Author: Rachelle Moore

Impressing potential buyers by showcasing beauty and creativity from you photos will make your house sell fast. You must show exciting portfolio once you put your house on sale online. Taking pictures of the exterior and the interior of the property are the first important things one must do. With virtual twilight readily available to add effects on your photos, it lessens the hassle of rescheduling appointments just to catch the sunset view. Moreover, if the weather does not permit to give you that spectacular sunset for your backdrop, virtual twilight photography will answer all of this.

Virtual twilight basically highlights the exterior part of the house that is transformed by special effects. This method not only makes the property more presentable but it also makes the property more appealing to buyers. Virtual twilight can increase the beauty and charm of the property most especially on the exterior. Because of the filters and assortment of colors, it enhances the property’s aesthetics to satisfy every human’s eye.

Tutorial on How to Master the Basics of Editing Twilights for Real Estate

You will master in this tutorial the basics of editing twilights for real estate and highlight both the outside part of the house as well as the modified warm indoor lights and cool saturation of the property at dusk. Other than improving the property’s image at this particular time of day, you could create emotions out of the property and make it more likeable for buyers. Virtual twilight will make your real estate photos stand out because it helps present a home under the evening glow.

Check out the instructions below on how to master the basics of editing twilights for real estate.

1. Pick two images with the best ambient exposures

• Choose two photos with the best ambient exposures
• Correct the luminance of a twilight exposure
• Consider making changes in temperature, exposure, contrast, shadows, etc.

The first thing to do is to select the best two images with the best ambient exposures, one for the sky and one for the foreground. Open these two images in Camera Raw. Although you will still need to correct the lens and increase the luminance of every twilight exposure, twilight shots require editing each of them differently in Camera Raw.

• • Some of the changes that you can make in the Camera Raw for the sky include
    • White Balance (Temperature is almost blue)
    • Exposure +60
    • Contrast +25
    • Highlights -25
    • Shadows 0
    • clarity +30
    • Vibrance +50
    • Saturation +30
    • Add Noise Reductio
    • Lens Profile Correction

In general, the sky exposure is cooler in temperature than the foreground exposure. You can use the Auto-White Balance as a good starting point.

2. Import HDR fused image, foreground exposure and sky exposure in the Photoshop

• Place fused images on layers and label them
• Duplicate layers before editing works start

You may now import HDR fused image, foreground exposure and sky exposure in the Photoshop as a backup and you may put your fused file on layer zero and label it. Place your foreground image on layer one and label it, and finally put your sky image on layer two. It is important to duplicate these layers before you begin editing.

3. Masking the sky layer

• Mask the blue sky using a paint brush
• Set paint brush to a lower opacity

Once the layers are duplicated, create an all-black layer mask on your sky layer and use a white paint brush to mask in the blue sky. You may consider setting your paint brush to a lower opacity so that the lines on the mask will not become obvious and the layers look seamless.

4. Merge the sky and foreground layers

• Merge sky layer and foreground layer
• Fused layer should be placed underneath the merged layer
• Decrease opacity of the merged layer

Once you’ve finished masking the sky layer into the foreground layer, merge these two layers and duplicate your merged layer. If the lightings in the images still need to be more balanced, place your fused layer underneath the merged and decrease the opacity on the merged layer to a desired amount and then merge these two layers.

5. Open file in five ASA

• Set nodes on the sky, house and windows, and elsewhere
• Increase saturation and decrease temperature in the sky
• Increase warmth and vibrance for the house and windows

Open your final merge in five ASA and set nodes on the sky, on the house and in the larger glowing windows. For the sky, increase saturation and decrease the temperature to make it bluer. For the house and windows, increase warmth and vibrance so that the windows will shine nicely against the backdrop of blue. You also considering setting nodes elsewhere in the house if there are dark shadows that are too intense, or if there are greeneries that needed to be more vibrant and saturated.

Watch this full tutorial below:

 

If you have zero knowledge in editing photos for your real estate business, Adobe Photoshop CC can help you acquire basic editing skills and tools such as Photoshop, brushes, navigation, and selection. Some of the skills you will learn include improving image quality, using special effects, retouching photos, and editing images using Camera Raw.

So if you’re ready to explore this beginner-friendly photo editing tool, read this guide.

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What You Need to Edit Photos

The photo editing essentials you need to have before you start learning how to use Adobe Photoshop CC are the following:

• A Macbook, personal computer, or a laptop.
• Adobe Photoshop CC software.
• Eagerness to learn this new skill.

How to Use Adobe Photoshop CC for Beginners

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use Adobe Photoshop CC software to edit your real estate photos:

1. Download the Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud.

Assuming you already have your computer set up to download the Adobe Photoshop CC, the first step is to download the software.

