Category: Real Estate Photo Editing

Doing interior photography involves staging methods – either traditional or virtual. Regardless of the client’s choice, most photographers and real estate photo editors need ample time to check out the property and talk to the interior designer, primarily if the place will be staged using virtual home staging.

Unlike the traditional home staging setup, virtual staging needs thorough planning, especially on the editing part since this is the time where real estate photo editors insert the staging process. This means that as the editor, you should already know some of the virtual staging basics.

Virtual staging involves using computer software to alter a photograph. Most of the time, it is used in real estate images (both exterior and interior) to fill the empty spaces with appropriate furniture and fixtures.

Doing this helps clients save money and time compared to using the traditional staging method wherein real furniture is needed. This technique is proven to be a useful marketing tool, especially for those buyers who prefer online transactions. It allows them to see a realistic vision of what the room will look like furnished.

In a renovated 1920s bungalow, Phixer applied a Scandinavian-themed virtual staging—white-washed woods, warm textiles, plants—leading to a 20% increase in click-throughs compared to prior listing photos.

Here’s how Phixer’s virtual staging process for interior design works: Clients select 1–2 themes. Designers integrate furniture, color palettes, and accessories consistent with that style. The result: cohesive, stylish rooms that align with buyer expectations.

Here are five creative ideas to help you (both photographers and editors) if you are up for an interior design photo shoot that involves virtual staging.

Learn the basics

Simplified, it means making sure the room is empty, clean, and well-lit before taking any shots. There must be teamwork between the photographer and the editor to yield high-quality interior images. Having excellent photographs gives the virtual staging artists more time to edit the pictures without fixing many elements of the original photos.

Create a striking balance

Once you start editing the photos, establish a balanced design that incorporates both clean and inviting vibes. For example, most modern interior design features minimalistic aesthetics. While this can be an excellent idea for a clean, straightforward look, bear in mind that some buyers prefer a more inviting feel to the overall ambiance. They may have furniture and some possessions that need visualization, which should be one of the things you should consider.

Determine the focal point to catch everyone’s attention

Make sure to put a piece of furniture or leave a single area striking enough to catch the attention of anyone who walks in. For example, you can put a fireplace, a great window, or a beautiful couch in the room that stands out and stays noticeable right away.

Use natural lighting

One key to great virtually-staged images is the proper use of lighting. Most of the time, natural lighting is the most common way to achieve perfect pictures. Yet, using studio lighting is acceptable, especially if natural lighting is unavailable.

Use a neutral background

Setting a neutral color foundation creates an emotional tone. Using this hue for the environment is perfect as it blends with other color highlights within the room. Moreover, it sets a calm and inviting tone to each room that you stage. The neutral palette stands out when you use splashes of color. In return, it excites and enthuses prospective buyers. For example, you can add the accents on the cushions, rugs, flowers, or paintings. The eyes easily distinguish these things inside the room, so it gives buyers a different perspective when it comes to color matching.

In the end, there are endless when it comes to virtual staging, and the best photographers can take great shots while the skilled editors can turn the ordinary room shots into something that looks like the one in magazines. Remember to incorporate these staging ideas in your next interior design shoot to achieve those professional images.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can virtual staging reflect different interior design styles?

Absolutely. Virtual staging can simulate modern, rustic, mid-century, minimalist, or industrial styles—customized by audience taste.

Will virtual staging show accurately in print brochures?

Yes, the same staged images work perfectly for digital listings and printed marketing materials.

Photo editing is an essential stage in every real estate photo shoot. Without this process, the final images look dull and unpresentable. For one, real estate photography becomes a vital element of the real estate industry because of its significant role in creating engaging and impactful listings. Hence, without the compelling visuals that add value to the property, closing a sale is difficult to accomplish.

Making amazing real estate images take time, with editing as the most time-consuming part. Having the perfect raw shots does not mean great photos already. There is still a need for excellent photo editing skills to achieve the ideal photos suited for real estate listings.

Unless you are a pro in image post-processing, editing can take up your time – from up to 20 minutes or more, especially if the image needs a lot of modifications to enhance its quality and aesthetics. You are lucky to find a photographer who can both take excellent photos and edit them at the same time. Otherwise, you need to get this service from a third-party real estate photo editing company.

Outsourcing your editing needs means working with a team of expert editors to handle all your instructions and modification requests. If you are outsourcing your photo editing needs, it is essential to establish open and constant communication with your real estate photo editing company. Otherwise, you cannot expect quality outputs right away.

