The real estate market experienced one of its worst slumps during the recent pandemic. Both commercial and residential properties witnessed a fall in sales, leasing, and renting, bringing down prices. Apartments and industrial spaces saw a decline of 14%, office space 18%, and retail markets 20% in liquidity, beating the declines seen during the first four months of the 2008 crisis.
The good news: the post-lockdown property market has picked up substantially. Property prices are soaring back across the spectrum, making it a most opportune time to gain from it. A good real estate deal depends on presentation as much as negotiation. Photos of the property are today the primary means to interest the buyer or renter. Hiring real estate photo editing services ensures that the prospective customer gets the best views and impression of the property possible.
How Real Estate Photo Enhancement Services Help Seal The Better Deal
Photo editing/retouching is a wonderful way to bring out the best in anything, especially property. It is an unfortunate development that the process has become synonymous with faking and deception. The very term “enhanced image” may conjure misconceptions about the property image being viewed as being a lie meant to entice the buyer/renter. Even owners may refrain from employing real estate photo retouching services for the same reason.
But, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Real estate photo enhancement services live up to the name and improve upon the best aspects of the property so that prospective buyers/renters get to see them with greater clarity. With a talented team of real estate photo editors at the helm, you will notice the true grandeur of your property pop into life.
Here’s all the magic the enhancement process creates:
1. Color Correction
Colors light up our lives in more ways than countable. It is why the walls of buildings get painted or wallpapered instead of leaving them blank. Those colors are what add character and appeal to a property, and by extension, value.
Hence, every photo of the building must get the colors, both inside and outside, to stand out to the viewer. In the case of exteriors, the colors of the property’s surroundings must be visible as well.
Property photos may not always showcase the colors at their best due to various reasons like lighting, dust cover, etc. The paint/wallpaper could’ve faded with time as well or been damaged. The surrounding environment, structures’ colors, or the weather of the day could be subduing the otherwise fine exterior palettes.
Real estate photo retouching services can identify the problems preventing your property’s true colors from showing up and correct them accordingly. The image’s saturation, hue, tint, etc., will get adjusted to remove the imperfections and make them look as if they were brand new.
2. Orientation Correction
Properties look best at certain angles. Photographers seek out those angles and do their best to capture the best sides of their client’s properties. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen that way, and the images end up crooked. It is especially the case where small properties are involved; the space constraints make it difficult to get the proper angle and tilt.
Slanted lines are a sore sight in any property photo. Every edge of every wall must be in the photo as it is in reality. Such orientation correction is another one of the professional photo editing services that can be availed. Photo editing professionals will set right the angles of all edges and lines in the image to match that of the actual property so that it looks orderly and not lopsided.
3. Real Estate Photo Stitching
Sometimes, one image is not enough to cover everything that needs to be. It happens when the photographer can’t get a wide enough angle to cover everything in a room or the owner wants a 360 deg view of the entire room or compound.
This problem is solved by real estate photo editors using the technique of photo stitching. They take multiple images and put them together to create a single seamless image and cover everything that is required.
They ensure that there is no misalignment anywhere that could suggest that the image is a collage. Every aspect of the image would be paid attention to so that the result doesn’t end up with discrepancies anywhere.
4. Light Balancing
Light is everything in photography. Well-lit images are the goal of every photographer, even when shooting low-light scenarios. In real estate photography, lighting won’t always favor the photographer due to the confined nature of indoor spaces.
They often have to shoot in rooms with little to no light. Using artificial lighting could also give rise to a whole other set of problems, such as flashes reflecting off of unevenly shaped and colored objects. Overcast skies don’t do any favors either when shooting outside. Once they’ve done the best they can, it’s time for digital photo enhancement services to finish the job.
These experts will even out the lighting in the images so that there isn’t any disparity in it in any corner. They’ll remove dark shadows and fill that region with the correct amount of light to match the rest of the image and bring out the hidden details. You’ll be left with a pleasing image that shows everything there is to see in it.
5. Real Estate Sky Change
The state of the sky matters a lot when photographing a property with it in the background. Clear, blue skies are a staple for attracting viewers as they are known to induce emotions related to liveliness and warmth. Dull, cloudy skies on the other hand can dull the mood of the viewer as well, affecting their willingness to pursue the property deal.
