Table of Contents
- What Manual Blending Is in Real Estate Photography
- Manual Blending Is Crucial for Real Estate Photography
- The Manual Blending Process
- How to Manually Blend Multiple Exposures in Photoshop
- How PhotoUp Can Help With Manual Blending
Do you want to learn how to manually blend multiple exposures in Photoshop?
Manual blending is an essential technique in real estate photography for creating perfectly balanced images that showcase properties in the best possible light.
While it can be a time-consuming process, mastering manual blending allows for better control and more professional results than automated methods.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to manually blend multiple exposures in Photoshop to help you create captivating real estate photography.
Let’s start by taking a look at what manual blending is and why it’s important for creating captivating real estate photography.
What Manual Blending Is in Real Estate Photography
Manual blending is a post-processing technique used in real estate photography to combine multiple exposures of the same scene into one balanced, high-quality image.
Unlike automated methods such as HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing, manual blending gives the photographer full control over how different elements of each exposure are merged.
This process can be particularly useful for real estate photographers who need to deliver images with perfect lighting and detail, even in challenging conditions where natural light varies drastically throughout the scene.
Manual Blending Is Crucial for Real Estate Photography
Real estate photography requires capturing properties in the most flattering way possible, highlighting their features and making them look inviting to potential buyers or renters.
Often, this means dealing with scenes that have both very bright and very dark areas—such as a room with windows, where the interior may be much darker than the outdoor light coming in.
This is where manual blending comes in.
Instead of relying on automated HDR algorithms, which can sometimes create unnatural-looking images, manual blending allows photographers to choose the best parts of each exposure.
For example, you might select the properly exposed sky from one photo and the well-lit interior from another, blending them together to create a balanced final image.
This control is especially useful when you want to avoid issues like:
- Overexposed highlights or blown-out windows
- Underexposed shadows that hide details
- And color shifts caused by automated blending algorithms
By manually blending the exposures, you can ensure that the final image looks natural and professional, with all parts of the photo properly exposed and color-balanced.
This attention to detail is crucial in real estate photography, where high-quality images can greatly influence how a property is perceived.
The Manual Blending Process
To manually blend images, photographers typically use photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop. Here’s a general breakdown of the steps involved:
Capture Multiple Exposures
You start by taking a series of bracketed shots at different exposure levels, such as one that’s underexposed, one that’s overexposed, and one that’s correctly exposed for midtones.
Load the Images Into Photoshop
Import the different exposures as layers in Photoshop. Each exposure will form the basis for different parts of the final image.
Mask and Blend
Using layer masks, you can carefully blend specific areas of each exposure.
For instance, you can reveal the well-exposed highlights from one image while hiding the shadows, then do the opposite on another layer.
This way, you manually control which parts of the image are visible.
Fine-Tune
After blending, you can adjust the image further using tools like levels, curves, and color correction to ensure everything looks cohesive.
Manual blending is a more time-intensive process than automated options, but it allows for more precise control, resulting in a natural and professional image that represents the property in its best light.
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How to Manually Blend Multiple Exposures in Photoshop
Now that you know the overall process of manually blending images, let’s take a look at a step-by-step tutorial on how to manually blend multiple exposures in Photoshop.
You can either watch the video tutorial or continue reading the text below:
Import Your Images in Lightroom & Move Them to Photoshop
Step 1. Start by importing your images in Lightroom. In our example, we have seven images containing four ambients and three flashes and we are going to move them to Photoshop, where we will do the manual blending.
Step 2. Select the seven images. Right-click and select Edit In, and then Select Open as Layers in Photoshop.
Step 3. Next, separate the flash and ambient photos, and group them accordingly. Use the ambient group as the main photo, and choose your middle exposure as a base to work from.
Recover the Blown-Out/Overexposed Areas
Step 4. Then, add Inverted Masking to each image except the base photo. Press ALT and click the Masking Button to mask all except your base photo. Start by recovering the blown-out/overexposed areas of your base photo.