References Below:

• https://www.adobe.com/sea/creativecloud/desktop-app.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/creative-cloud-desktop-app-download.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/using/download-install-new-computer.html

2. Open up canvas and edit.

To open a canvas, click on the FILE button then go to “New”. The page layout or canvas must be in your preferred size. The recommended resolution for standard canvas is 300. Once you have already opened the application, make sure to save your layout.

You can use a large drive to save your real estate projects. If you want to ensure you got everything saved to avoid corrupted files, a backup drive is the best solution. Remember, Photoshop or psd files require large memory.

3. Preview your page layout.

To make sure your work is ready for saving, you need to preview your canvas. That way, you can see areas that still need further editing or require some changes to make them look even better.

4. Check out the essential tools.

In your tool box, there are plenty of things you can use to improve the overall appeal of your real estate images. You can find this on your screen’s left side. It’s important to understand how these tools work in order to take advantage of their special features when editing photos. Perhaps, you need to be more familiar with the Click tool.

5. Explore the folders, grouping, and colors setting.

On your screen, check the right side to see the artwork and file storage settings. You will also find a wide range of colors including figures and shapes on that side. The Layer setting is available for adjusting images while keeping your layout separate in the artwork.

• Color Settings 
• Layer Groups in Photoshop
• Select, group, and link layers

You can rearrange the layers to properly position images in front or behind other images. Again, don’t forget to click “Save” to make sure the actions you’ve made are saved.

6. Unlock background layers.

A locked layer will show a lock symbol. If you want to unlock it, then you need to double click on the layer until a new layer appears on your screen. To avoid getting confused, name your files while adding more layers on your canvas. If you want to add more layers, right click on the layer and then “Duplicate Layer or New Layer”.

7. Familiarize the layers.

When editing a project, you need to use multiple layers in order to separate colors, background, or circle. This makes editing much easier and manageable. In the setting, the top layer is automatically in front of other layers. Don’t worry because the layers can be moved according to the order you want.

8. Make your circle.

Select a layer by clicking on it. From the Edit tab, go to Stroke and then Stroke Pixel to change the colors on your foreground or background. On that layer, click on the Edit and then scroll down in order to fill it with your preferred color. Click OK and see if the shape looks like a circle before you can click select and deselect.

9. Choose a second new layer.

Choose a new layer and name it if you want. Select the gradient in your tool box, but there are other options you can choose if you want to create more colors at a specific angle. After creating a gradient, don’t forget to click Save. After that, you can work on another background.

10. Create a more interesting layout.

Once you have created your folders and arranged them in proper order, it’s time to stylize your masterpiece. Take the file in which you set gradient to and then right click to duplicate layer. It’s important to duplicate the layer so that you can easily remove any styling options when needed.

For some layers that are not in use, go to the duplicate layer and then click on the Eye symbol. Click Filter at the top of the screen to search for styling options. Save your work once you’re done.

Conclusion:

If you’re just beginning to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop CC in editing your images, these basic steps are helpful. However, there are so many ways you can use this editing software in order to achieve the exact design you need for your real estate projects.

This simple guide provides the basic editing skills you can learn from using Adobe Photoshop CC program—the perfect solution for beginners.

For real estate photo editing services, please visit this link.

Featured photo credit: https://colorlib.com/wp/free-photoshop-actions/

In taking photographs of houses and other real estate properties, there are always challenging things that photographers face. The technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) makes the work of the photographer easier. When he shoots photos from the inside, all the details of the room are obviously visible. What is remarkable is that the view outside the window does not look overexposed.

The use of light is the primary idea when it comes to photography. Yet many of the photographers nowadays are making use of HDR as a solution and emerging alternative to flash guns and the use of multiple lights. In using HDR Photography, the delivery of a fresh and great looking image is exemplary but has a natural feel to it. By the way, an HDR is a set of photos taken at different exposures.

What to Expect when Making an HDR Real Estate Photo?

When real estate photos are made in HDR, you will expect that textures are enhanced through manual contrast. When the textures are enhanced, the quality of the photo becomes better. You can add different details for a total makeover of the photo. Similarly, HDR can bring down the brightness of the real estate photo by balancing the inside part with the brightness of the outside.

In HDR, tone mapping is done after achieving a final product. Real estate properties that underwent HDR, require fine tuning and perfect adjustment. The final product does not rely much on the skills of the editor but on his familiarity in using Lightroom. Agents are always in the hunt for this kind of editor who can really create more appealing and stunning photos that will increase their chances of a sale.

