no waiting! I would argue that it would be difficult to tell that the front exterior of this home does not scream “dreary weather”.

Sky editing and replacement is not a new or unique addition to real estate photography services, but it is important to view examples of a photographers work before committing.  While certain twilight photoshoots are intended to have a fantastical, surreal element, it’s important to be able to showcase the home in as natural of light as possible.  This is why I would highly recommend twilight shoots only  being an add on addition to standard real estate photographs. And while the sky is not the focal point of a listing shoot, it absolutely can impact a buyer’s impression or even emotions when flipping through their search results.