The Impact of Season on Real Estate Photography
- Adam Garrett
- Oct 20, 2022
- 16 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
I. How season impacts the real estate market
Many know that the time of year that you buy or sell can have a high impact on real estate. That's true whether you're looking at any of the following real estate statistics of an area, such as the following in SE VA: A. the inventory available (less in the Winter) B. the median number of transactions that occur (less in the Winter) C. the price that homes sell for (less in the Winter) D. the median % sales price vs list price (lower % in the Winter),
and otherwise. I provide graphs for many of those factors in my "How's the Market" page for SE VA, focusing on the season on my seasonal market trends page.
II. How season impacts real estate photography
The seasonal fluctuations of real estate are impacted by how houses & other real estate look in person and online. It impacts elements like:
Plants in Bloom/Leaves Turning or Falling/Dormancy
Shadows
Seasonal Decorations
Visibility of Water on Waterfront Property
The good news is that there are options to put your listing in a much better position than those listed at the same time as you if you prepare in advance.
III. How real estate photography impacts prices
If something of value that is being sold online looks better online, it's generally going to attract more interest and higher prices. That's true with real estate just like it is with other things. It's not uncommon for buyers to skip over real estate exclusively due to an unappealing initial photo.
IV. How to Prepare for a Low Season Sale & Otherwise Maximize Season in Photos
Introduction
Even if you sell a property in a time when the season isn't optimal for it, there are still excellent options to prepare your real estate for sale to be in a better position than many similar properties that go on the market at the same time as you if you get things started in advance of your sale. Just because you won't be selling until a time when your grass is no longer green, doesn't mean that you can't have pictures from the air and ground, as well as a Matterport 3D tour, that show that online and even in person.
Get your real estate ready to sell and ready for pictures long before a low-season sale, especially the exterior.
For instance, if you are in the military and know that in January you will need to pick up and go, prepare in advance so that you can get at least the exterior of your home ready for sale. If your grass is still green, take pictures before it's not. If you have a number of trees on or surrounding the property, and it's the Fall, check this Fall Foliage Map to see when you might have peak colors in your trees, but keep in mind that some trees lose their leaves a lot earlier than others even in the same area depending on the kind of tree.
Related: How to Prepare the Exterior of Your Home Before Exterior Photos
Rather than exclusively using a map like the one above, it's best to use a state-specific map, i.e. Virginia's Fall Colors Map from the Department of Forestry updated weekly (taken from October 16, 2025):
Take Exterior Photos at the Right Time
Once you've gotten the exterior of your real estate ready, have your agent &/or professionals come to the property to take exterior photos before the exterior gets less appealing, even if 11 months or more before sale. In some cases, you may have 2 or 3 photography/videography sessions in the event that the interior of your home isn't ready in time but your exterior is. Multi-season photography/videography is especially likely if your agent/broker has a drone, 3D camera, is licensed to fly commercially, and has photography skills/other equipment. In my experience as an agent, with a photography hobby, I will sometimes find that photographers missed areas on the ground or in the area that I was able to capture or that I captured better than they did due to the timing or angle, even within the same week that they shot it. Here's an example I shot where the photographer's angle (not shown) significantly diminished the proportional size of the garage, while I focused more on it & closer up to showcase it better for the property's main photo, while also timing it closer to sunset.
Spring Photos
Spring is probably my favorite time for the most photos on the ground (& sometimes pole shots) & Matterport virtual tours, especially during peak spring blooms. Below I'll go over some examples in commercial and residential settings; I like to have both for residential due to the positive impact of area photos on real estate sales. I'll also dive into timing of photos based on blooms including some pertinent maps and specific flowers to look out for.
Spring blooms could be a backdrop element, as in this photo I shot:
They could also play a more prominent role, as in this photo:
Here's an example in a residential setting on 1 of my sold listings from when I used to outsource aerials to save time despite having some excellent aerial options myself at the time:
Pole shots aren't used much anymore by photographers, but especially in heavily restricted airspace, they can produce some quality photos, like the one below this section I shot in DC during peak cherry blossom season, where I can't fly my drone due to airspace restrictions.
