Table of Contents
- 10 Photo Editing Techniques That Sell Homes Faster
- Why Do These Techniques Help Sell Homes Faster?
- Save Time – Outsource Your Editing to PhotoUp!
High-quality real estate photography is a crucial factor in selling homes quickly. Since 100% of buyers begin their home search online, eye-catching images can significantly impact their decision-making process.
Professionally edited real estate photos not only enhance a property’s visual appeal but also help create an emotional connection with potential buyers.
In this guide, we’ll show you the top 10 real estate photo editing techniques that will make your listing images captivating and help sell homes faster and at higher prices.
Let’s get started!
10 Photo Editing Techniques That Sell Homes Faster
Here are 10 real estate photo editing techniques that can accelerate home sales.
1. Perspective Correction
Distorted perspectives can make a room appear unnatural or misleading.
Correcting vertical and horizontal alignment ensures that walls, doors, and windows appear straight, creating a more realistic and appealing image.
In this video tutorial, we’ll show you how to straighten verticals in Photoshop:
2. Sky Replacement
A cloudy or dull sky can make an exterior shot look uninspiring.
Replacing the sky with a bright blue or sunset backdrop enhances the ambiance, making the property more inviting and picturesque.
By becoming adept at sky replacement, photographers are empowered to:
- Magnify the charm of the property, ensuring it shines amidst the competitive hustle of the real estate world
- Add a touch of brightness to images, fostering an inviting and cozy feel
- Attain unmatched versatility, no longer at the mercy of unpredictable weather or specific times of day
To learn how to transform dull winter skies into bright and inviting ones, check out our video tutorial on how to replace a winter sky in Photoshop:
3. Day-to-Dusk Conversion
Twilight photos evoke a sense of warmth and luxury. Recent studies show that twilight photos average 76% more views than listings without the use of twilight images.
Converting a daytime image to a twilight scene using digital enhancements can create a stunning visual effect that attracts buyers looking for a cozy, high-end feel.
To learn how to perform this powerful edit, check out our video tutorial on how to edit a day to dusk image:
4. HDR (High Dynamic Range) Blending
Combining multiple exposures of the same scene (often 3 or more exposures) creates a well-balanced photo with rich details in both highlights and shadows.
This technique, called HDR blending, ensures that interiors look bright and vibrant while retaining outdoor views through windows.
To learn this simple yet effective real estate photo editing technique, watch this tutorial video on how to edit HDR photos in Lightroom:
5. Virtual Staging
When shooting empty and outdated homes, virtual staging can be a great tool to help potential buyers visualize the space furnished.
An empty room may appear cold and uninviting. Virtual staging adds realistic-looking furniture and decor to showcase the property’s potential, helping buyers visualize how the space can be used.
Virtual staging services like PhotoUp give you several design options to help you cater to any market. We offer a professional library, including 11 interior design styles that can match and enhance every room like:
- Mid-Century Modern
- Scandinavian
- Coastal
- Farmhouse
- Modern
- American
- Industrial
- Hamptons
- Luxury
- Southwestern
- And Commercial
Best of all, our virtual staging service is affordable and starts at the low cost of $20 per image.
“Virtual staging can help you stage faster than traditional staging and is up to 97% cheaper than traditional staging. What’s not to love!?”
Devon Higgins, Head of Sales & Marketing at PhotoUp, Realtor at Hello Homes GR
PhotoUp Virtual Staging Demo
To see how quick and easy it is to use PhotoUp’s virtual staging service, check out our 5-minute virtual staging demo:
All right, we are now halfway through our guide to the top real estate photo editing techniques to sell homes faster. We hope you enjoy it so far!
Let’s move on to one of the most important edits – object removal.
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Real Estate Photographer Business Platform
Grow a successful real estate photography business with PhotoUp.
6. Object Removal/Decluttering
Unwanted elements such as clutter, personal items, or even unsightly power lines can distract potential buyers.
Removing these distractions creates a cleaner and more appealing composition.
Utilize the ‘Clone Stamp’ or ‘Healing Brush’ tools to remove unwanted objects or distractions from your photos, such as cords and wires, pet toys, or stray items.
To learn how to use the Clone Stamp Tool to declutter your images, watch this tutorial video on how to remove cords in Photoshop:
7. Landscaping Enhancement
Brown or patchy grass can detract from a property’s curb appeal.
Digitally enhancing the lawn and landscaping makes the exterior look well-maintained and inviting.
You can easily enhance the look of brown, patchy lawns by adjusting saturation and luminance sliders to give grass a fresh, green appearance.
To learn how to create a beautiful green lawn, check out our video tutorial on how to make grass green in Photoshop:
8. Color and White Balance Adjustments
The true foundation of any photo enhancement has to be getting the basics right—this means nailing the brightness, exposure, and colors.
Incorrect lighting can make rooms appear too warm, too cool, or unnatural.
Adjusting the white balance and colors ensures the photos accurately represent the property’s true appearance.
To learn how to adjust the colors and make your real estate photos pop, check out our tutorial on how to color correct in Photoshop.
Additionally, this video tutorial walks you through how to brighten a photo in Photoshop:
9. Window Masking
Overexposed or washed-out windows can make an image appear unprofessional.
Window masking helps retain outdoor views while maintaining the brightness of the interior, offering a balanced and realistic look.
