Easy Steps to Retouch your Real Estate Photo Using Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom has been known as the real estate photo editing software that makes all things more convenient. This is to say that the edits have been known to be easier to execute with supplementing features such as file management and simultaneous reviews. Adobe Lightroom then can be said to have culminated all of the best ideas and parts of a real estate photo editing software and mashing it into one application.

Now when it comes to the simplicity and ease-of-use, real estate photo retouching takes it to another level with the way Lightroom compiles all the required adjustments into one area. In this quick guide, you will be able to see how easy it is to make a photo look like a million dollars just by focusing on one side of the workstation.

Breezing Through Your Edits in Lightroom

1. Shoot RAW, edit RAW.

Never underestimate the power of shooting raw images. It is through this uncompressed format that images retain their best quality and resolutions because they are not transformed into a jpeg or a png that would otherwise require manipulating the image at the camera level. Keep in mind that it is the real estate photo editing software you want to get the enhancements out from. With a raw image, you are also able to capture the details in the image such as color and gives more room for adjustment in post-processing.

2. Make sure the image is straight by clicking the grid icon (crop) on the left pane and click auto align.

Once you have imported the image you want to enhance, make sure the perspective is straight. The thing of beauty about real estate photo retouching is the ability of modern software to detect the little things such as perspective and skewing. To make an easy alignment, head on over to the right side of Lightroom’s workstation, click the grid icon and by clicking auto-align, the image will simply snap into the right perspective. Easy, right?

3. Scroll down to get to the transform pane and click auto to make sure the fix the borders.

The ensuing compromise on aligning the photo is if it is rotated, the borders will definitely follow. Luckily, this real estate photo editing software has anticipated such an impact. In the same pane, scroll your way down until you see the word transform justified to the right. Click on the auto button which is on the top middle among 6 buttons available on the transform pane. Voila, the picture might zoom in a bit, but then you’ve got the straight edges back to your photo.

4. Edit White Balance on treatment panel using ‘exposure’ and ‘contrast’ sliders.

Real estate photo retouching and editing at this point in the enhancement might need more of a human touch. Stay away from the temptation to hit that auto button on the treatment panel to adjust your white balance as it might end up ruining your photo. Instead, hover your mouse a little bit down and look for the exposure slider, followed by the contrast slider. Easily move the toggle to the left or right to achieve the blend of white balance you need for the interior or exterior shot. Either of these two types of photos will benefit from the blending of white balance, which is enough to illuminate and distribute the light.

5. Remove window glare from interiors by zeroing out the ‘highlights’ slider but balance using ‘shadows’ slider.

We might have heard about such real estate photo retouching techniques such as window pull and window masking. These two are very effective ways to deal with glare on interior images, but they don’t necessarily fall under the easy-to-do category. Now take the highlights slider. Adjust it and see what happens. Easy, isn’t it? But as all things go, there has to be a balance that keeps the image grounded to reality. Right underneath the highlights slider is the shadows slider. Move this in the opposite direction to the highlight adjustment, and you should see a better and darkened view of the inside without impacting the glare that was corrected earlier.

6. Lower down the ‘Whites’ and ‘Blacks’ sliders to increase the impact of lighting.

Whether its an interior or exterior shot, we all want our real estate photo editing software to bring out the best in each photo. Utilizing the ‘whites’ slider and ‘blacks’ slider will both help create a dramatic effect on the photo. It intensifies the impact of light, and makes the walls, or property, or whatnots, exhibit an amplified glow as of the light is reflecting to bring out their finer details.

7. Check for required adjustments on color using the vibrance and saturation.

The vibrance slider as well as the saturation slider will be available right underneath and whites and blacks. These will allow you to adjust the intensity and heaviness of the color and will easily give you the visualization as you move the slider. You can also employ the use of tonal curves, a micro-adjustment tool for color correction and is found right beneath these sliders.

8. Sharpen your Photos by scrolling further down and adjusting the ‘luminance’ slider to the right and reducing noise in the process.

One of the last steps you need to do is to make the photo look more detailed and tangible. Real estate photo retouching endeavor to make each photo as realistic as possible so it reaches out to its intended audience. The luminance slider found on the same pane, just a few scrolls down, will help sharpen the photo and make a clearer picture. In the process, noise will also be reduced, but as all adjustments go, take caution in removing noise and sharpening as overdoing it will distort the natural emission of colors and texture on the image.

Conclusion

Have you noticed that everything you did was all sourced from one pane on the right side of the screen? This quick and easy guide to doing an enhancement in Adobe Lightroom is very convenient and easily transforms photos without straining your brain. As a real estate photo editing software, it lives up to its name of being one of the best and most convenient applications. With this, real estate photo retouching has become a more enjoyable and straightforward task.