Real estate photography is a unique genre in the industry. The use of room lighting and special techniques both onsite and in the studio is what allows us to work our magic.
Take a look at the before and after comparisons below. Use the sliders to see the before and after comparison of each effect.
All of these are included with our Standard Photography Package, except the Digital Twilight enhancement illustrated below, which is available for a nominal fee.
Ambient vs Flash/Ambient
In most rooms there are competing light sources and often there are color-casts on the walls and ceilings. Natural light is shining through windows and skylights and artificial light is coming from table lamps and ceiling lights. There are also often both warm bulbs (yellow) and cool bulbs (white) in the same room. The goal of using flash in real estate photography is to evenly distribute the light, reduce colorcast and to allow the room to show its true colors.
Ambient vs Flash/Ambient
Even a simple image in a vacant “all white” room has colorcast. Notice the colors reflected from outside onto the ceiling and the wall to the left, as well as the added glare from the sky on the wood floor on the ambient photo to the left. The color in the wood floor is cast throughout the room as well. This can easily be corrected using flash. The difference is subtle but you can see the color improvement.
Cloudy Sky vs Blue Sky
Ideally we want to shoot exteriors on a sunny day, but it often doesn’t work out that way due to preset timing considerations on real estate listings. Fortunately we have a solution for that in our studio by adding blue skies and puffy clouds to almost any exterior image. We will also fill shadows and enhance the overall lighting to make the photo look as if it was shot on a sunny day.
Fire & TV Enhancements
The focal point of this room is the fireplace and the TV, but we don’t usually have control over either of those when onsite. We can change that in the studio by adding scenery to the TV screen and fire to the fireplace. These little details make the image more interesting to the prospective buyer.
Brown vs Green Lawn
Is it possible to have a green lawn in the winter? Fortunately, with a little help from Photoshop we can. Notice that we cleaned the lawn up a little, by removing some debris and divots, as well as adding green to the lawn to make it more appealing to a prospective buyer. We didn’t actually replace the lawn, although we did replace the sky as this photo was taken on a cloudy day.
Daylight vs Digital Twilight
Twilight photos are designed to capture the immediate attention of all prospective buyers and will make them really want to look more closely at the property since most properties don’t have them. They are typically used as the cover photo.
Twilight photos are not for every property. It’s important to know the direction of the house as compared with the sun. It’s also typically used for luxury properties and homes with a strong curb appeal.
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