Real Estate Image Editing: How to Fix Lens Distortion?
Imperfection. A word that describes what most real estate photo editing professionals try to pull away from. There is no room for photos to exhibit any unsightliness especially if the end goal is to help sell a property. This is why real estate photography editing is critical to the entire process. A photo comes in through the lenses of a camera and bursts through the screen, displaying what the photographer would call the best possible shot. This, however, is not the state every real estate image editing professional stops with. They know that a good retouching will always do the job to bring the level of a photo even higher. But little do most know that real estate photography editing is more than just the colors and looks. It also deals with every bit of distortion or imperfection visible to the naked eye. See, a camera is not all that advanced. Sure there could be features and specs that bring it up on a pedestal, but truth be told there is little to no instance where a photo in a listing comes straight from a camera.
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Why so? Cameras aren’t as powerful as the retinas in our eyes. No manufacturer has come close to replicating how the human eye interprets the landscape and thus, the camera will surely need to be brought closer to how you would like people who cannot make a physical visit to see the property. There are tons of imperfections that cameras can bring to real estate photos. First is the exposure. A slight change in lighting condition throws off the entire visibility of the image thereby blocking out major portions of the frame. Color is also a sensitive parameter where anything striking to the lens could easily be caught and emphasized. Lastly, visual changes can be seen through distortion. These are a result of utilizing lenses that are different and whose intent is to capture more than just the regular square. Hence, photo distortion correction has surfaced.
Real estate image editing techniques have come out to provide a solution to the most wicked problems cameras bring and well, visual distortion is one of them. They come in several shapes and sizes from straight lines being curved or lines being skewed due to limitations in physical perspectives. Knowing what causes them is a step towards being able to solve them, and every professional knows that understanding the problem is half the battle won.
Why are Real Estate Photos Distorted?
We’ve mentioned cameras being the culprit, thereby requiring real estate image attribute editing to come to save the day. There has also been the importance of emphasizing why knowing is important as this helps solve the problem by knowing what main struggles in editing real estate pictures technique to apply.
1. Limitations in shooting distance
A tall property or even a high rises need to be shot straight. Listings cannot contain point-of-view shots as they are simply not representative of the property. For visual purposes, any property must look like vertical lines and stay vertical. They shouldn’t be angled or titled. This phenomenon is caused by the need to shoot a photo at a limited distance. Not all properties will have the luxury of having nothing in front of it and hence, photos will try and tilt up. Luckily, real estate image editing allows for an easy correction which most professionals take advantage of.
2. The need to use lenses
There are a ton of real estate photography lenses in the market and the most popular of them are the wide angles and fish-eyes. These capture a lengthy side-to-side landscape, giving an even better output than most panoramic real estate photos have. The drawback however is the curvature that gets captured because of the spherical shape of the lens. Fret not as real estate image editing has also got this covered with built-in modules that target even the nastiest distortions.
How Do You Remove Lens Distortion from an Image?
In most of the real estate image editing software out in the market, there exists a lens correction module or panel. These provide a quick and easy way that solve most of the common distortions known to photographers. They can be done in an automated manner by simply choosing which type of distortion you have and adjusting little by little from there, getting to the level of adjustment you need because not all photos will exhibit the same level of lens distortion.
Another popular method is doing it manually. Most real estate image editing software will still lead you to a module where you can correct the distortion on your photos. The only difference is, your hand is the one pulling the photo here and there to make the photo look straight. There is, of course, the usual assistance from the software’s background so your changes are made precisely.
Outsourcing Lens Correction
Let’s admit it, it takes time to perform photo distortion correction or perspective correction and with a business mindset to increase the flow of demand, there should then be an equal capacity to enable the outflow of supply. Outsourcing is a great option to enable yourself to expand your working capacity especially if something like lens distortion will require you to work on photos one by one.
The first reason why outsourcing is a good idea is flexibility and scale. Giving the workout to a real estate image editing service allows you the flexibility of giving a few photos or a lot without consequence. All you need to do is pay for what you need to get done. The second reason why outsourcing is the way to go is because you can get your photos back in an instant. While some boast a two- or three-day turnaround, you can find others that do it in less than a day, and have other enhancements done along with it.
Final Thoughts
While we see our cameras being a challenge in achieving the right look of the photo, post-processing will always be there as a staple to get us where we need to be. Even the toughest in lens distortion will not stand a chance against the prowess of a real estate image editing software so exercise your creativity and you can always bring out the results you need one way or another.
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