Author: Rachelle Moore

  • Effectively Using iPhone 14 to Take Professional Real Estate Photos

    Effectively Using iPhone 14 to Take Professional Real Estate Photos

    Digital technology has significantly improved how we do things, from photography to real estate video editing. Before smartphones, taking great images took a lot of time and effort to share pictures online. Nowadays, bringing hefty cameras and lenses is a burden due to their size and weight. 

    The newest iPhone 14 captures high-quality photos and does your real estate editing so that you won’t need cameras or laptops! For best results, you can have professionally-done photo editing to complement the work you’ve done so far.

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    These are pointers on how to produce great real estate images with your iPhone 14:

    1. Make use of natural light

    We’re all aware that we need light to shoot images. If you want to snap photographs outside during the day, you may feel that light is the least of your problems. While this is somewhat correct, natural outdoor lighting impacts the photograph’s overall aesthetic, especially in real estate photo editing. 

    Natural light has various properties; it may exude warm or chilly tones or mild or harsh. While you can edit the tones and lighting in Photoshop, your photography can benefit from excellent use of natural light, especially for outdoor shots.

    External circumstances like the weather and the time of day determine the light quality. With the iPhone 14, taking photos with natural light is recommended, and it avoids being over-exposed (just like when using flash). The iPhone 14 gives the feeling of having its own real estate photo editing service. 

    2. Maintain your grip

    Having steady hands is crucial when taking photos because it helps prevent blurry images and allows you to have the best quality ready for real estate photo editing. iPhone 14 has camera stabilization called Optical Image Stabilization (OIS).

    If you are not using a tripod, you can tuck your elbows in for balance and use two hands to capture photos. You may also adjust your shutter speed to your desire for finer images, especially when you’re preparing for real estate editing.

    3. Look for diverse viewpoints

    Taking photos from the same angle may look dull. Capturing pictures from different angles will significantly help you when using real estate video editing. Your potential customers will be more excited to view the property as it captivates them.

    The most basic angles you can try are: 

    • Standing Level
    • Wide-angle property shot
    • High Angle

    Don’t worry if you cannot perfect it on your first try. Practice your angle shots, and you can get the hang of it over time.

    4. Take note of your image composition

    Every space is unique, and there is no set formula for filming on location. The most straightforward technique to get the finest composition for your photograph is to stroll around and determine which perspective points are appropriate for the particular room before real estate editing. 

    Typically, the most fantastic spot to put up your tripod is from the corners or from an angle that best conveys the space. A professional would snap shots from more than one vantage point so that the chances are in their favor when they look at their images in post-processing.

    5. Use the zoom function

    The current iPhone 14 Pro camera zoom is the best it has ever been. For the first time, Apple offers 2x and 3x optical zoom. To zoom in and out, pinch the screen. After determining the best perspective and focusing on the property, you can zoom in to make the property’s details more evident and distinct, even without a real estate photo editing service.

    6. Check out the Live Photo option

    With Apple’s live photographs, you can easily capture the perfect shot for your real estate photo editing service. They put your images to life by converting them into gif-like 1.5-second films that capture the moments before and after you take a shot.

    Instead of a single static image, it records real-life movement and background sound, allowing you to select the perfect moment in time for your finest photograph and best viewpoint of the property.

    7. Return to the same area at various times of day

    Because of the iPhone 14’s excellent low-light capabilities, you can capture shots outside midday and not compromise the quality of real estate photo editing. Sunrises and sunsets are often darker, but they may reward you with gorgeous sky colors and fantastic lighting contrast.

    If you have additional time, it’s worth doing a twilight shot at least once for the property, and this will set your photographs apart from those of other real estate brokers.

    8. Crop your images for better results

    You may take an image and then discover anything in it that you wish to trim out. A simple real estate photo editing will do the trick. To utilize the Crop function, open the image from the camera roll and click Edit. The crop tool is located at the bottom. Click on it, and then move the image’s sides or corners to anywhere you like. Suppose your horizon is skewed; spin and straighten it with two fingers. Alternatively, you may use the dial just below the image.

    9. Create videos

    These days, potential buyers want to see the property, so most sellers create videos like a house tour. Real estate agencies who use video listings on their websites receive 400% more leads than those who do not. According to a recent poll (National Association of Realtors), 73% of sellers prefer to list with an agency that employs video listings. real estate videos may only deliver a wealth of information.

    Customers may view room size, location, floor layout, and other property aspects without extensive research. It also makes sense to develop a teaser video to captivate and show them its benefits. Luckily, the iPhone 14 can capture superior videos and prime settings for your real estate video editing.  

    Bottomline

    The iPhone 14 provides options on how you want your memorable photos to be. It offers a variety of set-ups for your real estate photography essentials. It is user-friendly, and this guide will help you get more property leads.

  • The Top 4 Best Photography Filters for Beautiful Real Estate Photos

    The Top 4 Best Photography Filters for Beautiful Real Estate Photos

    Modern technology has enhanced the quality of digital filters to improve the appearance of plain photographs. Nowadays, you can easily edit images on your smartphone with creative preset app filters for various purposes like social media posting or marketing.

    Most available filters are whimsical, imaginative, and romantic, so they’re not great for post-production of real estate images. If you’re fond of social media, you may use some filters to add spice or excitement to your selfies and video calls.

    You need the best filters for real estate pictures; but initially, you have to know why filters are essential in the first place.

    The importance of using filters

    There are different natural elements affecting photographs that you can’t control, like sunlight brightness or UV rays. You may not have enough time to wait for a favorable temperature or setting, so filters can help you achieve good color, saturation, and temperature balance.

    You should use filters that are as natural as possible if you want a suitable photo filter for selling house. After all, one of the primary reasons why you have to make excellent real estate photography involves bringing in sales, improving marketing efforts, and completing conversions.

    Filter shapes

    You may be ready to purchase your first filter but don’t know which is the best filter for home photos. Before going into the different filters for real estate photography, let’s address the filter shapes. Currently, circle and square are the two standard filter shapes available in the market. 

    Circular filters

    A circular filter can be attached directly in front of your lens, so purchase one that fits the corresponding lens diameter; this information is available on your lens cap backside. If you want your filter to accommodate different camera diameters, you can purchase a step-down or step-up ring.

    Square filters

    Square filters can sometimes come in square or rectangular form and are part of an attachable contraption, typically in a bracket attached to a round ring that you can screw in front of your camera lens. A square or rectangle filter is stackable and easy to change, making it an excellent photo filter for selling houses. You need to plan if you want to purchase the bracket or filter system so that you don’t end up wasting money on it. Eventually, you’ll develop your style and technique using different filter combinations.

    You may wonder what filter do real estate photographers use to create successful listing images. Here are some of the primary camera filters for beautiful real estate photos:

    1. Ultraviolet (UV) Filters

    The Ultraviolet (UV) filter is perhaps one of the essential filters newbie photographers use. Ultraviolet light has shorter wavelengths than visible light, and the Sun releases a full ultraviolet radiation spectrum defined as UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C. Even though it is almost unnoticeable to the human eye, it can cause blue tones in photographs. Before using a Photoshop filter for selling house, you must ensure that your photos don’t have unnecessary bluish tones that would ruin the composition and color balance.

    Here are the pros and cons of UV filters:

    • Reducing UV light exposure
    • Protecting lens from scrapes and scratches
    • Protecting lens from liquids, dust, sea salt, and other elements
    • Slightly lowering image quality
    • Not protecting the camera from internal damage
    • Reducing the light passing into the camera

    A UV filter is one of the essential real estate photography filters, especially for those operating under harsh sunlight, like outdoor real estate photographers.

    2. Circular Polarizer (CPL) Filters or Polarizers

    Photographers often use a circular polarizer filter (CPL) for landscape, outdoor, and street photography. The CPL is one of the best filters for real estate pictures, especially when shooting outdoor real estate property listing photos.

    Here are the pros and cons of CPL filters:

    • Reducing reflections
    • Increasing saturation
    • Enhancing cloud details
    • Allowing limited light
    • Not ideal for indoor shoots

    A CPL filter is useful when shooting in high sunlight and not ideal when shooting images for virtual staging.

    3. Neutral Density (ND) Filters of Varying Densities

    Adobe Lightroom presets could improve any image, but the next item on the list is one of the most versatile and arguably the best filter for home photos. Photographers use a neutral density (ND) filter to create a shallower depth of field, create motion with a slow shutter speed, and reduce light over the whole picture. ND Filter comes in square and circle variants.

    Here are the pros and cons of ND filters:

    • Capturing a beautifully shallow field depth using a wider aperture
    • Producing motion blur and long exposures for a more extended duration using a slower shutter speed
    • Creating dramatic effects for lawn, foliage, sky, fog, and cloud scenes

    There is more than one ND filter type with different densities for advanced photographers, so feel free to experiment and explore which suits your style best.

    4. Graduated Color Filter

    If you want that wow factor in one of your real estate listing photos, you can use the graduated color filter to help achieve the best real estate photographs. This filter lets you get creative with the skyscape and brings you the same effect as a twilight replacement edit. It allows you to enhance the color on one half of the photo and retain the normal lighting condition on the other.

    When you ask what filter do real estate photographers use, the graduated color filter is not at the top of the list since it presents a more creative approach than the usual realistic property listing photos. It has a specific purpose, mainly to enhance outdoor views such as the sky or sea. 

    Conclusion

    Filters improve real estate photographs, whether a photoshop filter for selling house or a camera filter, especially when you’re up against millions of real estate listing photos. Most of the ones mentioned in this list are filters ideal for outdoor property images.

    If something is wrong with your raw shoots, you may consider getting filters on your digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. Phixer and most post-production professionals know what kind of filter works best for specific real estate listings.

  • How Excellent Exterior Shots Make Huge Real Estate Difference

    How Excellent Exterior Shots Make Huge Real Estate Difference

    Most of the time, real estate clients decide whether they would pursue further or not just by seeing the exterior shots of a listed property. Thus, showcasing the facade of a house, office building, or apartment is an agent’s make-or-break opportunity.

    It is also important to back up a stunning photo with realistic expectations shall the prospective client decide to visit the property personally. Still, the first phase of getting leads and possible sales relies heavily on head-turning imagery. Here are the hows and whys about using excellent exterior shots in real estate.

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    Customer’s First Impression

    Wherever you list properties, the law of first impression applies. Using the main image, the goal is to make prospects see a picture of themselves and their family living in that house. It should give a lasting impression that it is an ideal place for living before laying out other perks in an attempt to close the sale.

    However, many clients in real estate knew the tricks behind these over-enhanced photos. Hence, staying honest with presenting the property and combining this magnificent showcasing with truthful description is crucial.

    The Challenges Of The Market’s Short Attention Span

    As mentioned, leaving a remarkable impact on the listing’s main picture keeps your prospects glued and open to your pitches. Although they are spellbound, it won’t last very long because other property listings will try to grab their attention.

    Hence, you need to figure out a way to survive the consumers’ quick attention span. Marketers know that one of the best ways to counter this is a constant reminder through email and other channels. Fortunately, you can make it more effective with brilliant headlines and more fantastic exterior photos of the property they’ve previously seen as its content.

    The Added Luxury Vibe: Shoot That Pool!

    Some real agents have discovered the allure of a pool in its pristine condition. Thus, top-performing listings in terms of clicks and lead generation were from inventories that showcased exteriors of properties that included a clean swimming pool.

    Compared to the image of a sloppy lawn, both underground pools and above ground pools emit a luxury vibe. This scene strongly conveys that the property is a perfect deal for a buyer seeking gratification from a magnificent real estate purchase.

    While shooting pool sceneries is not difficult, it still requires precise execution for the best results. Experts would advise cleaning up the setting and offering good lighting to capture a visual material that will yield fantastic sales and lead generation outcomes.

    Takeaway

    If set side by side with listings that display bathrooms, entertainment areas, and living rooms, presentations that involve exteriors as the welcoming image perform a mile better. As such, not exhausting the faculty of excellent exteriors is a missed opportunity for any veteran marketer or salesperson utilizing today’s digital channels.

    Incorporating exterior photography with your arsenal of sales abilities is a good start in establishing a gap between you and your real estate rivals. As the competition becomes tighter, it is essential not to miss any chance that could put your presentations above others.

  • What is Virtual Staging in Real Estate – A Useful In Depth Guide

    What is Virtual Staging in Real Estate – A Useful In Depth Guide

    Staging is a method of curating and orchestrating visuals used in different industries to suit specific purposes. Real estate editors have developed virtual staging to digitally improve and customize a space into art that potential homebuyers would love. As the industry evolves and embraces more innovative marketing approaches, virtual staging has become a powerhouse that most real estate practitioners have practiced over the past years.

    We’ll cover the following topics in this blog post:

    • What is virtual staging?
    • Why do you need virtual staging?
    • Virtual staging pros and cons
    • Why is virtual staging a real estate marketing must-have?
    • Rules for virtual staging
    • Dressing up the emptiness with virtual staging
    • How to prepare for virtual staging
    • Virtual staging apps and software for real estate agents
    • How to start your own virtual staging business
    • How Phixer compares to other virtual staging companies
    • Bottomline

    What is Virtual Staging?

    The visual appeal brings in real estate buyers, so staging has been customary for companies looking to promote their properties in development through home staging or creating staged real estate rooms, homes, and properties.

    Let’s talk about the definition of virtual staging and how it differs from other real estate staging methods available in the market.

    what is virtual staging

    Virtual staging is a digital alteration or renovation of a room, home, or property to improve its appearance. It’s the digital equivalent of a showroom or home staging minus the expensive budget since you can get one for as low as $10. You can do virtual staging through an app or hire real estate photography post-production professionals like Phixer.

    Virtual staging is currently one of the most used real estate photography post-production techniques due to its realistic approach to design. Read more about it in our virtual staging introductory post.

    Aside from the definition, part of understanding virtual staging is knowing the relevant operational words in the industry. You need to understand their jargon, terms, and language before you hire a virtual staging company for effective communication.

    These are some of the words you need to familiarize while dealing with virtual staging in the real estate industry:

    • Computer-Aided Design (CAD) – creating and rendering designs using graphic software through a computer.
    • Furniture replacement or virtual furniture – digitally altering, removing, or replacing the furniture pieces in the image.
    • Furniture set – the theme or motif of furniture designs for specific areas.
    • High-definition (HD) or high-resolution (hi-res) – the quality of images wherein the graphics are more detailed, starting from 720p or 1280×720. The higher the resolution, the better the quality.
    • Rendering – translating computer-generated vectors and figures into a final image.
    • Revisions – changes or corrections.
    • Staging artist – an individual proficient in using 2D or 3D software to stage photos.
    • Staging catalog – a collection of decors, furniture, or appliances for virtual staging.
    • Three-dimensional (3D) – creating graphics with width, length, depth, and volume to seem realistic.
    • Turnaround time – the timeframe for the overall project process from start to finish.
    • Two-dimensional (2D) – images or illustrations that are flat with only length and width like a floor plan.
    • Uploading or importing – sending raw photos to the virtual staging company for post-production.
    • Virtual home staging or digital staging – altering graphics for rooms and homes to suit specific demographic.
    • Virtual staging app – a program accessible through a device that offers virtual staging services.
    • Virtual staging company – a firm that offers virtual staging services.

    You can explore the common terminologies used in virtual staging.

    Now that you know what virtual staging means and have familiarized yourself with the terminologies, it’s time to explore its significance, especially in the real estate industry. Market demand is a business owner’s first consideration, and with the many virtual staging companies available, you can establish that there’s rising demand.