Here are other reasons why open communication is necessary when outsourcing your photo editing.

Minimizes the chance to have incorrect outputs

If you are communicating with your team all the time, it is less likely to commit unintended mistakes about your shots. Your editors appreciate an active communication between you and them because it makes everyone in the team comfortable. It gives them the idea that you are approachable and always ready to cater to any questions.

Encourages you and the editors to become proactive

It is best to have a proactive attitude when working with a team. As the client, you can be dynamic, but sometimes, your ideas are not enough. It makes sense to get a new and fresh perspective from someone who is more immersed in the editing side than on your thoughts. Photo editors are experts individuals who possess the necessary skills to create the perfect images for you. If they are proactive enough to suggest some points for improvement, it is already a plus for you.

Allows you to track progress for free

You are aware that almost every messaging tool is available for free. Messenger, Skype, Viber, Slack, and other open applications can connect you with your editing team without incurring additional costs. You can also use email for free. However, make sure that all communication is established in trusted channels only. Also, try to monitor communication media daily so that you can keep track of the following: (1) messages documentation (2) make sure recipients are aware of the messages, and (3) recipients will reply to messages.

Builds rapport

Open communication is the key to building a good rapport with the team. If you are the type of client who tends to work with a team on a long term basis, it is best to establish rapport between the key members of the group. Doing this will make you have a strong bond with your team. It will prevent unnecessary miscommunications, and if there are some, it can be quickly addressed, and escalations will be prevented.

These are only some of the excellent benefits of practicing open communication with your outsourced photo editing team. We hope that this article gives you insights on why you should start communicating with your editing team as soon as possible.

Back then, when virtual staging is not yet discovered, realtors only have one option to get quality images for their listings – through home staging.

Years later, realtors have found a new way to showcase a property’s amenities, with the discovery of virtual staging. Since then, it has become a useful tool for them.

Here are some of the known pros and cons to evaluate if a home or virtual staging is the best option.

Home Staging: Pros

Open House

If you are still into the traditional way of doing the business, an open house is still the best choice. Here, you incorporate the home staging concept by hiring a home staging company to decorate the empty rooms. You can showcase the entire property to the buyers and let them feel what it would be like to live there.

Home Staging: Cons

Too Expensive

Realtors cannot deny the fact that home staging is way too expensive. It is because staging companies usually charge not only one time. In some cases, a monthly fee is needed to maintain the furniture placed in a property until you sell the place.

Time Consuming

Home staging also consumes your time during sourcing the furniture and decorations. At times, you also need to be present in the place once the set-up date is scheduled.

Virtual Staging: Pros

Cost-Effective

Virtual staging is way cheaper than the traditional home staging method. It is because it does not need any real furniture or decorations. Therefore, logistics and workforce are no longer required. Moreover, it can be done using software or the professional real estate image retouching service of a real estate photo editing company.

Marketplace Advantage

The technique also gives you an edge on the target market since it yields high-end and compelling visuals that attract potential buyers. It lets you highlight the property’s amenities and main features, not with empty photos but with fully furnished room images.

Detailed and Attractive Images

The process also lets realtors have more detailed listings than before. The images help the buyers in making informed decisions. The secret is seeking help from trusted real estate photo editors working at a reputable real estate photo editing company to further improve the virtually-staged photos.

Catalogs

If before you need to source all the furniture for home staging, now, a catalog will do all the work. Virtual stagers already have catalogs ready to check the type of furniture and decorations you want to use in the empty room.

Shorter Turnaround Time

Traditional home staging takes days to be completed, while virtual staging can be done in hours.

Virtual Staging: Cons

You Do Everything

Unless you opt to get a virtual staging company’s service, you need to do all the tasks yourself – from taking the photos to editing it through a staging app or software.

Expect Multiple Revisions

Clients tend to demand specific modifications on some images. That should be part of your expectations. At times, you will find yourself doing more work, especially if there is no support team to help you. That is why the help of a real estate photo editing company is crucial at this time. With a team of expert real estate photo editors, you should not be worried about your clients’ revisions.

As the realtor, it is still your sole discretion to choose your properties’ perfect staging method. It will be easier for you to use the mentioned pros and cons to help you make the right decision. Carefully evaluate your choice on the business and consider the ‘new normal‘ due to the current global situation brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

With the power of virtual staging, anyone can transform an empty room into something grand and beautiful. We know that it is an excellent way to produce fast and secure real estate images appealing to potential buyers.