There are some excellent tools to help you determine when the first leaves and when the first blooms will hit your area:
Here's another map available from the US Forest Service for 2000-2013 for "greenup" dates, though keep in mind that spring comes earlier and earlier over time, though not necessarily consecutively:
Perhaps the most widely watched blooms in the US are the cherry blossoms in DC, with projections on "peak bloom" coming from numerous sources, typically in mid-late March there, with not much difference between SE VA & there. With different flowering plants coming out in different dates, watch out for the following trees in SE VA:
red buds bloom in early Spring, in late March & early April in SE VA
bradford pears bloom in early spring. While pretty to photograph, I wouldn't recommend planting them in your yard due to the problems associated with them.
crab apples typically bloom in mid to late spring
dogwoods are another common Virginia spring bloomer.
Some of the most common flowering plants in SE VA below include daffodils and varieities of lilies.
Among flowering bushes, one of the most common in SE VA is azaleas. While many varieties are early blooming, they have a long bloom period, with April being the peak time for them in SE VA.
Here are their Hampton Roads bloom times in SE VA per the Daily Press in a 2004 article:
* Early-blooming, first and second week of April — Kurume hybrids called Hinode Giri, Snow, Coral Bells, Pink Pearl, Flame; Delaware Valley White, Poukhanense, a Korean azalea; Vittata, a Chinese azalea; and Mucronatum, a Southern Indian hybrid.
* Mid-season, late April through early May — Southern Indian hybrids George Tabor and Formosa; Sunglow, Carla hybrid; Glenn Dale varieties Ben Morrison, Martha Hitchcock and Glacier.
* Late-blooming, mid-late May — Macrantha Red, Indica azalea; Gumpo White and Gumpo Pink and Satsuki hybrids.
Here's a shot from 2015 from a former listing of mine with an earlier lower-quality camera:
If you are trying to find another plant & going to Google, the USDA map in another section below can be a helpful frame of reference, where SE VA is 7B-8B depending on location.
Summer Photos
Some plants like crepe myrtles are summer bloomers, and if you have a lot of them at your home or in area photos, it's ideal to take photos when they're in peak bloom.
Some of the top photos to take in summer are beach photos and other outdoor aquatic based photos such as pools in yards or in the neighborhood. With pool photos, it's ideal to take them when the pool has just recently been cleaned, all the pool furniture is out like lounge chairs, tables, cabanas, etc. If you're taking the photo in low season, like the shot below, you may want to do it from further out like I did below if there is solid scenery around it during a sunrise or sunset where it's less noticeable that the lounge chairs etc. are missing:
If you're looking to capture photos of a theme park from the air, it won't look abandoned if you capture it when it's open (typically during the summer), but there's also the element of legality, where it's more difficult to legally fly a drone above people in the US due to the drones available and existing law. Also, far-out shots become even less noticeable as missing people than a photo like the one above.
If you're looking to take photos on the water, a scene like this one I shot will be more likely during the Summer than at other times:
One potential problem in the summer in places like SE VA where it can get pretty hot is the impact of drought when combined with heat. Even though August tends* to get the most rain, and February tends to get the least rain, in a place like Hampton, VA, because it can get as hot as it can in times like June & July, & because sometimes that does coincide with periods of draught, be sure to be mindful of any of that before scheduling photos.
Another potential problem in the summer is that you tend to have full foliage, which can block a view substantially for waterfront shots at times or the front or rear view of a house, whether from the ground view or from an aerial view. Especially if that foliage is protected in some way by law (i.e. some cases with the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act), or its foliage that you don't want to touch like a tree in front of your house that isn't too close in proximity to the house and provides shade, it will often be better to take the shot when it's not in full foliage.
Related:
Fall Photos
Fall is probably my favorite time for aerial photos, especially during peak fall colors & especially for shots that are best from a high vantage point.
That said, the ground shots & Matterport 3-D Tour shots can still be solid, & in some cases optimal in the fall:
If you take photos in the fall at your property, it's often best to remove the leaves from your yard, roof, sidewalk, driveway (or parking lot), and gutters beforehand. There are even some rare occasions where it can be best to ask permission from your neighbors to help them remove some leaves, pine needles, or other fall-related debris if you are comfortable with doing so and if it is an eyesore.
Winter Photos
When taking winter photos, it's ideal to include holiday scenes, holiday lights, & evergreen plants.
A higher % of night shots in the winter can be helpful for area photos, where the grass color doesn't tend to matter as much.
City scenes, where the color of the grass & other foliage doesn't matter as much because of the limits of volume, aren't as negatively impacted as country scenes.