    There are several reasons you should do virtual staging for your real estate, as outlined in the next section.

    Why Do You Need Virtual Staging?

    Staging for real estate marketing primarily aims to attract potential buyers to your home or property. Outside of sales, there are different reasons why you should take advantage of the latest virtual staging techniques and technologies available online.

    dining virtual staging

    Here are six significant reasons why you need to virtually stage your home before selling:

    • High selling rate. Virtual staging saves you time by selling your home faster. According to the National Association of Realtors, staged properties spend 31% less time on the market, and selling fast translates to saved advertising and marketing costs.
    • Refurbished look. Virtual home staging also acts as a pre-renovation image or style guide. Some home sellers want to improve their home or property price, so they do actual refurbishing before selling.
    • Attractiveness. Digital staging entices buyers from out of town by showing an alternative picture to the ones they’re used to.
    • Customization. Virtual staging can appeal to multiple demographics by customizing how rooms look and adding rooms specific to their needs. Doing this style the traditional way would be expensive.
    • Better impression. Virtual home staging improves the appearance of the house if the current state is in disarray. Most of the photos you put on the internet stay there, so it’s better to have staged pictures than ones unsuitable for selling.
    • Privacy. You can tell a lot about some through his dwelling. Most homes have history, and the decorations have sentimental meaning and value. Altering or removing those personal items through virtual staging makes the listing more impersonal and suited for the next home buyer.

    Home sellers love virtual staging because it allows them to choose the perfect look that matches their property. A general would not overdo the edits because the listing would look dubious and suspicious. This post talks about virtual staging to sell a home in more detail.

    Even real estate photography professionals approve of using virtual staging as a post-production method. Their considerations involve saving time, money, and effort using innovative and creative technology.

    These are the common reasons why accomplished real estate photographers choose virtual staging:

    • Customizable. Shooting homes often come with unexpected circumstances like bad weather or unsuitable lighting conditions. Instead of reshooting, retaking, or returning another day, a photographer can take the photos and hand them to virtual staging companies for post-production magic.
    • Lesser costs. Efficient time and effort utilization is money saved. Some real estate projects operate on specific timeframes, so making mistakes could be costly. Fortunately, virtual staging can fix those mistakes at a lower cost than reshooting.
    • Modifications and upgrades. Photographers use virtual staging to upgrade the look and feel of the room and elevate its online presence.
    • Better scaling and dimensions. There may be lens or camera issues while shooting, causing some corners to look warped or strange. Virtual staging can modify the dimensions and scale to suit your needs.

    Real estate photographers understand the impact of visual appeal on how well the properties perform in a listing, so they rely on cutting-edge and realistic virtual staging technology to help them with their job. You can read the more detailed post on why professional real estate photographers prefer virtual staging.

    Photographers are not the only ones who appreciate the value of virtual staging since realtors and homebuyers enjoy the effects of excellent digital home staging or virtual renovations. Similar to virtual staging’s intended function, virtual refurbishing shows a space’s potential.

    These are some of the reasons why realtors and homebuyers love digital renovations:

    Everyone in the real estate industry can benefit from the visual appeal brought about by virtual staging, whether it’s a seller, buyer, photographer, or agent. Learn more about how homebuyers and realtors benefit from virtual staging.

    Virtual Staging Pros and Cons

    You’ve already learned about the definition and terminologies and the different reasons sellers, buyers, realtors, and photographers like virtual staging. It’s essential to explore the reasonings from both sides to get a clear picture of its advantages and disadvantages.

    the pros and cons of virtual staging

    Like most technological advancements, virtual staging has its corresponding pros and cons, and it is an innovation that shows promise and potential for greatness. However, some buyers may be disappointed by overly realistic virtual staging images on rundown properties. After discussing why it is such a thing nowadays, let’s examine its marketing benefits.

    These are the pros of virtual staging in the real estate marketing industry:

    • Home and property preview. Your rooms and property will look ready for occupancy even if you still have your items and objects in the home.
    • Cost-effective staging method. You don’t need to renovate the space to accommodate your desired design.
    • Saves cleanup time. You don’t have to clean extensively before a real estate photo shoot.
    • Quick turnaround. Most virtual stage companies offer turnaround times as low as 8 hours.
    • Extensive style selection. Virtual stagers often have a comprehensive catalog of furniture and objects that aren’t readily accessible.

    You can learn more in this post that discusses the real estate marketing benefits of doing virtual staging. Aside from the real estate marketing industry, virtual staging has its corresponding advantages and disadvantages compared to home staging.

    These are some of the home staging pros and cons:

    Pros:

    • In-person setup. An open house could also double as a networking event, which you can’t achieve in digital photos or videos.
    • Actual live items. Clients can see and touch objects for real, so they can walk and explore without seeing images first.

    Cons:

    • Offers a low value for money tradeoff. A model home costs substantially more than the few dollars needed for a virtual staging photo.
    • Time-consuming. Physically staging a room or home takes much time to complete, and virtual staging is considerably faster.

    Now, let’s look at the other side of the coin. How is virtual staging beneficial or detrimental in comparison to home staging? Is virtual staging a suitable alternative to home staging? What differences in approach and style could affect how a potential buyer could view the property for sale?

    These are the virtual staging pros and cons compared to home staging:

    Pros:

    • Cost-effective. The first and most apparent benefit is the low virtual staging cost. You won’t need to prepare funds or locations in advance outside of the intended photo shoot.
    • Marketplace advantage. Virtually staged images will have better traction than a physically-made staging effort.
    • Attractive and detailed images. You can enhance and improve photos to your liking.
    • Catalogs. Most virtual staging companies have a wide range of interior design items like furniture or accessories.
    • Quicker turnaround time. An excellent graphics team can whip up an entire listing worth of staged images in lesser time than it takes to redecorate a single room.

    Cons:

    • Needs graphic expertise. The downside to virtual staging is that you can’t easily do it yourself without proper tools or guidance. Relying on amateurs could make the image look fake, so technically, home staging is easier for newbies.
    • Multiple revisions. Sometimes, you don’t get what you want the first time and consume more time with modifications. This is a common issue with all graphic-related work, not just virtual staging.

    Read more about the pros and cons of virtual staging compared to home staging to determine if you should opt for digital modifications or redecorate your home before the photo shoot.

    Why is Virtual Staging a Real Estate Marketing Must-have?

    Virtual staging has been a real estate photography staple for years, and it’s one of the many technologies that make home and property photos look more beautiful. However, there are critical marketing advantages for home sellers and realtors alike that make virtual staging valuable even after several years.

    These are the reasons why virtual staging is a necessary real estate marketing tool:

    • Your home and property listings will sell faster.
    • Your clients will know the best features before an on-site visit.
    • Attractively staged homes are trustworthy for clients.
    • Improved photos can compete with similar property listings.
    • Staged pictures fetch more than the asking price.
    • Improved conversion rate.
    • Higher return on investment.

    You can read more about the facts and figures in this post about virtual staging’s real estate marketing effectiveness.

    Rules for Virtual Staging

    Virtual staging is an art, but you shouldn’t just make your edits without a solid plan beforehand. You should follow guidelines to make it an effective real estate marketing tool and stand out in a listing with thousands of beautiful home and property photos competing for buyer attention.

    These are the virtual staging rules you should observe:

    • Understand your client or potential client’s preferences. The first step is planning the buyer’s needs or wants from a listing so that you can take the design direction in the right place. You wouldn’t want to waste virtual staging effort on an image that’s not custom-fitted to the potential buyer’s expectations.
    • Choose designs that are realistic and reasonable. Virtual staging is treading the thin line between realism and creativity. Most people may have trust issues if the photo looks too computer-generated. Remember that you’re enhancing the existing image with staging, not competing.
    • Have a house theme and match the furnishings or decor. Motifs will improve the creative direction and ensure that each photo looks like a part of a whole rather than a random photo taken from a website.
    • Don’t overdo the interior renovation. Virtual staging should not be excessive since it’s supposed to help the real estate photograph and not work against it. If your listing image is too beautiful compared to the actual property, your client will have a harsh expectation vs. reality experience, which could work against your trustworthiness.
    • Minimize the personal touches. The important part of virtual staging is creating photos of a house where most people can imagine themselves. Therefore, adding personal touches could make a client feel like he’s intruding in someone’s personal space.