For instructions on how to do this edit, watch this video tutorial on how to mask windows for real estate photography in Photoshop:
10. Noise Reduction and Sharpening
Sharpness is key in real estate photography. You can breathe new life into your property shots by mastering the art of image sharpening with Photoshop.
Grainy or blurry images can appear unprofessional and diminish the overall quality of the listing.
Reducing noise and sharpening details ensures crisp, high-resolution images that highlight the best features of the home.
To learn how to perform this editing technique, watch our video tutorial on how to sharpen an image in Photoshop:
Note: Be cautious not to oversharpen, as this can lead to unnatural-looking images.
And there you have 10 real estate photo editing techniques that will help you create eye-catching listing photos that sell homes at premium rates!
Why Do These Techniques Help Sell Homes Faster?
Let’s answer this question with some relevant statistics. Firstly, studies show that about 32% of homes with high-quality photographs sell faster than those without visuals.
High-quality images not only highlight a property’s best features but also create an emotional connection, enhance perceived value, and ultimately help sell homes faster.
Here’s how professional photo editing can give your listings a competitive edge:
Captures Buyer Interest Quickly
Professionally edited photos stand out in crowded online listings, attracting more views and engagement.
Consider these statistics:
- 68% of potential buyers say that great photos made them want to visit the home
- Real estate listings with high-quality images receive up to 61% more views compared to those with amateur photos
- Also, property listings featuring high dynamic range (HDR) photos sell 50% faster and increase online views by 118%
- And homes with drone photos or aerial photos sell 68% faster
Creates Emotional Appeal
High-quality images help buyers connect emotionally with the home, making them more likely to schedule a showing:
- This statement is backed by the fact that 85% of homebuyers consider photos the most critical factor when evaluating a property online. The listing photos are the most important factor in deciding which homes to view
- Additionally, twilight photography, which captures properties during the golden hour, increases showings by 3x times
Enhances Perceived Property Value
A polished presentation makes the home appear well-maintained and more valuable.
Here are some compelling statistics indicating that professionally edited listing photos increase the perceived value of a property:
- Quality photography can enhance a property’s perceived value by as much as 39%, influencing buyer perceptions
- Overall, 61.3% of brokers believe high-quality photography is ‘crucial’ for selling homes
- Listings with pro-quality listing images close between $934 and $116,076 higher than comparable listings with low-quality photography
- 52.02% of Realtors who use professional photography believe that professional photography increases sales prices
Shortens Time on the Market
Eye-catching photos generate more inquiries, leading to quicker offers and faster sales:
For example:
- Homes with professional photography have an 84% higher chance of being sold within the listing period compared to homes with amateur photography
- Listings with professional photos spend 89 days on market compared to 123 days for other homes
By utilizing these real estate photo editing techniques, sellers and agents can maximize a property’s appeal, ultimately leading to faster sales and higher closing prices.
Investing in professional photo editing is a strategic move that can make a significant difference in today’s competitive real estate market.
Have You Ever Thought To
Outsource Photo Editing?
Try it today with 10 free edits from three professional photo editors.
Save Time – Outsource Your Editing to PhotoUp!
As we all know, editing real estate photos can take many hours. Therefore, many real estate photographers and Realtors outsource their photo editing.
And here’s where PhotoUp is ready and eager to help!
PhotoUp offers an affordable editing service that streamlines the editing process, providing high-quality, customized images and videos at a fraction of the cost of hiring an in-house editor.
For example, our skilled photo editors can help with the following issues:
- Improper exposure levels
- Harsh shadows, lack of light, etc.
- Blurred images that were taken without a tripod
- Images that need cropping or other effects
- Lawn greening and sky replacements
- Twilight and day-to-dusk editing
- Manual blending and pano stitching
- Clutter and advanced object removal
- Line and angle corrections
- And much more!
Plus, it’s hard to beat PhotoUp’s quality, service, and pricing, with most photo editing costing $1.10 to $9.00 per image, depending on the complexity.
It doesn’t stop there…
Your Real Estate Marketing Partner
In addition to editing, PhotoUp is a complete one-stop-shop for real estate marketing and also offers additional services such as:
- Virtual staging
- Virtual house tours
- Custom websites
- Single property websites
- Property flyers
- House portraits
- Floor plans
- And Virtual Assistants
We have everything you need to create impressive real estate photography that will impress clients and sell listings faster at higher rates!
How to Get Started
Our user-friendly platform lets you upload, review, and approve edits seamlessly, giving you more control over the final product while saving time and money.
Getting started is super easy – this is what to do:
Step 1. Sign up for a free PhotoUp account.
Step 2. Upload your photos to our easy-to-use software.
Step 3. Choose the level of editing that you need and provide instructions (optional).
Step 4. Wait for PhotoUp professional editors to edit and return the photos in less than 24 hours (48 hours for virtual staging).
Step 5. Download and start using your beautifully edited photos.
PhotoUp Real Estate Photo Editing Uploader Demo
To see how easy it is to get started with PhotoUp, check out our real estate photo editing uploader demo:
As simple as that!
You can find everything you need to enhance and market real estate photography in one user-friendly software.
Sign up for a free PhotoUp account and start outsourcing your real estate photo editing and marketing needs today.
For a limited time, you’ll receive a bonus of 10 free credits you can use on any of our services when signing up for an account.
We hope this blog post provided you with 10 real estate editing techniques that will help you sell homes faster and at higher prices. Before you go, you may also want to check out the following resources:
