How to Remove Wires and Cords from Your Real Estate Image in Lightroom



Real estate image editing jumps on any kind of enhancement that would make any property image look a hundred times more appealing, beautiful, and stunning. It prides itself on looking clean and hassle-free especially for interiors where people spend most of their time in. Adobe Lightroom has been one to provide all the enhancement services that a real estate photo editing software should possess. It has the basics of light and color correction, file organization, and many more. But one feature that most people overlook is the ability of this real estate photo editing software to clean up images as well. Similar to its cousin, Adobe Photoshop, this can also do a real good mopping up of clutter and whatnots. In the context of interior real estate images, lines such as wires and cords are common objects just unsightly to the buyer’s eye.



Every realty editor must keep a good look out for interior images that have wires scattered or attached to a wall. They must remove these during real estate image editing in order to exude a feeling of ease and avoid inducing stress with having such a busy image.

So, what are some of these areas to look out for? Areas with appliances in general will tend to have wires and cords attached. Desktop computers, landlines, television sets, toasters, the list goes on and on. You may be wondering if this is considered as misleading, but the answer is no. This is simply proper wire management. At the end of the day, wires can be physically tied or organized but as well all know the reality of real estate image editing and photography, there may not be ample time to do all of the cleaning before the shoot happens. Realty editors understand this, so they ensure that the task is done during post-processing.

Adobe Lightroom as a real estate photo editing software has several methods to get rid of wires and cords from the image, any method will suffice but being the crafty realty editor that you are, choosing the best out of these could lead to a faster processing time depending on the situation.

Method One: Clone Stamp Tool

The clone stamp tool is a great tool to control the pixels you copy. It works to clone the pixels selected from one area within the photo and covers the wire with the same color thereby hiding it.

  1. To start, duplicate the background layer so you don’t lose the integrity of the original photo should anything go wrong as real estate image editing can take a few trials and errors for some techniques to apply and there is no exact science or numbers that would accompany each and every change.
  2. Select the clone stamp tool and you will be prompted to select a source. Now be critical in selecting the source that would match the background of the wire or cord you are trying to get rid of. Anything less than exact could spell trouble for any realty editor.
  3. The last thing you should do in this real estate photo editing software is to brush or paint over the wires and cords you want removed. In some cases, you will be offered to activate the ‘Content Aware’ feature, and this is a must in object removal techniques.

Method Two: Spot Healing Brush Tool

The spot healing brush tool presents itself as a one-click wonder. For realty editors, this could be a good choice for a speedy job and one that requires not much fuss. It can also be considered a smarter version of the clone stamp tool with the pixels being automatically analyzed by the brush.

  1. First, create a blank layer on top of the photo so that your original image won’t be permanently altered. Then, select the spot healing brush tool and adjust the brush size by using the “[“to decrease the size and the“]” to increase the size. It is recommended for real estate photo editing that you maintain a brush size that is slightly larger than the object you are trying to remove. This gives you the confidence that you will not be making a mess around objects you don’t intend to remove.
  2. Brush on the wires and cords that are in the way, and brushing may take more than one stroke. For wires that are laid out in layers, this real estate photo editing software can only brush away so much in one stroke. Hence, a few back and forth movements should do the trick, still a great and easy way to get rid of the clutter.

Method Two point five: Pen Tool with Spot Healing Brush

In conjunction with the spot healing brush tool, the pen tool lends a hand for those that are laid out in long lengths. The pen tool has the ability to capture the wire in a straight line (or almost) before the spot healing brush tool is applied for an even easier and cleaner removal.

  1. Create a layer prior to making any enhancements to ensure original photo integrity. Select the Pen tool and make sure that the rubber band option is selected. This gives you flexibility on anchoring one end of the selection and allows you to drag it to the other end of the wire you are trying to get rid of.
  2. Next, select path then stroke path and select spot healing brush. Once you hit ‘ok’, the wire will be covered in the spot healing brush strokes and all you need to do now is delete it.

Importance of Content Aware

During the course of any of these three methods, you will come across the content aware option. This should always be activated so the brush of choice you are using will automatically be aware of the pixels that it needs to copy and at the same time, creates a seamless transition between the area covered and the overall background. Realty editors performing any real estate image editing technique involving object removal can also use this, as it is one of the assistance Adobe gives in its real estate photo editing software.

Conclusion

There you have it, removing wires and cords isn’t that difficult with this real estate photo editing software. There are different methods to choose from to make your room clutter free and above all, create a stress-free environment for your interior shot. If you noticed, all methods are easy to execute and as Adobe provides more and more advancements into their real estate photo editing software, you too will feel the changes and progress on your end.

 

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