Happy May to all of you,

This month’s newsletter will briefly discuss the extended hours we now have to schedule photoshoots, a breakdown of twilight photography hours and a photographer update.  We hope you have time to read informative news.

Warm Weather

As the weather warms up we'd like to remind all of our clients to ensure that your homes have the AC at a reasonable temperature for our photographers as well as their gear.

Longer Days - More Scheduling Availability

This time of year welcomes in longer days with dawn beginning before 6:00 AM and sunset starting after 7:00 pm. It will be mid-September before we return to shorter days. The benefit to you is that we now have more hours to work with when scheduling your photoshoots.

We can begin scheduling photoshoots as early as 8:00 AM.

Golden Hour, Sunset, Twilight, and Nighttime Photography

The extended daylight time means that all Golden Hour, Twilight and Nighttime Photography starts much later and means much longer work days for our photographers. I can remember plenty of times when a photographer was booked all day and did not return home until 9:30 PM during the summer months. By the time their image uploads to our server are completed it could be 11:00 pm or later. That makes for a long day for them.

Because of these much longer days, we have added two new categories to our twilight shoots. You now have the option of choosing Golden Hour (30 minutes before sunset till sunset), Twilight (sunset plus another 30 minutes) and Nighttime (typically starting about one hour after sunset plus 30 minutes). 

The Golden Hour Photos option will only exist from April 15 till September 15th. You can learn more about the timing at this webpage we created for you. https://snap2close.com/twilight-options.html

Speaking of Twilight, let's also describe the wind issues

March, April and May are the windiest months of the year. It is also the time when our twilight photography picks up. Over the last 12 months we have received nearly 200 twilight photography orders, plus another 117 virtual twilight upgrades. Most of the twilight orders occur in the spring and early summer months.  

Part of the challenge that Snap2Close deals with is the increased wind during these months. As you can see in the illustration below, April, May and June are our windiest months in the valley. What the chart does not show is that the winds typically start to peak around sunset and evening hours, which is when twilight photos typically begin.

It seems like most upscale homes have plants and trees that love to sway back and forth in the wind.  Snap2Close uses HDR photography to capture twilight photos, and some HDR bracket exposures last as long as 30 seconds. The result is tree limbs and leaves and plant foliage moving in the wind makes the final merged image looking blurry.

While most home buyers seem to understand this issue, it is sometimes bothersome to others.  This is why we offer Virtual Twilight photos.  Virtual twilight photos require our editorial staff to convert daytime external photos in Photoshop to give the appearance that the photo was captured during twilight.  The results are quite realistic.

The price for Virtual Twilight is $20 for one image, $30 for two images, $40 for 3 images and $50 for 4 images.

Photographer Updates

Snap2Cose tries to maintain a crew of 10 photographers at all times. Recently, Abbi Jackson had the opportunity to pursue a career as a photographer/videographer in New York City and is simultaneously starting to launch Snap2Close office there as well. While I am thrilled for her and our new opportunity, I sure do miss seeing her smiling face here in Arizona. She has such a sweet soul.

Lewis Rice is another photographer who has moved to another state. Lewis has a new grandbaby in the Carolinas and decided it was time to return home to be with his family. We will all miss our favorite Marine soldier, but know that his family is thrilled to have him back home.

Let's meet our two newest team members!

This wraps up our May newsletter. If you plan on ordering Twilight Photos, be sure to choose the right package. If you need some help with this then please call our Customer Support.

Charlie Taylor and the Snap2Close Team