It's easier to get golden hour & related shots in the winter because the day is shorter
In some cases, a typically "worse" season can actually be better for photos. For instance, compare these images, where the winter season actually shows a much better picture of the water than a similar image where there is more green, so both this image and other images of the home with plenty of green were included in the listing, possible because I shot the aerials at one time and the photographer shot more aerials at a later time after the season had changed. Here's my shot:
And here's a further out shot by American Real Estate Media when things were more green where the house is less prominent:
I kept both shots in the photos for the listing. From the vantage point of the first shot, the green leaves would have significantly blocked the view of the water at the time of the 2nd shot, while further up in height, it wasn't a problem.
If you're in an area that is famous for snow sports, it's best to get photos that include multiple seasons, including at least some with snow. However, in a number of other locations, snow can be seen as a negative, even if it's pretty. If you aren't in downhill ski country, snow can remind people of the potential negatives of snow, especially those who are considering moving to an area from out of town but who are uncertain. If you're in an area that doesn't have any snow sports, and doesn't get much snow, you may want to consider a snow shot if it's particularly good vs your other photos, but I wouldn't recommend doing many snowshots in that case.
Related: SE VA Environmental Area Guide
Prepping Homes For Extreme Cold
When you haven't prepared in advance, and need to get a photo of a property in the winter, it's often ideal to use Photoshop or another program (or hire someone) to add green to the grass, even if you are shooting at sunset or sunrise. When doing so, be sure to disclose, and check any MLS regulations (& just in case, your state law, since I'm only familiar with VA law & national law) about photo editing.
If doing a Matterport 3-D tour of a property, you may want to avoid the winter if at all possible for at least the exerior views and transitions from the exterior to the interior if the grass is the primary visible seasonal change & if the grass looks bad in the winter. A potential exception is waterfront if the foliage blocks the view except in winter.
Sometimes home owners associations will turn off the gas to their fires in the year outside of the fall/winter, so if you have the interior of a clubhouse to shoot with a fireplace where the HOA has that policy, it's best to get these shots in the winter.
As with fall, if you take photos in the winter at your home, it's often best to remove the leaves from your yard, roof, and gutters beforehand.
Related:
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, Plant Identification, & Virginia Resources
If you are trying to find a plant's peak timing in pictures, the following USDA map that includes a zip code finder linked can be a helpful frame of reference, where SE VA is currently 7B-8B depending on location:
For plant identification, Plantnet & Google Lens are some apps that I like to use. Google lens is also helpful with wildlife identification.
Virginia has the following resource for native plants that is searchable by locality within VA, but it only seasonally distinguishes between spring, early summer, late summer, and fall:
https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/native-plants-finder
Wildlife
While wildlife photography isn't common in real estate photography, I use it at times. Different seasons may have differing wildlife that you can see based on the volume of foliage, migratory patterns, and more. Wildlife could be used as a main photo, within a photo collage that is used as a photo, or could be a backdrop to a photo showing something else. I do the latter here showing the landscape of a neighborhood along a walking trail as well as a flock of migratory Canadian geese pictured below this section.
Shadows Vary by Season
Did you know that shadows, which play a big role in photography, vary by season, and that your choice of when to shoot photos can be heavily influenced by shadows in some cases? For instance, even at the best time of the day to reduce shade, this property in December still has lots of shade in front of the yard that will diminish the picture's quality:
In the middle of the summer, the situation isn't ideal, but a lot better:
Images courtesy ShadeMap
Consider Previous Professional or Amateur Photos
Even if it's already a bad time for photos when you're reading this blog, don't completely discount previous professional or amateur photos that were taken at the property.
A. If your home was recently purchased with no significant changes to the exterior, is the listing agent/photographer that you purchased from willing to have you use their images? In some cases, it will be free, and in some cases, you or your listing agent will have to pay them for using the images, but even if you have to pay, it's typically worth it to have a house looking beautifully vs a house looking bare if there is stark contrast between the exterior appearance simply due to the season.
B. When I work with buyers, I typically ask the buyer if they want me to take some photos from the ground and some aerials at the walk through inspection. If you or your buyer's agent previously took exterior photos of the property when you purchased, and there haven't been significant material exterior changes, are those available?