    The five virtual staging rules post will discuss these rules in better detail and allow you to create listing photos with high sales conversion.

    How to Dress Up Emptiness with Virtual Staging

    Sometimes, virtual staging is not about renovating or remodeling an area but more about adding accessories and features to the room. Dressing up the emptiness refers to making open spaces more alive and welcoming for new homeowners or potential buyers.

    Here are some of the ways you can improve the empty spaces with virtual staging:

    • Add unique furniture and decorations.
    • Have a focal point or centerpiece.
    • Use a neutral background that would go well with anything.
    • Create a balance of colors and textures.

    You can read more about the many ways virtual staging can dress up the emptiness in this blog post and gain virtual staging creative interior design ideas.

    How to Prepare for Virtual Staging

    Maybe you’ve decided you’re ready for virtual staging. This part will discuss preparing your real estate photo shoot for the virtual stage post-production treatment. Virtual staging is an excellent way to hide imperfections, but you can save time and effort if you get the necessary preparation done pre-shoot.

    virtual staging preparation

    Here are some ways to get ready for virtual staging real estate photography shot:

    • Note your home, property, and neighborhood’s sellable features beforehand.
    • Draft a buyer profile based on the area’s unique selling points.
    • Look for possible inspirations online.
    • Get the right photography equipment or hire a competent photographer.
    • Find a virtual staging app or hire a company to do it for you.

    Aside from preparing for the shoot, you need to check the state of the rooms you’re planning to redecorate digitally. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has suggested rooms you need to stage for listings according to their data on buyer statistics:

    • Receiving area or living room
    • Master or main bedroom
    • Pantry or kitchen
    • Dining room
    • Yard or garden
    • Comfort room, washrooms or bathrooms

    You don’t have to stage all the rooms, just the crucial ones needing more value or improvement. The buyer market’s needs and expectations will continuously evolve, and digital staging allows your home to show buyers why they should consider yours.

    Read more about how you can stage your rooms for the best virtual staging results.

    Virtual Staging Apps and Software for Real Estate Agents

    Real estate agents may want to try their hand at virtual staging, and an app is a great way to practice or do the graphics themselves. They would only need a compatible device and the imagination to envision the home or property’s potential.

    These are eight innovative apps that agents can use for virtual staging:

    • Phixer (available for iOS) – the app of a leading real estate photography post-production agency offering more than virtual staging services with a turnaround time of 8 to 24 hours.
    • Homestyler (available for Android and iOS) – the app is a joint investment and establishment product of Easyhome New Retail Group and Alibaba Group.
    • Housecraft (available for iOS) – the app uses the power of Augmented Reality (AR) to customize your home.
    • iStaging (available for Android and iOS) – an app where you can capture virtual reality (VR) videos, edit them, and share them with friends.
    • RoOomy (available for iOS) – an app where you can do 3D VR and AR images.
    • Room Planner (available for Android and iOS) – an app that lets you create 2D or 3D visuals with subscription plans.
    • Planner 5D (available for Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac) – an app that allows you to layout, create, furnish, edit, render and share designs.
    • MagicPlan (available for Android and iOS) – the easy beginner-friendly app enables you to render floor plans, estimates, and field reports.

    Some apps may not be manageable for those without prior experience, so real estate agents may need other options. If the applications are too difficult to handle, they can opt to avail of virtual staging services from companies or firms.

    If they aren’t satisfied with their graphics expertise, they can have experts do their virtual staging through these software, companies, and websites:

    • PadStyler – software that conducts virtual staging services with a massive 3D library of interior design items.
    • Spotless Agency – a company that offers a wide range of real estate photography, post-production, and graphic services.
    • Sweet Home 3D – an old-school and retro open source 2D and 3D software initially released in 2006.
    • Real Tour Vision (RTV) – a company that designs 2D and 3D virtual tours and other real estate photo and video services.
    • BoxBrownie – a company that offers various real estate photography post-production services with a 24-hour turnaround time.
    • Armstrong Flooring Design Visualizer – an AR application that allows users to check out different flooring colors and textures to match their current interior design or hypothetical ones.
    • IKEA Home Planner Tools – an AR application that lets customers see how IKEA products look in their houses.
    • Tantify – the company offers beautiful virtual staging designs.
    • Virtual Staging Solutions – a company that digitally builds, furnishes, renovates, and remodels homes.

    Real estate agents have limitless options and possibilities for virtual staging. The apps, websites, and companies listed above will help them find practical help for their needs without breaking the bank. Find out more in this comprehensive article on the 15 Best Virtual Staging Apps and Software for Real Estate Agents in 2022 and this list of Virtual Staging Companies for Real Estate Sales.

    How to Start Your Own Virtual Staging Business

    Buyers in the real estate industry will always want high-quality photographs, so making a virtual staging business is a great way to fulfill that demand. However, it won’t be an easy journey without the necessary help on how to start. Follow this guide if you’re planning on making one yourself soon.

    start virtual staging business

    These are the steps to starting a virtual staging business:

    • Product validation – the first step in creating a business is testing the demand. You should verify if people need your company, product, or service in the first place.
    • Business plan – after testing your product validation, you need to develop a business plan that includes a summary, company profile, business objectives, product/service details, sales and marketing plan, and financial projections with an appendix containing necessary illustrations, research and statistics.
    • Build a team – your team will make or break your business journey. It would help if you recruited the right talent to help your company start and then expand. Find reliable and determined people with the right background and experience.
    • Use apps or software – automation is a great way to cut costs on recurring daily operational activities. You have to be strategic about automating processes that optimize your existing resources.
    • Develop partnerships – finding like-minded partners is a great way to make your business stable enough for scalability. Partners may come from individuals or companies that can benefit from each other’s products and services.
    • Make a sales funnel – the sales funnel is the buyer’s journey from attention to purchase following the AIDA (attention, interest, desire, and action) principle. Create a sales funnel that generates leads or potential customers, develops an attraction to your product, service, or company, develops a purchase need, and encourages purchase or conversion.
    • Review current offers – study your offers with your monthly goals to see if it’s according to the financial figures in your business plan. The pricing and target customer sales should be attainable, sustainable, and realistic.
    • Add-ons – create complementary products and services so you won’t rely on virtual staging alone.
    • Marketing investments – you should prepare to shell out funds for marketing activities. The rule of thumb is that 2 to 5% of your expected revenue should go into marketing efforts.
    • Maintain great networks – your personal and professional network will help your business thrive since they can be your potential clients and partners or recommend you to people who might be interested.

    This post can tell you more about how to start a real estate virtual staging business in better detail.

    How Phixer Virtual Staging Compares to the Rest

    Real estate virtual staging companies often have their unique way of doing things, and most of these businesses offer more than one service. Read more about how Phixer fares against its virtual staging competitors in the real estate industry.

    These are the comparisons between Phixer and BoxBrownie:

    • Locations – Phixer is an American company, while BoxBrownie is an Australian company.
    • Value for money and pricing – both companies have their respective pricing and discounts.
    • Industry experience – Phixer has over 13 years of experience with over 800 global staff members, processing 50,000 real estate videos and images daily. BoxBrownie has around seven years of experience, offering its extensive services to approximately 102 countries worldwide.
    • Turnaround time – both businesses offer 24-hour turnaround times.
    • Customer service – both companies offer 24/7 customer service.
    • Technology – Phixer’s website is simple, while BoxBrownie’s has everything outlined. However, Phixer has a mobile app, where you can edit photos yourself.

    You can check out this Phixer vs BoxBrownie review for more details about both companies.

