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In real estate sales, photos of the home play a significant role in helping buyers decide whether to see it in person. Therefore, agents want to make sure their marketing photos are the best possible. 

Many real estate photographers prefer HDR photography because it results in rich, vibrant images of a home. 

HDR photography can truly showcase the finer features of a listing in a detailed and realistic manner — when it’s done right. In this post, we’re going to look at 5 best HDR photography before & after examples. 

But first, let’s better understand HDR photography and its uses in real estate marketing. 

What Is HDR in Real Estate Photography?

HDR photography by PhotoUp
HDR Photography by PhotoUp

HDR stands for high dynamic range — the exposure ranges between the darkest and the lightest parts of an image. 

Typically, when shooting HDR, the photographer takes at least three different exposures of the same image: 

  • The first one is a mid-range exposure shot
  • The second image exposure is set to draw out the highlights
  • And the third image seeks to capture shadows and depth

Then, these three or more images are layered together. And the resulting image is a blending of the varying exposures and creates a single image with a vibrant, natural exposure level and with rich detailing.

Consequently, the popularity of HDR in real estate photography is due to its ability to produce accurate, sharp, and robust images of a property. Both for interior and exterior shots of the home. 

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Is HDR Good for Real Estate Photography?

The honest answer to the above question is — it depends.

This photography technique is really a technology — but also an art. When done correctly and skillfully edited, the results can be amazing.

However, when done poorly and processed by inexperienced editors, the results can be simply awful. 

When Not to Use HDR Photography

Classic Overcooked HDR Landscape – Image Source: expertphotography.com

Further, not every situation calls for HDR photography. For example, when you are shooting a room or space that is low in contrast, you do not need to do HDR.

How can you tell the contrast? Look at the histogram — narrow range levels indicate low contrast. 

High-Dynamic-Range photo editing with low contrast images usually results in garish colors and flat photos.

That being the case, HDR isn’t ideal for:

  • Sunrise and sunset photos
  • Silhouette images
  • Image fixing or shadow removal
  • And images with people or animals in them

It’s best to use HDR photography when the contrast of the scene exceeds your camera’s range.

The Editing Is the Key

HDR Photo Editing by PhotoUp

HDR became popular among photographers several years ago. And many photographers inexperienced with photo editing relied on automated tools to help them edit their HDR photos.  

The results? The internet became flooded with fake-looking, flat, and oversaturated HDR pictures.

The goal of real estate HDR images is crisp, detailed photos that are precise in representing the range of lighting and color intensity levels found in real scenes, giving the photo a sophisticated and finished look.

When done right, HDR editing can boost the quality of real estate photos, attract more visitors, and thus increase the chances of a solid sale.

But it takes a good photo editor to get it right. So, the choice of HDR photo editing service is crucial to the results.

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5 Best HDR Photography Before & After Examples

To give you an idea of how rich and vibrant HDR photography can look when edited the right way, let’s take a look at some before & after examples next.

Real Estate Photo Editing by PhotoUp

As we saw in our examples, for outstanding HDR photos, you need photo editing experts who are skilled at blending images to create flawless, rich results. 

And ideally, these skilled HDR photo editors should also be highly experienced with real estate photography in particular

This is where PhotoUp has a definite advantage.

PhotoUp’s global team of highly experienced HDR photo editors has over 10 years of experience with real estate and architectural photography.  

We deliver the best HDR photos in the industry!

PhotoUp’s expert HDR photo editing services include:

  • Layering the exposure levels
  • Fixing harsh shadows, lack of light, and balance 
  • Correcting blurred images for clean, crisp details  

The results, as you saw above, are that our HDR-edited real estate photos are outstanding. 

Working with PhotoUp for HDR photo editing has other benefits, too:

  • We deliver quality service at affordable pricing relying on our global photo editing team
  • And our customer support team is US-based and ready to answer any of your questions or address any of your needs

We Offer More Than HDR Editing

Sky replacement by PhotoUp
Sky Replacement by PhotoUp

PhotoUp’s real estate photo editing services go beyond HDR editing and include:

  • Image correction and enhancement
  • Color, tone, and exposure adjustments
  • Clutter and object removal 
  • Lawn greening and sky replacements
  • Line and angle corrections
  • And the full range of editing services!

More Than Industry Leading

Real Estate Photo Editing

PhotoUp is the end-to-end business platform for real estate photographers.

Sign up for a free PhotoUp account, now, to get stunning HDR photos for real estate sales!

At the same time, you can also explore our other services, including virtual staging, single property websites, video editing, and more. 

In today’s post, you learned about the best HDR photography for real estate professionals and saw before and after examples. 

We hope you enjoyed this post. If so, please also check out these related resources:

Gregory Gronbacher

Real Estate Sales Agent / Professional Blogger

Gregory is a real estate sales agent and a state-certified instructor of real estate licensing and law. Originally from New York City, he's called Grand Rapids, Michigan home since 1995.

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