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Simple Steps to Make HDR Real Estate Photos using Lightroom

1. Import the Photos

The most basic thing to do if you want to make HDR real estate photos using Lightroom is to import the photos that you’re going to use. These photos are taken at different exposures usually in 5 shots: underexposed, a little less underexposed, photo categorized somewhere in between, overexposed, and the one that’s completely blown out. The purpose is to smash all the properties of these different shots into one amazing super photo.

Choose import settings [source guide]

You can import from a computer, hard drive, or camera into your Lightroom Classic catalog.

Importing from a computer or hard drive:

• On the left, select folder(s) of photos to import. If you don’t see your photos, make sure Include Subfolders is checked.

• At the top, click Add to import without moving photos.

• You can uncheck photos you don’t want to import.

• On the right, you can choose additional import options.

2. Collecting all the Photos

• To get all the photos.
• Click the first one.
• Hold Shift.
• And click on the last photo.

You need to Right click your Lightroom screen, to come up with Photo Merge then choose HDR. HDR auto-aligns and auto-tones all the merged photos. You will see in the Preview the raw HDR.

3. Making Adjustment

If you’re taking multiple exposures and something’s moving through that frame, the Deghost Amount is going to eliminate that problem. In case no movement is seen in the raw HDR, simply hit the Merge button to generate an HDR photo and drop that into the timeline. At this point, you had just edited 5 photos simultaneously to produce one single photo. The shadows are exposed properly and all the other spaces in the picture have exposures that are perfectly balanced. Take note that this photo is still raw in nature as you still need to add Black or White points.

Video tutorial credit to Peter McKinnon

In the current picture, Lightroom will suggest the best Black point and White point would be. All you need to do is hold Shift and double-click on Black. Just do the same with White point. And instantly, you will see the new HDR photo. You now have the option to Export this photo or edit the photo to your liking by selecting the preset that best fits your photo before you Export.

More tips here: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/hdr-photo-merge.html

For photo editing services contact us at this page.

Real estate photography is a profitable business at its best. However, to be successful in this field, it requires more than just having the perfect lens and essential photography skills. That is because given that the industry of real estate photography has a lot of competition, one has to be at least better than the average to experience the decent and stable income that this kind of business offers.

With that said, honing one’s skills with experience is highly recommended. Yet, any novice real estate photographer should recognize that for these experiences to count, each must always be done smartly—making sure that all the remarkable skills and attitudes are always tapped, if not thoroughly enhanced.

To help you become that real estate photographer every client would come running after, you must take note of having the following:

1. Color Correction

Preserving the authenticity of an image is one of the most necessary aspect of creating a good real estate shot. Capturing a variety of color contamination issues, on the other hand, is what makes capturing the rawness of your shot reference a challenging pursuit. To achieve a realistic image without having to sacrifice the quality of your photo, you should be able to practice employing color correction skills.

In correcting the overall tone and color, you must opt for manually doing the color blending than simply using Photoshop’s Normal Blend Mode so as not to lose the texture while being able to keep the authenticity of the image.

2. Image Enhancement

As much as you need to keep the details of the shot similar to the original, real estate photography is also about assuring that the property’s selling points are emphasized.

The enhancement of these selling points to the peak of its glory and beauty is a result of incorporating the following editing techniques so that every aspect of the photo adds up exactly to how you envisioned these selling points:

• Photo manipulation
• Perspective correction
• Color cast removal
• Noise reduction

3. Addition of Details

Persuading potential buyers through photography necessitates the element of providing them the ‘feel’ of how living is like in such a place. Hence, adding more details through decoration such as furniture and smaller details within the said could help feed the buyers’ nature of attention to detail. For example, when positioned properly, furniture could help improve the flow of light in that said space and in turn, exposing how much space is left and what use could be made out of it.

4. HDR Photography Editing

With this technique, a unique shot is made upon achieving sharper details with the use of balancing the brightest spots captured by different lighting. HDR photography editing is done by blending multiple exposures to match the captured image to what is closer to what a human eye can see. Other than that, this method is also used for balancing the external view with the intensity of light found inside the interior space.

5. Removes Imperfection

Removing unnecessary objects together with the use of working on white balance, hues, saturation, and alignment of vertical and horizontal lines are all considered necessary for correcting the effects of external factors on the captured image.

6. Offers a Reasonable Price

Aside from delivering top quality photos, offering affordable rates for your service not only boosts your sales due to increased market attraction, but also helps you build connection in the field of real estate photography—a combination of which is sure to pay you back several folds than putting out sky-high pricing on a single project.