Step 5. Now, click on the Brush tool, then set Opacity and Flow to 30% for easy control, then start brushing over the overexposed areas and tone them down.
Recover the Dark/Underexposed Areas
Step 6. Once you’re done recovering the blown-out areas, the next thing to recover is the dark/underexposed areas on the base photo. Select the brightest ambient image from your layers and start brushing slowly.
Step 7. Next, we’ll move on to the flash exposure. Unhide the folder and make the images visible. Same as what we did on the ambient, we will add Inverted Masking – press ALT and click the Masking Button.
Step 8. The darkest flash exposure will be used as the window view. Start masking it by selecting the window with the Lasso tool (L). The surrounding area of the window is a bit overexposed, so we are going to recover some of it, especially the curtains.
Recover the Lights
Step 19. The next thing to do is to recover the lights. We used the second exposure to recover it. In the example, we also recovered some on the ceiling floor and window area.
Just keep blending till everything is well blended.
Note: Just remember when doing manual blending to always make your brush opacity a minimal amount of 10 – 30%. This is to avoid a heavy brush stroke while blending.
Step 11. When you are done, click Save and admire your perfectly blended image.
And that’s it! You’ve now learned how to manually blend multiple exposures in Photoshop.
How PhotoUp Can Help With Manual Blending
While manual blending can significantly improve the quality of real estate photos, it can also be a time-consuming process.
For busy real estate photographers who need to manage tight schedules, outsourcing the blending process can save valuable time without compromising on quality.
This is where PhotoUp comes in!
PhotoUp offers professional real estate photo editing services, including manual blending, to ensure your images are crisp, well-balanced, and visually appealing.
Their team of expert editors can handle the intricacies of blending exposures, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.
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Outsource Photo Editing?
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Why Choose PhotoUp for Manual Blending
Here are some compelling reasons why you should consider outsourcing your post-processing to PhotoUp:
- Consistency and Quality – PhotoUp’s experienced team ensures that every image is blended with care, producing natural and stunning results
- Fast Turnaround – Even with complex edits like manual blending, PhotoUp can return your images quickly, often within 24 hours or less
- Affordable Pricing – Their services start at just $0.50 per image (for dedicated editing), making professional photo editing accessible for photographers at all levels
- User-Friendly Platform – PhotoUp’s easy-to-use platform allows you to easily upload your photos, request edits, and download the final images. You can also send feedback or request revisions directly through the system, ensuring that the final result meets your exact specifications
- Trusted Brand – PhotoUp is a trusted, industry-leading brand that’s been featured on some of the most well-respected real estate photography blogs/podcasts like the PFRE and Shooting Spaces. They also have hundreds of 5-star reviews on Google
By partnering with PhotoUp, you can offload time-consuming tasks like manual blending while still delivering the high-quality images that real estate clients expect.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale your photography business, PhotoUp can help streamline your workflow and improve your photo quality.
A Complete Real Estate Marketing Partner
On top of that, PhotoUp is a complete real estate marketing partner and also offers additional services such as:
- Virtual staging
- Virtual house tours
- Home walk-through videos
- Custom websites
- Single property websites
- Property flyers
- House portraits
- Floor plans
- And Virtual Assistants
PhotoUp has everything you need to create impressive real estate photography that will impress clients and sell listings faster at higher rates!
How to Get Started
Getting started with PhotoUp is easy breezy.
All you need to do is sign up for a free PhotoUp account, upload your images, provide us with your instructions, and lastly, download your beautifully edited images!
PhotoUp Real Estate Photo Editing Uploader Demo
To see how easy it is to get started with PhotoUp, have a look at our real estate photo editing uploader demo:
As simple as that!
So, are you ready to take your photography to the next level?
Sign up for a free PhotoUp account today, and let our experts handle all your photo editing needs, giving you more time to focus on capturing properties or creating beautiful designs.
We hope this blog post helped you learn how to manually blend multiple exposures in Photoshop. Before you go, you may also want to check out the following resources:
