Sun vs Clouds - Drone
Often times people assume that cloudy weather, or cloud coverage is better than sunny conditions. Basically trying to make lemonade out of lemons. This is a thought process from the realm of portraiture. The concept being that a flat and even light on the subject is better than speckled light. In portraits, this is true. In portraits you also use supplemental lighting, light modifiers, and editing tricks to get what you want in the end. It’s easier to work a portrait with flat lighting rather than a cluster of highlight and shadow spots on the face of a subject.
When it comes to real estate work, this concept DOES NOT APPLY! Sunny weather is as good as it gets. The one exception would be when you’re trying to photograph a side of a property when you’re shooting directly into the sun. Especially if the property is dark colored. Combine a dark colored exterior with being backlit by the sun, and it sucks! That would be the one time clouds would be welcome, and then you do a sky replacement. Other than that, sun. Lots of sun!
Sun brings with it vibrant colors, and shadows that create contrast. These combined give the photo texture, depth, and interest. In other words, it makes images pop, or come to life. Cloudy weather on the other hand brings dull colors and dinginess. You can never get the same colors out of a cloudy image than you can a sunny image. No amount of photoshop can do that. Not only does it effect the colors on the property, but the sky as well, assuming there’s one to be seen. Sometimes this can happen simply by a puff of cloud passing in front of the sun on a mostly sunny day. In this case it’s best to just wait a few minutes to let the could pass.
On cloudy photos, we can often times use sky replacements to kind of fake it and save not only the image, but a second trip back out the a property. It’s not always perfect, but it does the trick often enough to save a job and help sell a home. But when it comes to drone imagery, it’s a different story. There’s not faking it or fixing it. In fact, the effects can often be worse.
You can see in the two sets of images below examples of images that were cloud covered verses sunny. In both cases you can see what I’m talking about. Granted in both examples, neither is an extreme overcast day, so you’re not getting the absolute worst of it in the samples. But it’s enough you can get the idea. Look at them and see which you prefer. That being said, solid overcast weather days are even worse than what you’re seeing below. Then when it comes to doing video, it’s so bad it’s not even worth trying. I’ve tried a couple times hoping to get enough out of it to get the job done only to have to admit I wasted time and then plan to go back out again.
So granted it’s not always easy to work around the weather, knowing ahead of time what you’re getting into at least prepares you for what you’re going to get. We do occasionally still do drone imagery in cloudy weather days simply out of the necessity of getting the much needed images to help get a property sold. And those images are not as pretty, but do at least get the job done. But with drone videos, it’s not even an option. In the case of drone video, you simply have to plan on rescheduling. It’s a pain, but it’s realty.