7. Easy to work with

Your portfolio might not reflect how well you’ve worked with your clients, but the number of your future projects will surely communicate it. So, aside from committing to the agreed-upon contract, you should also make necessary adjustments, if the situation calls for it. Clarifying details about the copyright to your image should also be addressed at the earliest possible time to avoid confusion and possible conflicts of interest.

8. Creative and Flexible

Understandably, you have your style of doing things and a working process where you’re most effective. However, not all clients are the same inasmuch as their preferences. Therefore, you should always be open to exploration and avoid limiting your creativity just to what you’re comfortable with.

9. Great Time Management Skills

Submitting your work on time or earlier is an edge to any industry especially to the likes of real estate photography—which is not only challenging but also a competitive field. Agree on a deadline you know you can pull off, and complete the project in a timely fashion.

10. Passionate and Committed

Completing every project as a real estate photographer includes practicing a wide variety of photography and editing skills, as well as people skills—there are lot of ways to be discouraged in such setting that’s why if you want to stand out from the crowd, you should learn not to lean on the expectation that everything will go smoothly as planned. Rather, on your passion and commitment especially when unexpected problems arise.

Post-processing of real estate photos usually takes a lot of time. Photographers spend hours in enhancing photos of a property through editing and retouching in order to produce amazing yet realistic images that are sure to attract potential buyers of the listing, and convert them to customers.

When it comes to editing real estate photos, Adobe Photoshop comes first on the list of preferred and standard image editing software available in the market. Whether you’re a professional or a rookie in the world of real estate photography, it is likely that you make use of Photoshop in editing your images. The software’s steady rise over the years is because of the exceptional standards and variety of tools it offers its users.

However, with the many tools that Photoshop has made available to its thousands of users, you might be at a loss in deciding what tools to use and to incorporate in your workflow in improving the quality of your real estate photos through post-processing.

Top Photoshop Tools Every Real Estate Photographer Should Use

• Curves tool

A handy tool that can enhance the quality of your work is Curves. This is a vital and extensive tool that can help you perform color correction on your real estate photos in Photoshop. Since this is an extensive and intricate tool, you have to constantly practice using this in order to get the hang of it.
You can effectively and smoothly improve the coloration of your images through these simple steps. First, open the photo in Photoshop and select ‘Photo’, then ‘Adjustments’ and then, ‘Curves’. Next, click ‘Auto’ on the dialog box that will pop up. You will see a diagonal line—by dragging it up, the image will brighten; and by dragging it down, the image will darken. Drag this diagonal line as you see fit and once you have achieved your desired result, click ‘OK’ to apply the effect.

• Hue and Saturation

For color correction, the most frequently used tools are Hue and Saturation. This provides you a wide range of options that can be used for different real estate photo editing requirements which makes it a very important Photoshop tool. It may be difficult to master at first, but you will find that it can reduce your job as it helps correct the most common error of adjusting the grass and greens on your image.
You can accentuate the greenery by following these steps. Open your desired photo in Photoshop and select ‘Image’. Choose ‘Adjustments’ and click on ‘Hue and Saturation’. From the dialog box that pops up, select ‘Yellow’ from the drop-down menu. Adjust the Lightness to -5, Saturation to -5, and the Hue to +15. Then, select ‘Green’ from the drop-down menu and once again, make the same adjustments to Lightness, Saturation, and Hue. Lastly, click ‘OK’ for the effect to take place.

• Clone Stamp tool

Sometimes, you will find that there is dirt or blemish that may be obscuring your image, making it less attractive for potential buyers. You can eliminate these by using the Clone Stamp tool. With this, you can efficiently remove unwanted details on your photos while exercising good control over the brush, creating a cloning effect that appears natural.

You can utilize this tool by selecting the ‘Clone Stamp tool’ in the tool bar. Next, choose the source area by positioning the cursor over the area that you intend to duplicate, and Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac). Then, you can start painting over the detail that you want to remove.

• Image processor tool

This tool proves to be very helpful when you have plenty of images that need resizing. In essence, this is a time-saving tool that allows you to effectively change the size of pictures in batches as per the requirements of the client.

To use the Image Processor tool, select File menu, and click on ‘Image Processor’. Choose ‘Select Folder’ from the dialog box that pops up, and save it in the same location. Then, choose the file type as ‘JPEG’ and click on ‘Resize to fit’ then, put in your desired dimensions. Make sure to select ‘Include ICC Profile’ and click on ‘Run’.

By simply employing these tools, you can create remarkable real estate photos easily and competently. Remember to practice using these tools every time you edit your images for you to develop an efficient workflow. This will help you have a quick turnaround that can certainly become your edge among thousands of real estate photographers in the industry.