    Bottomline

    Virtual staging is a modern take on an old showroom concept, and it’s one of the many innovations professionals use in the cutthroat real estate marketing industry. Most experts consider virtual staging a must-have for a successful real estate listing, and some apps or software achieve realistic staging effects.

    As more companies present better 2D and 3D virtual staging designs, you can choose from various services to dress up the emptiness and promote real estate listings. You will always need professional virtual staging services, whether you’re a beginner listing your first property or a tenured real estate agent hoping to up your game.

  • How Effective is Virtual Staging Photos for Real Estate Marketing?

    How Effective is Virtual Staging Photos for Real Estate Marketing?

    Most people shop online, even those looking to buy houses or properties for themselves and their families, and it’s challenging to get real estate exposure with the intense competition online. Virtual staging is one of the most effective ways to improve your home and property appearance in preparation for real estate marketing efforts. It’s a great tool to enhance and show an area’s untapped potential.

    Read more to know about real estate marketing and how effective virtual staging acts as a tool between the audience and seller.

    Real Estate Marketing

    Marketing is a campaign to promote a unique selling proposition and establish brand trust and retention. Most practitioners deploy various strategies since marketing is a means to an end; it all boils down to closing a sales deal with a client in real estate. Having repeat customers and testimonials would be considered a bonus or proof of a widely-successful campaign.

    You may ask yourself, how important is staging a house? To answer that question, we should start with why people take photos for real estate listings in the first place. As much as putting a for sale sign in the front yard would gain attention, there’s no better lead generation than a digital platform. Getting leads will soon turn to interest, eventually landing a sale or closing the deal.

    Here are the results of staging effectiveness in real estate marketing efforts:

    1. Virtual staging solutions sell your property faster

    The real estate industry is highly competitive and fast-paced, so it’s a red flag if a specific property has been in the market for too long. Sometimes, the agent or seller may reduce the price to land a sale, so getting real estate photo editing and virtual staging saves them those price cuts.

    virtual staging sells fast

    Real estate photo editors resort to techniques like photo manipulation to embellish a property image. However, it would be hard to imagine living in a house based on someone else’s preferences, and it may even feel like trespassing when you look at listing photos of family homes and see their personal effects in full view.

    Most buyers want properties that they can customize to their liking. You’d get rid of the personal belongings currently in the house when you complete your sale anyway. Virtual home staging gives your property a head start so that future buyers can envision what their home would look like in your space.

    How effective is virtual staging in selling your property faster? According to a survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) entitled 2021 Profile of Home Staging, 82% of buyers could effortlessly imagine a staged image as their future residence, and 41% were more willing to visit a home they’ve seen online.

    2. Showcase best features before a site visit

    Every sale goes through some form or variation of a sales funnel, and transactions in the real estate industry are no different. Once a real estate property is up for sale, the sellers often contact real estate agents or companies to help them through the sales funnel.

    A sales funnel has many variations: lead generation, call, follow-up, conversion and sale or opportunity, connection, timing, obstacles, and persistence. Whichever you use, as mentioned earlier, the explicit goal is landing a deal and making a profit.

    Here are the guiding principles of the sales funnel with hypothetical scenarios to illustrate each step:

    • Awareness – someone sees the property for sale on a listing platform.
    • Interest – the prospect contacts the number on the listing and talks to the agent or seller for a site visit.
    • Decision – the viewer checks out the house and asks about specifics.
    • Action – the client makes the purchase and processes the necessary paperwork.

    Every marketing practitioner knows AIDA by heart, and it’s a great way to remember what you need to do first. You can develop awareness virtually anywhere these days, especially with so many social media platforms available, like Instagram or Tiktok.

    Virtual staging helps immensely with lead generation or creating opportunities by showcasing potential and possibilities before an actual client site visit. A well-staged home can turn awareness into interest quickly enough, leaving only two steps to chance.

    3. Clients trust real estate listings with attractive and staged homes

    Repetition is the primary goal for real estate agents or home sellers. You will know how effective virtual staging is when you get repeat customers. A successfully staged property will still look genuine, even if edited virtually, so you should still do your best to clean up the actual property.

    Clients satisfied with your service or product will recommend you to their family and friends. However, their network will still try to assess your compatibility with their needs, even if their close friend recommended you. Virtual staging solutions will add credibility to your authority as a real estate expert because it will appear that you only cater to high-quality real estate properties.

    4. Virtual staging solutions allow you to compete with other similar listings

    Real estate listings house thousands of real estate lands, homes, and properties at any given time. It’s safe to say that your images will compete with hundreds of similar properties or houses as soon as they’re posted. Without virtual staging, your house and its rooms will look worn and run down.

    The same NAR study asked real estate agents whether staging, photos, videos, and virtual tours were much less important, less important, equally important, more important, or much more important for listings. Due to the global events in 2020, 83% of them think it’s necessary to have property photos, 74% videos, and 73% virtual tours.

    This portion highlighted that 90% of respondents believed staging ranged from equally important to much more important, which could mean they think that part of staging effectiveness gives your property a competitive edge in the listing.

    5. Virtual staging improves the price

    Always remember that there are listing websites to cater to buyers who want to see everything with their own eyes. The buyer prefers something that looks good even if they know the product or item is second-hand, and the same principle applies to buying homes. Even if the appliances or furniture won’t be there upon sale, it helps improve the room’s appearance and contents before posting the photos online.

    How important is staging a house? According to NAR, home staging improves your selling price by an average of $40,000 over the asking price. Sometimes, you could end up with more profits just because you made the call to stage the bedroom or kitchen photos. Selling your house without having to cut the price or even generating more profit than expected is a huge win.

    6. Virtual staging increases the conversion chance

    A successful marketing campaign’s conversion rate is an essential key performance indicator (KPI) because it’s the percentage of buyers doing specific actions. In real estate marketing, the conversion rate may refer to how many listing viewers visit the home or how many viewing clients buy the property.

    It’s one thing to post a dozen property pictures and another to turn those viewers into homebuyers. Attracting client visits is an excellent first step to making a sale. When a potential buyer visits the property from your listing, you’ve already made the first conversion from viewer to inquiry.

    Conversion rate is the most accurate marketing success measurement, and virtual staging effectively improves the chance of getting noticed, eventually turning into a closed deal.

    7. Higher return on investment value

    Virtual staging improves returns because it costs significantly less than traditional staging methods. You only need competent editors to get things done and increase your chances of sales rather than when you post unedited and unprocessed phone photos.

    The real estate agent commission in the United States is around 4 to 6%, and the average home price is about $428,700. For the sake of computing the potential profit, let’s take $16,000 or 4% of $400,000. Most virtual staging companies charge $10 to $100 depending on the service types.

    Virtual staging solutions often only cost a fraction of what the property fetches on the market. Even a real estate agent’s commission could get digital staging done for several properties and still profit over a hundred times the service costs.

    Like most investments, having real estate editing and staging may not always look solid in the first few tries. However, with high real estate values, getting at least one buyer will already give you excellent returns.

    Bottomline

    In conclusion, how effective is virtual staging as a real estate marketing method? It’s very effective in offering a competitive edge and profitability. In the past, real estate professionals have been practicing home staging in showrooms spending hundreds to thousands of dollars to put the home in the spotlight.

    Virtual staging offers a better way to showcase properties without excessive preparation and spending. Real estate editing companies like Phixer deliver speedy turnaround times to ensure you can list your home or property quickly.

  • 10 Useful Tips on Starting a Real Estate Virtual Staging Business

    10 Useful Tips on Starting a Real Estate Virtual Staging Business

    Information technology makes everyday transactions faster and better. Several industries are steadily migrating into the digital space, and real estate is no exception, as more people are relying on the Internet to bring solutions to their problems. Recent statistics say that most buyers find their next home online.

    Therefore, with the ever-increasing real estate market demand in the digital space, it’s a great time to start a virtual staging business and help home sellers attract potential buyers. This post will talk about helpful tips entrepreneurs can do to get started.