You need the help of real estate photo retouching services to bring the sunshine back into the skies in the image if that’s not the case. Doing so not only alters the sky but also balances the light in the image, adding to the property’s appeal. A few bright clouds could also be added as a cherry on top if required without harming the view.
6. HDR Photo Editing
High Dynamic Ratio or HDR is an imaging technique where multiple images are combined into one to produce a high range of contrast and luminosity. These images are of the same subject or object with only the lighting differing between them. The subject must be shot in different bracketed images to achieve the desired effect.
Real estate photo enhancement services put this technique to good use to create rich and dynamic images. The expert teams can bring together images containing the entire range of lighting conditions, from direct sunlight to dim starlight. Meticulous attention to detail by them results in real estate photos that are crisp and catchy, with correct luminosity in the correct places.
Why Outsource To Real Estate Photo Editing Services?
Real estate photos most definitely need some editing, but the process is laborious and resource-intensive. Taking the in-house approach towards it may seem reassuring at the outset, but it will make running the business difficult due to its incessant demands.
The solution is to outsource your real estate photo editing needs to professional real estate photo editing services. Their dedicated team of experts will help you in the following ways:
1. Time-Saving
Time is money for business, so it must be spent most judiciously. Photo editing, being a time-consuming task, can eat into business hours that could otherwise get spent on operational ones. As editing is the business for digital photo enhancement services, it’s a win-win in terms of time for both you and them when you outsource it.
2. Cost-Saving
Photo editing requires investment in personnel, tech, and other associated equipment. You would also need to shell out subscription money for software used such as Photoshop and Lightroom. All of it is an overhead investment if photo editing services are not your main business. It could even turn into sunk costs rather quickly.
Outsourcing the same to a dedicated agency will save you money in the long run. They will have the necessary equipment and experts to provide you with the services you require. You’ll benefit from economies of scale as they can distribute their expenses over their many clients.
3. Expertise
Talent is the hardest resource to acquire, especially good talent. With improved skills comes increased costs too. The scarcity of such niche talent can add to the resource drain as well. It is, thus, the most challenging aspect of building an in-house photo editing team.
Real estate photo editing services have such talent on hand and are ready to go at a moment’s notice. Outsourcing to them means getting the quality of outcome you desire within your timeframe and budget. They’ll know the best techniques and technologies to use for the intended result and can add their years of experience to every edited image.
You’ll end up with professional-looking images of your property that will instantly appeal to any buyer or renter on the lookout for the same.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How To Edit Real Estate Photos?
Real estate photography comes with its unique challenges that require someone with the appropriate skills to solve them. Real estate photo editors use a combination of tools and experience to get the desired results. The common services they provide are color correction, light balancing, sky changing, HDR conversion, multi-photo stitching, etc.
2. How Long Does Real Estate Photo Editing Take?
The duration of the editing process is variable. It depends on the content to be covered in the image, the number of services required, customer demands, the editing team’s expertise and equipment, market performance(a booming real estate market brings more work hence more time will be taken), and many more. Consult with your agency before signing the contract.
3. Are Real Estate Agents Involved In The Process?
The decision to involve a real estate agent in the process of real estate photography is entirely up to the property owner. Those new to the property market are recommended to have the agent involved as their experience could prove valuable.
Those experienced in the property business need not have one by their side as they’ll be familiar with what is likely to work and what won’t. If time is a constraint, however, they could leave it to the real estate agent to manage the process for them.
4. Is It Necessary To Hire A Photographer For Real Estate Photography?
Unlike a selfie for social media, real estate photos need to look professionally made and should entice the buyer/renter. Unless you have the proficiency, it’s best to trust a real estate photographer with the job. The bonus is that your photographer could also provide the necessary real estate photo retouching services. In other cases, the editing agency could provide you with their photographer.
In Conclusion
Property deals are not easy for any side that’s involved. All those involved in it want to project their best to gain the most from them. Professional and appealing real estate photos of their property are the most potent tool that owners can have at their disposal in such circumstances. Real estate photo editing outsourcing services are the best partners that everyone can count on to deliver those real estate photos.