Moreover, it is now considered another useful technique used by real estate photo retouching companies to save time and cost, rather than opting to do a traditional home staging. In the usual virtual staging process, the real estate photo editor adds virtually designed furniture and appliances in a vacant interior space. Then, accents are added to add aesthetics to the images.  As a real estate photo retouching company, adding virtual staging to your services can make your business the go-to platform for your clients’ real estate marketing needs.

A realtor in Denver needed multiple versions of the same listing for family, coworker, flatmate, and bachelor styles. By following rules #1 (client preferences) and #3 (theme consistency), Phixer delivered three authentic stagings in 48 hours, each targeting a different demographic.

Basic Virtual Staging Rules to Keep in Mind

Given the virtual staging technique’s endless possibilities, anyone can go overboard with the graphic designs to use and other effects. We know that this is unacceptable regardless of whether it is the client’s instruction or purely the real estate photo editor’s intuition.

Here are the five basic but essential virtual staging rules that you must incorporate in every project you get from a realtor or the client.

1. Knowing Your Client’s Interests and Preferences

In virtual staging, it is necessary to know your clients’ likes and dislikes regarding virtual furniture and appliances to use. You can try to ask them about the kind of furniture designs they want to have in the virtual room. Then, you can also inquire if they are interested in getting a catalog first of all the virtual furniture and appliances available to make a list and give it to you in advance. It may sound like a hassle on your part, but as the provider, you need to exert this kind of effort to make sure that your customer is happy and satisfied.

2. Always Choose a Reasonable and Realistic Design

To make virtual home staging looks realistic, the perfect blending of computer-aided design (CAD) is essential. Without the ideal knowledge to do this, the output images will never look realistic and professionally-made.

Other elements to consider when doing virtually-staged real estate images such as the lighting and shadows. This is especially needed once all the furniture is put in place on the image.

For example, an interior shot of the living room with an overlooking view of nature through a large window, you should anticipate that there are sunlight beams that can enter the room through the window. Hence, it would be best if you considered the proper placement of the other furniture in the picture that, somehow, can block the sunlight.

Moreover, even the simple details of mirrors and reflections should be visible in the real estate images. A typical example is if you have a sofa and a mirror on the room, the sofa’s reflection should be seen in the mirror to make it look more realistic.

See? If you do this kind of simple checking on the image’s details, it can make the photos look more useful and appealing. It also gives your clients the impression that you can create good listing images to offer to your clients.

3. Match the Furnishings and the Room’s Theme

The interior design’s basic principle is only to use furniture that can go well with the room’s design. It is a rule of thumb. From the appliances, furniture, and decors, everything must match the physical space.

When we say home style, it means the overall theme of the house. Does it have a contemporary design? Or, is it more modern or classic? Still, if you are unsure about the type of furniture to use, you can check some magazines and websites to get some ideas.

4. Limit the Decorations

The basic principle in decorating a room is not to overdo it. Keep it minimal and avoid being too flashy. It is still best to remain minimalistic in your design. Please resist the temptation to put virtual furnishings in every square inch of space because it can make the area look stuffy.

5. Minimize Personal Touches

Sometimes, it is also important to note that even if branding is essential, adding a touch of personal branding is not that always appealing. If possible, focus on the client’s requirements and avoid adding unnecessary details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I be able to customize after staging?

Yes, you can request adjustments—Phixer offers at least two rounds of revisions included.

How do you ensure staging looks realistic?

We match lighting, shadows, scale, reflections, and furnishings to real-world physics.

It is undeniably true that the prominence of virtual staging in the real estate market plays a significant role in attracting more potential buyers than using usual photographs.

Despite this new trend, one must know that it does not make traditional photographs obsolete. Instead, it is another alternative available in the market to help save costs and develop great visuals.

Hence, if you plan to use virtual staging as part of your real estate photography strategy, it is vital to familiarize yourself with the terms related to the concept. It is the only reasonable way to know that you get precisely the service that you want.

Virtual Staging vs. Traditional Home Staging

The overwhelming popularity of virtually-staged images helped realtors in having more attractive online property listings. When done well, most virtual images look more realistic than traditional home staging.

First, understand the differences between virtually-staged images and the traditional home-staged photos. With home staging, the realtor needs to furnish the property with real furniture, which will be available for clients to visit personally.

Technically, it is tedious to do home staging. You need to seek help from a professional who will charge you a hefty amount for furniture rental and decorations and the logistics support required for transporting the furniture from one place to another.

