Residential Real Estate Photo Enhancement You Won’t Regret Doing

In our minds, we think of real estate photo enhancement as a straightforward task. With a couple of brushes and a few clicks of the mouse, poof! We get the end result we want. In some cases, these might be the scene but what people don’t see is the effort that has gone into mastering photo enhancement for real estate. It takes a lot of practice and brushing up (forgive the pun) to be able to move up the learning curve. For instance, speed can be improved by constantly doing the same technique in real estate photo enhancement over and over until it becomes muscle memory but someone who is just starting out would definitely need more time to look for the next button or command.

There is another side to the execution which is contracting real estate photo enhancement services. If you’re not confident about a DIY approach just yet but need to meet deadlines, then outsourcing could be your short-term answer. The way these guys conduct business is highly professional and the output is almost always to your liking and if not, there are services that offer a rework to fit it to your specifications.

Either way, what you want to achieve and be at ease with the real estate photo enhancement you need to do is to make sure they are brought out on time and in the standard of your caliber. There is no sense in doing all this just to end up regretting the time, resources, and effort spent so there should be a touch of care that goes into all of this whether outsourced or done yourself.

How Can I Enhance My Real Estate Photos?

Any professional would want a glimpse into what goes into the post-processing of any photo or video for that matter. Even if you go through the path of a real estate photo enhancement service, it would still be an itch to satisfy the curiosity behind what exactly goes on behind all those clicks and changes.

Visual Adjustments

The first order of business in any editing would be to correct the wrongs in the images. We are certain, for a fact, that even the best cameras won’t immediately bring out a photo that is 100% perfect for online consumption. There will always be room to touch up even at the smallest bit. Most real estate photo enhancement professionals start by making adjustments to the brightness. We don’t want an overbearing photo nor a depressing one so the right amount of light must be incorporated. With this, everything else such as color correction and noise removal are done to make the image look natural. In short, photo enhancement for real estate helps mimic the way our eyes see the property should we be the one standing right in front it the structure.

Cleaning Up

The second part in most real estate photo enhancement processes is the retouching part which people often interchange the word with editing. For the sake of this discussion, retouching will focus on the quality checks or touchups. Liken this to when heavy concealers are applied. Even real estate photo enhancement services will likely go through this stage of removing unwanted items from the photo or doing localized changes in brightness and color. You would be surprised how this part is more tedious than the first.

How Do You Edit Real Estate Photos Like a Professional?

Professional realty editor, whether done in-house or contracted outside, should take to a certain standard. This means that there is a line between a photo that is done half-baked and a photo which journeys from the range of acceptable to spectacular. How do we know we are treading on the right end?

Getting a sense of reality

It often is the case we get carried away with what we do but in real estate photo enhancement, we need to bring ourselves back to Earth every now and then. This all means that as we go through the process of editing, we want to put in all the edits. We want to make the grass as green as it can be or make the sunshine the brightest as if it were on high noon. The thing is with photo enhancement for real estate, the outcome has to be realistic. It has to showcase the property more than the periphery so putting in life should not be overdone.

Creating Seamless Changes

The technique called Sky Replacement is frequently used especially on days where an overcast seems to cloak the surroundings in a depressing mood. Such techniques will require precise selection of the objects you want to retain in the photo such as trees and the property. Trees will definitely be the trickier one with its irregularities in its outline so using the right tools will be beneficial here. Think of using secondary techniques as well when doing this such as clone stamping after using the selection tools like the magnetic lasso or the quick selection tool.

How Long Does It Take to Edit Real Estate Photos?

Time is of the essence in real estate photo enhancement. The deadline of another may be the potential start of another department’s process and thus a delay in one would mean a move in the entire chain. So, what constitutes the right turnaround time? Well, it’s easy to say that ASAP is the way to go, so let’s concretize it. First of all, a 2-day turnaround time would normally be standard given there are more than 15 images for some services. If you’re doing it on your own, think about getting a software that has batch processing capabilities to speed things up. Normally for services who have several people working on the same client’s requirements, it may take just hours as the work is being done simultaneously. At the end of the day, have a clear agreement with whoever you are partnering up with to get a concrete date to work towards to.

Final Thoughts

The truth behind real estate photo enhancement is that it is not rocket science. It just takes time to get used to and when you break it down into the intent and the how, things become clearer and therefore more actionable. In your case, should you see things in a more difficult light, then you must practice, read up on articles, perhaps join a community of professionals, or simply watch educational videos. Everything you do for your craft is up to your passion on learning and try to make it count daily.