How to Edit Real-Estate Photos to Perfection

Real-Estate photography is a crucial part of showcasing a property for sale, or rent, successfully. A well-edited, high-quality photo can make all the difference in catching a potential buyer or renter's attention, especially in a competitive space like real-estate. If you’re looking for tips on editing your real-estate photos to make them the best they can be, you’re in the right place.

In this post, you’ll discover more about real-estate photography and learn how you can edit your real-estate photos so they look absolutely flawless.

What are Real-Estate Photos?

Real-Estate is a growing photography niche. These types of transactions happen all over the world, which means taking real-estate photos is an accessible genre for photographers everywhere. That said, it’s more involved than you might think, as real-estate agents generally require a quick turnaround for photos.

Of course, potential buyers and renters also value the opportunity to experience a space through photos before committing to a viewing, and it’s often the first impression they have of a property. Real-estate photos (as well as architecture photos) help you set the tone for this impression and can help get potential interested parties through the door. 

Taking real-estate photos requires some basic equipment, which you can read more about here: How to Take Amazing Real-Estate Photos. These photos are used by homeowners, real-estate agents, architects, and home builders to showcase all types of properties, from residential homes to commercial spaces. There is even growing demand for real-estate stock photos, and often these photos are used for marketing and advertising purposes.

Real-Estate Photography Editing Tips

Ready to make your real-estate photos as appealing as they can possibly be? Achieving great photos that encourage people to drop in for a viewing takes a mix of skill and problem solving—during and after the shoot. 

So, are you ready to learn editing tips for making a property stand out? Here are our best ones.

Use HDR Merging.

HDR merging for bracketed images is a post-processing technique that ensures you end up with a range of options for editing. The use of HDR, or high dynamic range, provides you with an extended range of tones in your images, and it can be used to help you get exposure you want in dynamic or difficult lighting situations. This technique is achieved by combining several photographs (most often three) at different exposure settings.

Focus on photos that highlight the space’s best features.

You’ve just taken tons of photos, but you’ll need to whittle them down to the ones that really highlight the best features. Think breathtaking views, natural light, spacious kitchens, cozy fireplaces, luxurious bathtubs, or the perfect nook for relaxing in. 

Take photos that can help the viewer perceive larger gathering areas. Families love getting a good look at the main living areas, as it helps them decide whether or not they can envision hanging out together there.

Use PHAiTO.

PHAiTO is the Ai-editing photo tool that helps you achieve an amazing edit in just seconds. Not only that, but you can receive an edit in the style of your choosing, too. Simply select your Lightroom catalog, choose your desired look. We recommend Look VIII: Home, which has been created specifically  for real-estate and architecture photography. 

Using PHAiTO significantly boosts your productivity, and can cut your editing time by more than 75%. It’s also the perfect option for those who do not consider themselves professional photographers and are looking for professional real-estate photo editing services. 

As long as you have Lightroom, you can team up with PHAiTO, and our Ai photo editing software will help you achieve a great edit on your real-estate photos regardless of the editing experience you have.

Fine tune brightness and contrast. 

PHAiTO’s looks provide the perfect base edit for your photos and will generally help you achieve the brightness and contrast you desire. That said, you should feel free to brighten up the photo if it's still too dark, and adjust the contrast to bring out the details in the shadows and highlights if it makes sense to you.

Crop and straighten. 

You took the perfect photo… except—whoops—it’s looking a little lopsided. That’s no big deal, as long as you remember to straighten it and make it level. If you notice any distractions or unattractive features around the edges, use the crop tool to adjust the composition of the photo and remove them. 

If you’ve tried cropping and your photos still look distorted, try using auto-transform. This allows Lightroom to make adjustments to your image so the perspective looks natural and correct.

Remove distractions. 

When a home is staged for photos, it makes the real-estate photographer’s life way easier. But having a space staged before it’s photographed isn’t always an option. Elements like clutter, dirty dishes, or personal items can take away from the overall look of the photo. The good news? You can use the Clone Stamp tool in Lightroom to replace these distractions with a clean background. Start by pressing the “Alt” key and begin cloning over the object that you want to get rid of.

Choose a hero shot. 

When you follow the photo editing tips shared here, you’re bound to end up with a ton of great photos, but one of them is going to stand out from the rest. That’s your hero shot—-the one that’s guaranteed to grab the attention of interested parties and generate leads. 

Don't overdo it. 

When it comes to real-estate photography, clean and simple goes a long way. The editing process is important and helps enhance the appeal of the images, but be careful not to overdo it. People tend to be drawn to natural-looking photos, whereas heavily-edited photos can turn off potential buyers or renters.

Get the Most Out Of Your Real-Estate Photos

Editing real-estate photos is a crucial step in showcasing a property to potential buyers or renters. By following these tips and…

• Highlighting a space’s best features

• Removing distractions

• Ensuring the photo is straight

• Choosing a hero shot

• Not overdoing it

• Using Ai photo editing software PHAiTO 

… You can create beautiful photos that make a property look as appealing as it possibly can. 

At PHAiTO, we think editing should be breezy and easy. Want to try PHAiTO on your real-estate photos? Start your commitment-free trial today—no credit card details required.