    [lwptoc]

    Real Estate Virtual Staging

    You may ask yourself, how do I start a virtual staging business? The simple answer lies in knowing what you want and finding ways to achieve them. The real estate industry has an increasing need for graphics, creatives, and marketing businesses.

    There’s no denying that the digital space has opportunities and potential clients. A 2021 study by the National Association of Realtors found that for real estate, in particular, 41% of home buyers decided to look at properties online, and 95% of home buyers used online tools to search.

    Here are some of the essential tips on establishing a real estate virtual staging company:

    1. Check for demand

    Your business will aim to supply a demand, so you need to know who will be giving your profit. Before you start a staging business, you need to survey if there’s a market for the service or products you plan to offer. You can ask people in the real estate industry and those looking to buy or sell properties in the future.

    There are many ways to look for demand. For example, you can do an informal survey asking how they edit real estate photos and give hypothetical offers of $50 virtual staging or a $75 total package. Your respondents will provide you with an idea of their needs and budget.

    2. Plan ahead

    After establishing product or service demand, the next step is to set up a business plan with objectives, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) research. Your company’s long-term and short-term goals will serve as a map that guides your entire journey as a virtual staging business.

    Here are the steps on how to write a business plan:

    • Construct an executive summary. You write this last, but this goes on the first page.
    • Create a company profile describing your establishment.
    • Write down your long-term business goals.
    • Talk about your products and services in as much detail as possible, including pricing and packaging.
    • Outline a sales and marketing plan.
    • Make a business financial estimation to generate projections.
    • Add attachments, research, and case studies in the appendix section.

    Your objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timebound (SMART). For example, you want to earn a net profit of $500 in revenue within the first month of operation by offering 50 virtual staging photos at $18.

    The SWOT analysis offers insight into your advantages, disadvantages, competitors, and openings. You can strategize your services, pricing, and operational frequency on this information.

    3. Find the right talent

    You may wonder, how do I start a virtual staging business after the planning stage? The next step is finding suitable people to help with business operations, client management, and creative execution. You won’t get started or scale successfully without the right people on your team.

    You can get a recruiter or agency to help you get the right help. In the meantime, you can outsource your needs to a company that offers the same services.

    4. Use virtual staging software or apps

    If you don’t have an entire artist team or can’t afford to hire an internal team, you can start by familiarizing yourself with virtual staging apps. These applications will show you the different standards from other staging companies. Aside from that, they could help you with your actual output.

    Virtual staging applications and programs allow you to edit real estate photos quickly without the help of graphic designers. Because these are often automated or pre-made, they may not look realistic, so hiring professionals is still better for long-term success.

    5. Cultivate partnerships

    There’s a saying that no man can survive alone, which also applies to businesses. Companies can’t make all sales, marketing, and executive functions without the necessary expenses. Partnerships allow your business to operate on x-deal or service exchange instead of cash payment to prioritize your capital on other efforts.

    For example, suppose you’re starting and have a great lead generation system. In that case, you could outsource part of your business process to an external company in exchange for your expertise.

    6. Build a sales funnel

    The next step is creating a sales funnel. Don’t start a staging business without considering the clients, which means making a funnel for your potential clients. It will act as a collection to conversion method based on the Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (AIDA) model that taps into the consumer’s mind.

    Here are some sales funnel tips:

    • Build a company website and social media profiles.
    • Post relevant topics to generate leads.
    • Create attractive images and offers.
    • Give discounts, freebies, and incentives for trying your products or services.
    • Have clients book a free consultation or call so you can pitch how you can help them.
    • Retain the client with excellent customer care and assistance after availing of a product or service.

    Outline the demographic profile to make the correct funnel for your virtual staging business. Creating the funnel will let you maximize every opportunity so that you don’t waste any time, effort, or money in the process.

    7. Improve current offers

    There are hundreds of agencies offering almost the same products and services. Your firm will stay competitive by updating and modifying offers from time to time. Customer satisfaction is a top priority for every successful company, so you must work on your retention and sales methods.

    8. Add in-demand complementary services and products

    Upon conception, when you ask how do I start a virtual staging business? You are only thinking about the opening steps. The next factor is upselling your current requests with other complementary services to increase profits and give you a competitive edge.

    For example, offer discounted image decluttering, lawn removal, copywriting, or virtual twilight with your virtual staging service. Finding ways to serve your clients better than competitors will ensure high profits, retention, and scaling.

    9. Invest in marketing efforts

    Solid branding will make the customers come to you, and that’s where marketing comes to play. Create an excellent identity that clients will recognize and patronize, then ramp up your lead generation and exposure with social media efforts.

    However, some businessmen don’t understand the value of marketing, so you mustn’t make the same mistake. You need to finance marketing efforts with a budget of around 1 to 5% of your expected revenue. It may be better to have a dedicated marketing team.

    Here are some marketing efforts that new small businesses can make:

    • Email marketing via newsletter campaigns
    • Organic social media efforts and advertising through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, and Tiktok. Each platform caters to different demographics and markets.
    • Free ebooks and coaching
    • Google My Business and Adwords
    • Content marketing
    • Search engine optimization (SEO)
    • Use chatbots for social media platforms and your website
    • Offer free consultation services
    • Traditional media advertising if you’re a solid local business hoping to get customers in your city
    • Write articles on other websites or blogs
    • Attend mixers and functions for potential partners or clients

    Marketing can help you spend less time finding customers and letting them pursue you instead. Marketing works hand in hand with your sales funnel, so you should strategize your campaigns accordingly.

    10. Maintain good relationships with your network

    Every successful virtual staging business has excellent relationships with partners and clients. People are likelier to recommend companies that have given them terrific service on top of a fruitful collaboration, so be sure to invest in reliable customer service.

    Always ask for feedback or testimonials after every project. Reviews will help you learn how to service your clients better and improve your output standards. Aside from that, those opinions will make other people trust your services enough to try them themselves.

    Therefore, you should keep close tabs on your previous clients, networks, and connections. Send them emails or messages from time to time to maintain that rapport. Invest in automated emails as you grow your client base.

    Bottomline

    A real estate virtual staging business is a promising endeavor with high demand. As long as you set the proper foundation, you don’t need much entrepreneurial experience to start a staging business with impressive lead generation, marketing, and client care skills.

    The competitive real estate photography post-production services are cutthroat, and you don’t need to find graphic talent immediately. Once you partner with reliable service providers like Phixer or other real estate editors, you will gain confidence in your quality and client retention ability.

  • How to Stage Your Rooms for Amazing Virtual Staging Results

    How to Stage Your Rooms for Amazing Virtual Staging Results

    Real estate marketing is quickly evolving, with consumers finding multiple options with a few clicks and taps. Digital listings and social media platforms have made finding, buying, and selling real estate properties both easier and harder at the same time. More effortless due to the convenience of seeing all the offers without leaving your home, yet more challenging because several prospects are readily available.

    Real estate agents compete on several listing websites and turn to experts for help. Virtual or digital home staging is one of the proven conversion methods of real estate marketing. This blog post will discuss virtual staging and how you can prepare your property for a photoshoot.

    [lwptoc]

     

    However, people ask how to do virtual staging without knowing why they have to do it. Before telling you how to set and style your home for a pre-virtual staging photoshoot, we’ll answer that question first.

    Why You Need to Stage

    Virtual staging is one of the many creative ways to present your real estate property to potential customers or buyers. Similar to showroom techniques developed by real estate companies, virtual staging reimagines a room, home, or property according to the target audience or demographic.

    Digital staging is more cost-efficient than showroom decorating or actual home staging because you don’t have to buy new furniture or remodel the rooms. The cost for virtual staging is merely a fraction of what developers used to spend for illustrative home constructions. The next question would be, “how do you do virtual staging effectively?”

