The Best Tools for Background Removal in Real Estate Images

The Best Tools for Background Removal in Real Estate Images

Taking photos may not always be done in the best conditions, but we have to work with what we have. Professional photographers will understand that site photography is not the end-all. In fact, it is only setting up the photo for post-processing. This is where realty editor comes into play. The beauty of technology these days is that it is boundless. The possibilities are limited only to one’s imagination and maximizing what today’s computer editing software can do might just be too extensive that it becomes too scary.

For real estate image editing, the goal is to produce a beautiful photo that will be eye-catching enough for the viewer to take a second look at the photo. Ultimately, the objective is to culminate into a sale by the real estate selling body. The most important aspects in achieving this goal is to correct the perception of the photo. This means that the brightness, color contrasts, hues, and illumination must all be adjusted to bring the image to life. Others may opt to stage an interior shot using editing software due to the lack of time and resources to fit the rooms with the proper furniture. However, above all this one very important post-processing aspect must be considered and that is background manipulation or even replacement.

Real estate image background removal is required on occasions where the day is not ideal. This can be done on shoots where the day is gloomy or perhaps an overcast is forecasted to loom the entire day. Whichever the case is, a bright sunny day is the ideal setting of a listed real estate photo. Real estate image background removal will definitely help the cause and you maybe in for a surprise to know that this can also be used for interiors.

Best Background Removal Tools

Backgrounds will almost always be an item in the checklist that needs to be looked at. Whether the task is to retouch, edit, or completely remove, that area will prove to be a constant. To successfully carry out the task, there are numerous tools available within the more common real estate image editing software. In this list, we try to enumerate not only the ones available in these software but the websites that also work just as well.

  1. Lasso tool (Adobe Photoshop) – the Lasso tool comes in many variants. There are the preformed shapes as well as the magnetic lasso option. The available preformed shapes are easier to use if the object you want to retain in the photo is the same as those shapes. However, in most cases, irregular objects are found all around the photo you want the background removed. The magnetic lasso tool recognizes the irregularity of the object and suggests a path to enclose the object, retain it and get rid of the background.
  2. Background eraser tool (Adobe Photoshop) – this is probably the most recommended tool out of this list due to its intelligent features and ease of use. The background eraser tool will definitely be a convenient choice as well for real estate image background removal because the tool recognizes colors. The tool will begin by commanding it to recognize a color that needs removal. After it recognizes the color, it will proceed to erase all pixels containing that color with the intentional control of the mouse. Be careful though not to unintentionally bring the crosshair of the tool to another color since it will drop the initially recognized color and adapt to the new one, removing a different color in the background.
  3. PhotoScissors – this is a website that allows people to easily upload a photo and select the background to be removed. The beauty of using this website is that it specializes in removal of backgrounds with its automated detection and analysis of the objects within the photo thereby only removing the background. It has, however, an upload size limit of 10mb which would not support high resolution photos.
  4. Remove.bg – another website available for a simple upload and click command to remove backgrounds. There is an option as well to maintain high resolution photos, but that will come with premium paid access, otherwise in the free version, the photo is automatically downsized and degraded in quality.

Is it Considered Ethical?

The answer is yes under certain conditions. Real estate image background removal will be considered ethical if it still shows the same property and everything that comes with it when the potential buyer comes and views the home personally. Let’s check out an example. For instance, the room you are taking photos of are slated for a wallpaper installation a couple of days later. Since the photo needs to be put up for listing at the soonest possible time, the shoot and editing needs to happen ASAP. You then try to remove the background and replace it with the same pattern of the wallpaper to save time then this is okay. On another instance, it is a cloudy day, and the property sits looking all cold and sad. You have found the stock photo of a background of a sunny afternoon in your computer and wish to replace the background through removing the one in the photo first. This is acceptable as nothing permanent is removed. Merely the conditions of the environment are changed in order to chase something that was not present on the day of the shoot.

Conclusion

The photo shoot conditions will never be always perfect nor ideal. Having a grasp of reality and knowing that real estate image editing can assist the post-processing phase will surely give you the confidence that the photo will still turn out perfect. Real estate image background removal is just one of the many skills and techniques that will pave the way to achieving such photo. Furthermore, the wide variety of options to aid this background removal process will make the process seem like a breeze. Remember that this is not considered as deceiving potential buyers as background removals within the bounds of accurate representation of the property, inside and out, will still showcase the same property and inclusions. Truly one of the essential skills in real estate image editing, background removal will always help turn those photos into gold.

 

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