C. Even amateur photos of your home taken throughout the time of ownership can be solid options to include in a listing at times. Maybe you took photos of the home in the snow. Maybe you took photos of the home during the perfect sunset or sunrise. Maybe you took photos of a tree, bush, or flower in its peak. Even if amateur, sometimes those can be great additions to a listing, especially with how much camera phones have improved where some camera phones like the latest Samsung Galaxy Ultra or the latest and greatest Iphone are superior in various respects to cameras that are thousands of dollars.
Photoshop
Consider photoshop, another program, or hiring out some photo edits of your yard if it's already too late for your yard to look good based on the season, but be sure that it looks realistic to what it would look like in a better season, and not better than that. Here's a good article on the ethical implications of the subject, since some people are against the practice, and local MLS policies can vary as to what you can do with Photoshop.
Displays at Your Property
With your photos in a different season, consider options to display those images not just online, but also at the home. If there's an already framed image of the home in a great season, that's ideal, and be sure to leave it in the home for the listing period. For instance, my parents had this photo of our home framed in the home, where the grass is green and the tide isn't low:
Another great way to display your real estate in its optimal state out of season is by taking pictures of the exterior and then having labeled waterproof photo stands in various places immediately adjacent to those same locations, such as for flowers in bloom, fruits on bushes or trees, etc. I have stands for exactly this purpose if you're listing with me & not going for the lowest commission option with me.
Framed Cardstock Photos in Your Property
I don't mind being unconventional as a listing agent. One unique way that I like to assist sellers in these scenarios when something like a framed picture isn't available is to have easel-style displays scattered in various locations of the house with 11x17 cardstock images, which can be done from other seasons for exterior photos to remind the buyers going through the house what it will look like. That's also something that can be done for an empty house, with photos of when it was previously staged. In some cases, 2 buyers are making a decision, and only one of them has reviewed the photos online, so if there aren't photos at the house that are clearly visible, one of the buyers may never see them. Another option I've considered is a large tablet or other touch screen to scroll through, though I haven't been satisfied with options thus far (i.e. due to weak stands) & I like the 11x17 cardstocks the best as they are hard to miss with virtually no time required by the buyers looking around.
Take Photos While Property is Staged Before Moving Out
If selling more than just land, whether you're selling in low season or selling in high season, it's typically best to take pictures when your property is still staged rather than after it's empty. If your home is already bare or you don't think your personal property, such as furniture, is very "show-worthy", consider staging it yourself or paying someone to stage it. Poor-looking furniture can do more harm than good.
Don't Forget Area Photos, Aerials, & Exterior Matterport 3-D Photos
When timing exterior photography, it's not exclusively the on-the-ground pro photography shots, but also the aerials, exterior Matterport 3-D Tour photos, & area photos. With a commercial listing agreement for a residential property or other property, each of these are possible with Adam.
Related:
Adam's Area Photos For Listings
Adam's Matterport Virtual Tours
Why Matterport Virtual Tours for Real Estate Are Best, & How To Make Them Better
Social Media to Check Locations
TikTok, Instagram, & Facebook each have viable options to check on potential locations. It's best to use a desktop or laptop for these rather than using a phone to work effectively. Linked examples below are some of the options available in my area.
Instagram:
Just typing "Fall Williamsburg 2025" into a search on Instagram loads plenty of options. You can also use the "Places" filter and then click on "recent".
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden (Richmond)
TikTok:
Again, just typing "Fall Williamsburg VA 2025" is great for showing options.
Facebook:
Here it's best to be a member of various local nature and photography groups or follow certain pages, i.e.:
Virginia & Virginians Photography
Virginia Living Magazine Photos
Hampton Roads Facebook Groups:
Live Cameras to Check Locations
In some cases, it may be difficult to see when a truly peak time is at a particular location. Webcams can be helpful with that, i.e.
Webcams via Windy (my favorite) that show what the image is like before clicking on one.
Webcams in Virginia from Outdoor Active.
Even if the image is relatively blurry, for peak-performing color, that can shine through. Likewise, dormancy is relatively easy to spot even with a blurry image as long as it's showing plant life.
Examples in Central & Eastern Virginia:
Greater Richmond:
Middle Peninsula:
Mathews County Webcam (Low % Plantlife)
Northern Neck:
Many of the cameras here are non-working links or show minimal plantlife, often <10% of the video, but here are some of those options:
Peninsula & Southside of Hampton Roads:
Hampton Webcam (Michals Woods)
More in Central & Eastern Virginia:
Surry County Marshcam at Hog Island WMA
Related:
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