    There’s an art to perfecting virtual staging. For starters, you have to prepare the spaces for the shoot. After which, you must find the perfect editor, app, or software to bring your virtual staging fantasy to life.

    Preparing for Virtual Staging

    You should design the entire virtual staging look before you take photos of your property. You need to know how virtual staging could affect your target buyer markets. The guiding principle is to reduce the amount of editing on the digital stage.

    Here are some ways to plan for virtual staging:

    • List down your property’s and neighborhood’s best features. Those qualities will be some of the many reasons your client will purchase that property. Those features will reflect the possible demographics, so ensure you take note of them before your virtual staging.
    • Set a target demographic and create a buyer profile. Would your potential buyers be male or female? Would they be living alone or with family? Would they need space for a home office? Would they prefer a furnished or unfurnished home?
    • Find inspiration online. It would help to know specific pegs before doing a photoshoot. This method would also improve your chances of getting the results you want when sending your raw images to professional real estate editors.
    • Suitable photography equipment. You may opt to hire a real estate photographer or do it yourself with proper guidance from the virtual stagers. Either way, you need to include equipment in your plan considerations.
    • Find a virtual staging company. You should know who will do your virtual staging as early as the planning stage. It would help if you knew how to do it yourself, but plenty of virtual staging companies are available online.

    Once you’ve mapped out what you want and how to achieve them, it’s time to prepare the photoshoot areas appropriately.

    Rooms to Stage

    Prioritize the spaces you need to shoot because you won’t have the time or energy to do everything. You don’t need to orchestrate the entire house since your target market is more inclined to look at critical areas rather than the whole property or home.

    prepare room for virtual staging

    According to the National Association of Realtors, these are the areas you need to stage for real estate listings in order of importance:

    1. Living room or receiving area
    2. Master bedroom or the largest bedroom
    3. Kitchen or pantry
    4. Dining area
    5. Outdoor or yard
    6. Bathroom or comfort room

    Targeting specific parts of the house will improve your chances of landing a client from the listing alone. However, you also need to prepare even the rooms you’re not planning to style since you may get potential visits.

    Photoshoot Preparations

    After planning it all out, it’s time for the nitty gritty. You need to prepare the rooms and areas you want to stage for the shoot, whether you’re doing photoshoots yourself or employing the help of professionals. Physically preparing the spaces will lessen the time needed for virtual staging edits or reworks.

    Here are some of the ways to visually orchestrate the rooms for virtual staging:

    General

    Clean the house as much as you possibly can. Even if you can virtually edit items and furniture, you should declutter the area to ensure a smooth virtual staging process. Trash and other unwanted objects would cost extra to remove during the virtual staging process; they may interfere with lighting and cause awkward shadows in post-production.

    There are ways how to do virtual staging, effectively clearing things, but you should still remove personal effects and decor.

    Indoors

    Do a quick inspection of every room in the house to determine the ones you can submit for virtual staging and those you can do minor edits on. Remember that even when you put an image through post-production, your listing photo shouldn’t look too fake, or it may put off potential buyers.

    Here are some of the tasks you should do before the pre-virtual staging photography session:

    • Remove personal items and effects, especially photos or portraits.
    • Clean and scrub the floors.
    • Check and repair the walls.
    • Rearrange the furniture to open up the space.
    • Open or remove the curtains to expose the windows to full sunlight.

    The indoor preparations often involve removal rather than replacement because the edits usually take care of adding items. You should clear the space by creating a blank canvas for your virtual staging.

    Outdoors

    Check the curb appeal since most people click on a listing with an attractive overall appearance. Aside from that, it would help if you also prepared your outdoors for a possible potential buyer visit since first impressions last. An excellent first impression could be the defining factor between an almost-purchase and a closed deal.

    Here are some of the preparations you need to do on the property’s surroundings:

    • Trim the bushes and mow the grass.
    • Clean the pavement and walkways.
    • Repair the cracks or faded paints.
    • Inspect and fix the roof.
    • Rake and clear the leaves.
    • Arrange the plants and flower pots.
    • Repaint the front door and porch if needed.

    Most people don’t virtually stage outside their property unless through lawn replacement or virtual twilight, but it may end up looking disappointing when the potential buyer finally tries to visit.

    Camera Settings

    Employ a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) High Dynamic Range (HDR) camera with a feature of bracketing exposure to prepare for virtual staging. The camera does half the work, so it should be suitable for the planned post-production treatment.

    camera settings for virtual staging

    Here are some important reminders when shooting photos before virtual staging:

    • Shoot in landscape.
    • For indoors, the room should take up 2/3, and the ceiling should be 1/3 of the picture.
    • Use minimum 18mm and maximum 200mm lenses, and avoid stylized, distorted, or warped ones.
    • Make use of HDR at different exposure levels.
    • Use external lighting instead of the built-in flash unless you want rigid shadow effects for virtual twilight.

    If unsure about your camera settings, do test shots on specific areas with your tripod to estimate how each space would look.

    Time Your Photoshoot Perfectly

    For real estate photos in general, you should target the time closest to noon or the hour that the sun is at its highest or brightest in the sky. The sun’s natural lighting will improve your image’s post-production results. Taking indoor photos with a bright sun will also cast dramatic shadows and make the room look wider.

    Influencers on Instagram are obsessed with the golden hour, the sweet spot, an hour before sunset, or the hour after sunrise. The golden hour is excellent if you plan to do twilight shots and create an eye-catching and picturesque main listing photo. Just be careful that you don’t underexpose your photo’s lighting during this time.

    Make Sure Photos are in High Quality

    Finally, you should use high-quality raw photos, especially when planning to stage them virtually afterward. The high definition would improve your image in the final photograph, and it’s easy to adjust natural pictures in HD than in lower ones.

    Having low-quality photos would interfere with how you do virtual staging, mainly because anything externally rendered or added would look fake on your real estate listing. Aside from that, sending over low resolution would result to even lower resolution after edits.

    Bottomline

    These days, you can tell how virtual staging affects the real estate buying market, with 95% of buyers browsing through online platforms and 40% of buyers setting appointments after seeing homes staged virtually. Professionally-made real estate virtual staging images are gradually becoming part of real estate marketing standards, and Phixer offers high-quality outputs for attractive listing photos.

  • How is Photo Manipulation Different or Similar to Photo Editing?

    How is Photo Manipulation Different or Similar to Photo Editing?

    The onset of digital technology has forever changed the way we process photographs. The days of processing images through films in darkrooms are over, as Digital Single-lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras have become the standard for photography. Computer programs and phone apps have also improved how quickly people can communicate, send or show pictures.

    Photo manipulation and editing have also progressed with digital cameras, as most real estate post-production companies would only take a few days to accommodate your order. There are differences in how various companies treat real estate photos, whether through manipulation or editing.

    When hearing about the different post-production methods, you may wonder, “Are photo editing and photo manipulation just the same?” Read on to learn more about the differences and similarities between photo editing and photo manipulation.

    Photo Manipulation

    First off, what is photo manipulation? Photo manipulation is the alteration or improvement of a photo by adding, replacing, and transforming various elements in the photograph. The modification could be as minor as replacing the sky or something significant, like creating new objects or features from scratch. These changes could be subtle or glaring depending on their purpose and creative vision.

    The best photo professionally-done manipulations look as natural as possible, using elements that one would typically find in such environments. In real estate photography, innovative post-production techniques like creating twilight, replacing lawns, or virtual staging can be considered photo manipulations depending on the project specifics.

    Let’s define photo editing before going into the similarities and differences.

    Photo Editing

    Photo editing is post-processing an image through software or program to enhance, improve and adjust the visual effect. Photo editing involves a wide range of tonal, brightness, contrast, shadow, spot, hue, tint, color balance, and other adjustments to help achieve your vision.

    Current technology makes photo editing so readily accessible that you can even do it on your smartphone. Most phone apps have preset hue, tint, color, or saturation filters that accomplish specific looks or moods that are impossible to set on a camera.