On the other hand, virtual staging does not require any furniture. What you need is a photo of the empty room, a virtual staging app, or the helping hands of a real estate image editors who are also knowledgeable in virtual staging.

This is why working with a real estate image editing company that offers this service is more efficient than hiring separate individuals or companies to do the job. It can also help you save time and money.

Standard Virtual Staging Terms to Remember

Here are some of the most useful terminologies used by staging artists and companies to fully familiarize yourself with virtual staging. Understanding the terms below will also help you have more concise communication with your virtual staging team and real estate image editors.

Computer-Aided Design – Also known as CAD; It refers to the process of using computers to create or edit online designs

Furniture Set – It is usually a set of furniture used to achieve the style needed for virtually-staged images (e.g., modern, contemporary, vintage)

Rendering – The process of actually producing the final images after all modifications are applied to the original model

Revisions – It refers to all the changes you want to request before rendering the photos; it can be free or with charge, depending on your partner company

Staging Artist – An experienced individual in doing virtually-staged images using CAD and other software like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to enhance the real estate photography part

Staging Online Catalog – An online brochure of virtual home furniture and decorations

Turnaround Time – The timeframe needed to finish a set of virtually-staged images; it varies from one company to another

Uploading – It refers to one of the initial stages in creating virtually-staged images wherein you need to send the unprocessed images to the real estate image editing company

Virtual Furniture – The set of digitally-rendered furniture you can use in designing the images

Virtual Home Staging – Refers to the process of creating real estate images using a digital technique that does not require traditional home staging

Virtual Staging App – A downloadable mobile app that allows you to design a room without help from any staging companies virtually

Virtual Staging Companies – Businesses that offer virtual staging services that come in packages to suit your needs

The part of the day that can be the most perfect time to take photographs but is quite difficult to chase the perfect light is during dusk. This time of the day is very tricky for photographers. Outdoor real estate photography needs juicy lighting effects that will radiate on your subject and it is this kind of light that can only be found either at dusk or dawn. Chasing that magical light for your photos to become remarkable is the most challenging part of every real estate photographer.

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.

But there are houses on sale that are not really on tip-top shape – meaning, the present condition of the house is totally unacceptable to some buyers. Digitally transforming the property into a dream house makes you target the potential buyers you wanted.

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.

Five Concepts why Virtual Twilight is Important to Real Estate Photography

There are concepts that thoroughly explain the special effects surrounding virtual twilight. These are the following.

1. Virtual staging means virtually staging the interior part of the house in the design preferred by potential buyers. In simple words, it is the process of staging every room of the house virtually. Although this method cannot be related as to how virtual twilight is defined, virtual staging complements with the former as it ideally helps agents sell their products fast.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Virtual twilight is a great boost to property sales. There are observations which show that the use of virtual twilight effects are viewed 50% more than the original photos. This means that there is an unbelievable boost as far as the number of potential buyers is concerned.
5. The use of virtual twilight can very well improve the portfolio of real estate sellers. With the use of this lighting effect, the portfolio of sellers, agents and realtors will look more professional. It will also be more appealing once presented to listings, catalogues, and flyers. Photos that underwent the use of virtual twilight become catchy to the eyes of potential buyers.

Conclusion

Whenever bad real estate photographs are presented in the listings, for one, they are definitely trying to tell bad stories. Pictures being shot with poorly lit homes, badly edited photos, pictures taken on bad angles are just some of the examples bad real estate photography. One question will eventually sprout from nowhere: Can these pictures generate buyer’s interest?

On the other hand, high quality photos can make the difference between an idle home and a sold home. Effects like virtual twilight make use of the exterior to highlight the outside part of the house being sold. It digitally modifies warm indoor lights and cool outdoor saturation of the property at dusk.

Technically, there are various ways by which virtual twilight can be useful. But its sole purpose is to 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. It also creates emotional pictures that can literally connect with buyers.

Some would say that virtual twilight is just for luxurious expensive listings only. But believe it or not, virtual twilight is not just for property listings but it can be for real estate magazines, for promotion, that everybody can afford. It practically boils down to the taste of the buyer. This effect just increases the possibilities that the property can be sold immediately for higher price.

On the final note, the use of virtual twilight is nothing if it is not combined with high quality photographs. These two components are perfect combination to boost the selling quality of the property. Because these effects can practically change dull-colored images with warm and romantic spark, virtual twilight is one editing apps that is hard to resist.