Tips for real estate image editing
The real estate business is heavily customer-oriented. That is why real estate image retouching is a very important aspect of this business as it can help you to attract potential buyers and investors.
People usually prefer searching online for real estate properties, which means that they will be deciding whether to get in contact with an agent or visit a property by looking at the pictures. So, it is crucial to carry out real estate image processing in all possible ways to achieve that perfect look to fire up the interest of the buyers and investors.
Even with the best equipment and settings, there is still a possibility that the photos won’t turn out perfect. It is one of the main reasons why the real estate business is considered to be one of the most complex and competitive domains as compared to the other industries.
Indeed, it would be a bit difficult; however, making money is not impossible in this case and can be achieved if you incorporate the right tools and techniques carefully. Now, before going to the part where we learn how to boost sales by implementing the proven methods and we share the real estate photo retouching tips, let us first understand the concept of the real estate business in gist.
13 Real Estate Photo Retouching Techniques to Boost
Below we have shared some of the best real estate photography techniques that are bound to give you the desired results by optimizing your time and without compromising on quality. Let’s look at each real estate photo retouching technique in more detail.
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Color Correction
Photo color correction can be pulled off with real estate photography editing software like Photoshop and Lightroom with the latter definitely having an advantage in terms of reduced time and faster outputs.
Clicking on a photo’s neutral region through the eyedropper tool would enable color correction of the complete image. The tint, hue, and saturation levels need to be tweaked based on the image’s appearance to bring about a touch of reality.
When the images look more real, prospects are more convinced.
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Line Straightening
Sometimes it happens when the photoshoot of a property is done, it is not up to the mark as required. In such a case a slight change in the image perspective can work wonders. This not only gives a fresh look to the space but also enhances the chance of generating more interest of buyers towards your property.
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Light Adjustment
It is common to come across problems of shadowing and non-uniform lighting when you are snapping pictures of the property. This challenge can be vaulted over using Lightroom which is the favorite with the majority of real estate image editing companies.
You can bring about adjustment of shadows, shades and highlights with dedicated tools available for the same. Shadows bar can be slid to the right for offering warmth to the image and enhancing its visibility; however refrain from venturing too far from the middle.
Unwanted highlights on the image can be diluted by dragging the Highlights bar left that neutralizes additional sheen. The Alt or Option Key has to be held down on Windows or Mac for adjustment of white and black shades. The respective color bar has to be dragged to the right until the right balance is stuck on the image.
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Cloning Operation for Photo Clean-Up
Photoshop offers a useful tool ‘Clone Stamp’ for deleting eyesore elements from the image. After clicking on the tool, you need to select the source region in the picture.
Next, you can set down to clone and paint over the element which has been earmarked for deletion. Cleaning up is crucial as unwanted or untidy elements usually catch the attention at ease but not for good reasons.
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Removal of Unwanted Objects
Many property images come up with many unwanted things visible in the background, in such a case these may distract the viewers from the actual beauty and potential your property holds. This is why, during the real estate photo editing process many such unwanted objects are removed using various techniques to make the image look sharp, clear and hard-hitting.
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High Dynamic Range (HDR)
The power of HDR technique is used in real estate image post processing by renowned real estate image editing companies to pull off stunning luminosity dynamically spread over a spectrum.
In order to have HDR pictures, you need to capture the picture’s theme in various image brackets. Eventually, the images have to be merged into one composite whole so as to prominently display the shadowed and highlighted portions.
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Lens Rectification
Issues with camera lenses may happen even if you hire the best professional photographer in the industry. You can use the Lens Correction tool in Lightroom for setting right the optical problems arising due to misalignments of lenses.
Within the Profile section of the tool, you need to turn on Enable Profile Corrections followed by Remove Color Aberrations for spectacular outcomes.
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Curve Tools Usage
Photoshop’s Curves tool offers color correction and optimization of images. Considered as one of the impactful real estate photo editing techniques, the optimizing action with Curves is challenging and requires time and effort for mastering meticulously.
You need to navigate to the Image menu, click on Adjustments and then choose Curves. In the resultant dialog box, select Auto. The diagonal line cutting the box in two triangular halves needs to be dragged up for brightening the picture or vice versa for darkening it.
The tool has an extensive spectrum and you can experiment with it to pull off a superlative look.
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Resizing Images
This can be done using an image processor tool. Processing can be done in batches which essentially save time if numerous pictures for various mediums have to be worked on. The tool can be accessed from File Menu.
In the dialog box, select Folder for saving in the location where the picture is stored. File type would be Jpeg. Select Resize to Fit for keying in the dimensions that suit your requirements. After including the ICC profile, run the tool.
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Saturation & Hue Management
You can manage them in Photoshop using the ‘Hue and Saturation’ tool. Although sharing almost the same functionality with Curves tool, this tool proves useful in exterior compared to interior photo editing needs. From the Image menu dropdown, select Adjustments and then this tool.
The tool proves valuable in adding greener touches to landscape pictures for portraying the locality around the advertised property. In the dialog box, select Yellow for increasing its hue and decreasing the lightness and saturation levels.
Now, redo the alterations with Green as the option. Clicking OK would result in vibrant greenery that would give the impression of verdant landscapes.
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Composite Technique
Seamless pictures through merging of various images can be achieved using this technique. In the real estate scenario, this technique proves useful to blend varied photos like putting together ambient and flash shots in one image.
This technique finds utility in cases where the lighting of the subject has been manually done through handheld flash during capturing of the picture.
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Editing in Batches
Lightroom offers a batch editing facility which can be utilized for pulling off the same nature of editing on a group of pictures. Saving time becomes easy as minor repetitive editing can be done in one shot.
You need to adjust and retouch one image and sync the modifications with the remaining photos. However be careful when it comes to setting the batches.
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Eradicate Composition Errors with Cropping
Cropping has its own way of keeping the composition errors at bay that were created when the photoshoot of the property was done. Using this, various aspects of the images are improved and many unwanted things are removed, though this tool is the most underappreciated one but using it has many benefits.
Not only this, using cropping during real estate photo editing can help you highlight the property in the more defined way.
Once you are well aware of which techniques to use for particular photographs, you are ready to move to the next step of using the real estate images for marketing and promotion. So, ensure that the images are at their best and can surely beat your competitors by strengthening their online presence in the market.
In case your requirement is in bulk and time is limited, then you can also take the benefit of hiring various photo editing services that are available online. However, always make sure to choose a real estate photo post processing services company that is renowned and has served the respective domain for years.
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