    At this point, you may wonder, “how do you differentiate photo manipulation from photo editing?” If you want simple terms to help understand the difference, photo manipulation means creation, while photo editing implies improvement.

    Differences

    Most people consider any post-production treatment photo editing, especially with flawless professional photo manipulations. There’s also a taboo regarding photo manipulation since people often expect pictures to be realistic rather than stylized.

    Here are some of the critical differences between photo manipulation and photo editing:

    Raw image elements

    If you want to know what is the difference between photo editing and photo manipulation, the first answer is straightforward: the original image elements. If the original image is an exact copy of the treated image but has a different lighting or color balance, it falls under photo editing. Photo editing doesn’t change what’s inside the photo since it only adjusts the lighting, colors, mood, or temperature.

    Photo manipulation alters reality. In the case of real estate photography, you may need photo manipulation to remove trash or unwanted objects in the background that your photographer missed during the shoot. Sometimes, you may want to remove sensitive information like a house number or visible address that is in the original photo.

    You know the image underwent photo manipulation when it’s missing some of the original image elements or if it has new details.

    Image layers

    One subtle way to determine an edited or manipulated image is by checking the layers. An edited photo has only one layer, while a manipulated photo has several layers depending on how many added or removed elements. It’s often subtle yet still noticeable due to light and color patterns.

    Here are some tips on checking the photo manipulation layers:

    • Watch out for misplaced sharp and blurred edges or cut lines. Since photo manipulation adds or removes elements, there will be cut lines. Most artists blend these out with the blurring tools, but the blur will seem out of place.
    • Check for repetitive elements like the same leaf or cloud formations since removals or subtracting elements will make it necessary for the artist to borrow some existing patterns.
    • Notice the difference in lighting behavior. Sometimes, you don’t find light where it’s supposed to be, or you find light where it’s not supposed to be.

    The untrained eye won’t immediately notice the layers, but with consistent practice and exposure, you’ll be a professional at spotting the differences in no time.

    Skill level and effort required

    Professional photo editing and manipulation take considerable skill, practice, patience, and hard work. You need to master these post-production techniques much like other endeavors or abilities. The more you do photo edits or manipulations, the better you’ll be.

    Often, graphic designers that can perform professional and flawless photo manipulation have already mastered at least basic photo editing since they have to work with different elements and make them appear as if they belong in the same picture.

    As a rule of thumb, the fewer layers in the picture, the less time you need for post-production. Photo manipulations take more time than photo edits because you need to remove or add elements to the original image.

    Similarities

    Photo editing and photo manipulation are comparable in enhancing images through post-processing. Although the former reworks color and shade while the latter creates new elements, they both modify a photo with creative intent.

    In most cases, photo editing and manipulation require the same color and exposure adjustments. The difference is that photo manipulation uses them to stylize the entire image and blend new elements. Each result creates a specific style that matches the photographer’s creative vision.

    Bottomline

    You may be wondering what are the limitations of photo manipulation compared to photo editing? The answer lies in the artist’s ability to bring images to life as realistically and as seamlessly as possible. You can rely on experienced companies like Phixer to pull off excellent real estate photo editing and manipulations without the hefty price tag.

  • Top 5 Ways to Begin a Career in the Real Estate Photography Business 2022

    Top 5 Ways to Begin a Career in the Real Estate Photography Business 2022

    Photography is one of the industries that will never go out of style as long as digital visual media exists. You may be wondering, “is real estate photography profitable?” especially when faced with intense competition from people thriving in the industry for decades, like post-production specialist Phixer. You may be intimidated to enter such a field at this stage.

    The good news is that it’s never too late to start your real estate photography career, especially with rising demand and market movements as people go from urban to rural and vice-versa. The pandemic has shifted people’s priorities, and the reopening of communities has improved real estate value.

    Read on to learn more about how to become a real estate photographer 2022.

    Here are the top five methods to start a real estate photography career:

    1. Start with a Goal in Mind

    According to Benjamin Franklin, failing to prepare is preparation for failure. One of the first methods how to get into real estate photography is to create a plan or strategy to ensure you know how to go from start to success. A solid plan will help you build an excellent real estate photography career foundation.

    A simple way to set your plans is through the SMART goal-setting:

    • S – Specific. Specify your career direction from what you’re going to start on to what specialization you want to pursue (outdoor properties photographer, photographer for virtual staging, etc.)
    • M – Measurable. Measure your success metrics by bookings or projects per month.
    • A – Attainability. Check if your goals are achievable according to the current market activity and projections.
    • R – Realistic. Compare your plans with other real estate photographers you know to determine if they’re realistic.
    • T – Time-bound. Set a deadline for all of your efforts to ensure timeliness.

    When you have a reasonable goal with the right expectations, you can efficiently work toward it without distractions or discouragement. Just put your mind to it, and focus on your objectives. You might start slow, but you’ll eventually book more projects.

    2. Prepare the Tools You Need

    Investment in the right tools is how to make money as a real estate photographer and build a long-lasting career. Your equipment will help determine your success in the industry, and you don’t have to buy the most expensive camera as long as your know your camera settings.

    Here are some of the things you need to succeed in your real estate photography career:

    • Photography equipment. You need photography tools like Digital Single-lens Reflex Camera (DSLR) cameras, lenses, lighting, tripods, and drones for aerial shots.
    • Website or social media page as a portfolio. It would help if you had a portfolio to store your shots and samples for future clients.
    • Marketing strategy for promotion and sales. You need to promote your photography business for profit and sustainability.
    • Post-production software, application, or company. You should edit your photos according to real estate standards. If you’re too busy to do post-production, you can hire experts in the field.
    • Industry best practices and language. Several terms are exclusive to real estate photography, like virtual staging, twilight editing, and lawn replacements.

    You can work with what you currently have, as long as you don’t forget to upgrade your equipment from time to time. In photography, you can start with the basics and work towards specializations and better instruments.

    3. Network with Real Estate Professionals

    Having an extensive network of real estate professionals is one of the key ways how to become a real estate photographer 2022. Your friends and acquaintances in the industry will be your clients, or they will introduce you to people who would book you for projects.

    It would help if you were well-acquainted with how they operate and when they need your services. Since real estate professionals often communicate with their peers, one good recommendation could open doors for you.

    4. Understand the Principles of Shooting Great Real Estate Photos

    Practicing and improving your skills are some ways how to get into real estate photography. People don’t instantly become successful niche photographers overnight, so you should give yourself enough room to start, understand the basics and improve according to growing demand and developing standards.

    Here are some of the principles you need to understand while pursuing a real estate photography career:

    • Considerations for excellent outdoor property photography
    • Factors for beautiful indoor home or building photography
    • Shooting angles, lighting equipment, and camera lenses to use
    • Camera settings like dynamic range
    • Marketing value of your photos
    • Real estate photography industry standards
    • Familiarize real estate listing photo compositions or presentations

    You must understand the market needs to fulfill them successfully since your clients will request one or more of those shots. You must also communicate in the language real estate professionals speak, so familiarize yourself with their terminologies.

    5. Take Care of Post Production

    Post-production is one of the critical steps in real estate photography, and if you’re good at it, it’s one of the many ways how to make money as a real estate photographer. You don’t have to do it yourself, and there are apps available for real estate agents that help edit photographs. You can also collaborate with editors who can do the task better and faster.

    However, you will get more clients if you provide final photos ready for posting. Because of this, some photographers opt to hire real estate photography editing experts while others learn to do it themselves. If you master real estate editing, you could also start a real estate photo editor career.

    Conclusion

    Most people would ask is real estate photography profitable before pursuing a career in real estate photography. The answer lies in how well you create the foundation to build your career and develop your real estate photography skills to match growing and upgrading standards.

    As long as you continue practicing and improving your craft, more clients will book you for real estate shoots. As technology improves, you can also provide real estate virtual tours, augmented reality, and virtual reality photography services.