Tips for creating high quality images
This week we talked about HDR Photography as the future of real estate and got quite a response, so we sought out additional resources for you to learn more about editing photos for better presentability in your marketing of homes.
While we advise hiring a photographer for all listings, some agents are more of the DIY types and that’s okay too, but sometimes the DIY route ends up with pictures that are not print ready and often are downright hideous. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer and have Photoshop, you’re in luck, we’ve found a great site in Australia called Rubbing Pixels that offers amazing tutorials for photography. Some are free, others are paid and their blog is chock full of information on how to edit your photography.
Easy HDR Tutorial
Take for example the below tutorial by Matt Lauder that highlights specifically what steps to take to make your photos pop. This is just one of many tutorials I’ve enjoyed.
Click to enlarge:
AgentGenius.com has no affiliation with RubbingPixels.com. Image copyright belongs to and is being used with written permission of RubbingPixels.com.
Jeremy Hart
March 29, 2010 at 10:31 am
I love HDR stuff. Of course, I have no clue – or interest – as to how to do it, but that’s what the photographer is for. I use his stuff on every ad, everywhere, and the response has been phenomenal.
Awesome stuff.
Matthew Hardy
March 29, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Lani Rosales: she is endlessly helpful. 🙂
Roger Bintner
March 29, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Can you direct me to the link for the HDR tutorial by Matt? I have looked everywhere without luck.
Thanks
Lani Rosales
March 29, 2010 at 11:36 pm
There are a variety on RubbingPixels.com, but the tutorial is the large image above that shows you which settings on Photoshop to use. Also helpful is the tutorial by Trey Ratcliffe: https://agentgenius.com/real-estate-coaching-tutorials/the-future-of-real-estate-photography-is-here-hdr-editing/
Both tutorials are super helpful!
Roger Bintner
March 30, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Lani, thanks for the response….I still don’t get where you are trying to driect me….how do I find the tutorial that looks like the image you have created? Matt responsed and told there is no “real estate HDR tutorial” ???
Is he correcty??
Thanks
Lani Rosales
March 30, 2010 at 7:31 pm
His tutorial is for HDR photography. Period. It applies to real estate as well as landscapes, vacation pictures, etc. Make sense? A good starting point is to open an interior shot you have in Photoshop and test out the settings in the tutorial picture above and let us know how that turns out.
Are you interested in more about HDR? We’ll be covering it more in depth over the coming weeks, but RubbingPixels.com and StuckInCustoms.com are super informative!
Eric Holmes
March 30, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Thanks for the post Lani.
There are a ton of great photoshop blogs out there that offer free tutorials: PSHero, PSDtuts, SixRevisions and SmashingMagazine (my favorite). All are worth checking out and following at a distance.
LindaJ
May 23, 2010 at 2:05 pm
I first noticed the use of HDR in real estate listings about a month ago. I am in the market and I cannot tell you how much I detest seeing properties marketed with this technique. I am going to put my home on the market and expect to get an “everybody is doing it” pitch for this advertising trend (gimmick).
Call me old fashioned but I expect the places I go see to look like the photos I see online.
Linda
Lani Rosales
May 24, 2010 at 11:54 am
Linda, when abused, the technique IS a gimmick and looks ridiculous and misleading, but when done professionally (or well for that matter), images actually reflect reality moreso than standard photography can.
But trust me, when you put your home on the market, it’s a “barely anyone is doing it” proposition, the industry won’t catch up to modern photography standards for some time.
Robert Walker
August 20, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Just starting to get into real estate photography. I agree with you Lani that some of the HDR pictures are abused and look so "photoshopped" and fake. I also like the natural look approach. Of course it costs money to hire a professional photographer and post processing with HDR. The home should look like the picture with blue skies and green grass.
If the RE broker can not sell the property, then they are out the photography marketing money. Maybe the day is coming where one charges the homeowner a photography listing fee to overcome this expense that is refunded upon closing. I know many homeowners expect unrealistic prices for their properties in this wacky market.
Justin Adams
August 23, 2011 at 3:23 pm
HDR is an excellent way to shoot real estate, however WARNING: you must know the basics before you start shooting HDR. The reason for this is that most errors in white balance are greatly exaggerated in HDR images. I've recently posted a tutorial that used to be for our customers only. If you like it, please consider giving our service a try!
home2market.com/us/photography-for-real-estate/
Hope that helps!
Best,
Justin