Which Real Estate Photo Retouching Actions are Unethical?
Real estate photo retouching has never ceased to provide photos to real estate businesses that become true aides during sales. It has been around the industry long enough to be a cornerstone of success, giving rise to real estate photo retouching outsourcing as a business model most people utilize. Furthermore, studies have proven that real estate photo retouching has helped boost sales, increase property value, and hasten its selling in the market. For these along with many other logical reasons, this has been the practice that has proven results.
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However, there are unspoken rules within real estate photo retouching that have been around to ensure its survival and sustainability. These are photo editing and real estate photography ethics. The former being the more sensitive. See, when real estate image editing clients want a photo done, photographers can snap away and everything the property has to offer will be captured in the photo. If the image is manipulated in post-processing, that’s where questions are raised if there was anything taken out which shouldn’t have been. In conjunction to this is the question of the impact. Is the change enough to make the decision flip around from a no to a yes? And lastly, integrity must be taken into consideration, assessing if whatever was manipulated or removed is misleading in nature.
These are just some of the things we will talk about today in your bid to create photos that are stunning yet acceptable in the standards of your clients and their customers. All of these ultimately lead to the sustenance of real estate photo retouching as it hopes to continue growing in this industry.
Why is Real Estate Photo Editing Needed?
Real estate photo image enhancement has indeed brought success throughout the years coming from the depths of the dark room all the way to contemporary times and the computers they come through to but what exactly are these reasons that require a photo to get up there in the first place?
1. Cameras do not justify the present beauty
We all know modern cameras have all the bells and whistles. Heck, they might even have more features than a smartphone. Thing is, they don’t produce photos as good as the human retina does. The interpretation of the image might be captured but in different exposures and colors, thus not being able to really present the beauty the property has to offer. Outsourcing real estate photography editing then comes to save the day. It must adjust the photo’s appearance not only to match the look as if the potential buyer is physically there but also to give it a little bit more kick to help turn heads.
2. Lighting conditions can sometimes need some help
Even if the sun is there in its brightest, we sometimes cannot take full advantage of it. Think about it in the context of interior shots. The most the sun can pass through are windows and this can sometimes even be a limitation. We then resort to artificial lights to augment the need to surface details and just make the whole photo look pleasing. After all these, real estate photo retouching goes to work to blend it all in to make it look natural and help the photo achieve cohesiveness.
What are Considered Ethical Issues?
Sometimes, post-processing needs to look at bounds and what better way to perceive it that helping your customers make a fair and informed decision when buying. See, as photos become the first point of contact that piques their interest, they must be able to be truthful in what they are showing and only this way can we achieve a transparent relationship between buyers and sellers. Here are some examples that may be of help when editing.
1. Changing colors or locations of objects
What the property is, that’s what you present. Real estate photo retouching has the power to change anything about the photo and being disciplined and controlled about this allows professionals to work within the concept of something just right. Anything excessive could be misconstrued as fake or worse, misleading retouched real estate photos versus the actual
2. Covering up imperfections
If there is a crack here or a hole there, keep it as much as you can. This is to help the buyer decide if they’re willing to put up with repairs and at the same time, help understand if the prices will give them room to spend for the fixes that need to take place.
Why Do We Need Ethics in Photo editing?
Ethics are there in real estate photo retouching to serve as a guide on a professional level but also help build that two-way street with the public and the business. With this in mind, ethics provide more than just visible changes on the photo, they run deeper than you think.
1. Maintain hard-earned credibility
Trust is hard to build but extremely easy to destroy. See, if you are selling a property for a hefty price tag, your customer deserves what they see in the photos turned to reality. If this falls short of their expectations due to any misleading items, then they immediately break their trust with the business knowing it might fool them a second time around.
2. Future expansion of the business
If you’re an outsourced real estate photography editing service, then you know you have to grow and reach more people. You cannot do this if at the local level you are already perceived in a bad light and unable to gain the trust of others because of a tainted reputation. What’s difficult in this part is even before you’ve begun, you’ve already shot yourself in the foot.
Final Thoughts
Ethics in real estate photo retouching in itself provides a set of rules. It might or might not be written but they are there to provide professionals a reason to stay on track. It helps professionals behind the computer to stay grounded and trusted as these enable you to. They also enable trust to be built as this is key in every business to exist and take the next steps further. Sure, there is a sense of creativity but there should be limits and lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
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