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Are you looking for a good, fast, and affordable real estate photo editing service but don’t know which one to choose? Then, this blog post will help make your vetting process easier!

Real estate photography is a critical aspect of property marketing, serving as the first impression for potential buyers. A well-captured and tastefully edited photograph can be the deciding factor that leads to a property viewing and, eventually, a sale. 

Consequently, identifying a reliable real estate photo editing service is essential for any real estate photographer looking to enhance their imagery and showcase properties in the best light possible.

In this article, we will discuss how to vet out a good real estate photo editing service and highlight some of the best options in the industry.

Let’s jump in, shall we?!

What Is Real Estate Photo Editing Really?

Real estate photo editing is the process of using digital tools to enhance and retouch photographs of properties. 

The primary goal is to present the property accurately while making it as attractive as possible to capture potential buyers’ attention. 

This may include adjusting colors and lighting, removing unsightly objects, or creating a more inviting atmosphere through advanced techniques like sky replacements or virtual staging.

What Are the Benefits of Editing Real Estate Photography?

With 99% of homebuyers starting their search online, captivating images are vital for generating interest. 

Despite professional photographers being at the top of their game and no matter how perfect a shot might seem, various factors can dull its sparkle. 

We’re talking about tricky lighting swings, unexpected weather changes, or even the finite capabilities of your trusty camera setup – these elements can all leave your photos slightly less than picture-perfect.

High-quality real estate photo editing can fix these imperfections and make a property look more appealing thus potentially increasing its market value. 

Overall, photo editing helps in highlighting the best features of a property, addressing lighting issues, and ensuring consistency across a series of images.

It can also add details to a photo such as: 

Details like this may not be noticed at first glance, but this attention to detail gives potential home buyers one less reason to choose not to check out the listing.

Additionally, adding virtual staging to your list of services adds more variety and value to your clients. Photos of a well-furnished property usually sell faster than an empty one.

Professionally edited images also improve your credibility as a photographer. When you deliver professionally edited, top-quality photos, you give your clients a lasting impression that you provide quality output. 

Real estate agents who have a positive experience with you, your brand, and your images, are more likely to refer your professional real estate photography skills to others.

Common Photo Editing Services

To give you an idea of what real estate photo editing entails, here are some common services most editing providers offer:

  • Color Correction: Balancing and enhancing the colors to reflect the property accurately.
  • Color Cast Removal: Color cast is an undesired and distracting effect caused by the environment’s light source and incorrect white balance settings in a camera, which needs to be adjusted to present the correct colors.
  • Perspective Correction: Ensuring that vertical and horizontal lines are straight. This is particularly crucial for architectural photography.
  • Sky Replacement: Replacing dull skies with vibrant sunsets or clear blue skies to enhance outdoor shots.
  • HDR Editing: Combining multiple exposures of the same scene to achieve the perfect balance of shadows and highlights.
  • Lawn Enhancement: Sometimes you need to take photos of a property off-season with brown, dry patches on the lawn. This can easily be enhanced and replaced with a green, lush lawn with some simple editing techniques.
  • Virtual Staging: Adding furniture and decor to an empty space digitally, helping buyers visualize the potential of the property.

These are just a few of the edits offered by professional services but it gives you an idea of what’s typically included. Now, let’s move on to what to look for in a real estate photo editing service.

High-Quality & Consistent

Real Estate Photo Editing

Hire a dedicated editor with performance metrics from $7/hour.

What to Look for in a Real Estate Photo Editing Service?

When vetting potential real estate photo editing services, consider the following factors:

  • Quality of Work: Review samples of their work to ensure they meet your standards.
  • Turnaround Time: A good service should deliver edited images promptly while maintaining quality. A turnaround time of 24 hours or less is normal.
  • Customer Reviews: You should always check the reviews and what other customers say about the company to see whether it’s legit or not.
  • Affordability: The cost should align with your budget without compromising the quality of the deliverables. A professional editing service typically charges around $1.50 to $9 for basic editing. 
  • Customer Service: Responsive customer service indicates a company that values its clients’ satisfaction and business. Look for the option to chat, email, and call your provider for prompt communication.
  • Privacy and Security: The company should guarantee the security and confidentiality of your images. 
  • Customization: Your editing provider should be flexible enough to cater to your specific editing needs and preferences.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best real estate photo editing services based on image quality, turnaround time, pricing, and services offered.

Top-Rated Real Estate Photo Editing Services

While there are many options to choose from, here are 5 notable services that have garnered positive reputations in the industry:

1. PhotoUp

PhotoUp - The Best Real Estate Photo Editing Service in the Industry

PhotoUp is a full-service real estate photo editing company in the USA that can take your property images to the next level. 

Their editing, design, and development teams are located in Cebu City in the Philippines, but their core sales/support team is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can contact them directly at (888) 330-7559.

PhotoUp has a team of professional real estate photo editors with years of experience who understand the importance of quality images and quick turnaround times. 

The company even offers dedicated editing, where you work with one dedicated editor or team of editors for maximum image quality, consistency, and branding.

PhotoUp offers all basic editing services, plus additional real estate marketing services such as:

They offer a fast turnaround time of 12-24 hours and customizable credit packages to fit your editing needs and budget. 

Pricing: PhotoUp uses a credit system for purchasing its services and offers discounts for bulk buying of credits:

  • As low as $1 per credit for subscription clients
  • $1.60 per credit for pay-as-you-go clients

2. Phixer

Phixer homepage

Phixer is headquartered in Seattle, USA, with offices in Cebu, Philippines, and Singapore. The company provides a range of basic services, including:

  • Photo editing and retouching
  • Video editing
  • Sky and lawn replacement
  • Decluttering
  • And object removal

Additionally, Phixer offers the Phixer app, a do-it-yourself application designed specifically for real estate agents. The main objective of Phixer is to encourage real estate sales professionals to utilize the app and enhance their efficiency in the industry.

Their turnaround for basic real estate photo editing is 24 hours. They also offer an 18-hour turnaround for their advanced editing packages.

Pricing: The downside to Phixer is that you can’t find any pricing information on their website, which makes the company less transparent and competitive.

3. FixThePhoto

Fixthephoto homepage

Another top-rated real estate photo editing company is FixThePhoto. They have a team of experienced editors who specialize in real estate photo editing services. 

Overall, FixThePhoto offers a wide variety of services aimed mostly at portrait and wedding photographers. However, they also include photo editing services for real estate photographers and sales professionals like:

  • White balance correction
  • Color enhancement 
  • Sky replacement
  • Line straightening
  • HDR compositing and blending 
  • And more. 

They offer a turnaround time of 48 hours and customized packages to fit your specific needs and budget. 

Pricing: FixThePhoto’s standard real estate image editing is $1.50 per photo, including single-shot HDR photos.

However, other services are labeled “High-End” photo editing and the price quickly jumps to $12.00 per image.

4. PhotoAndVideoEdits

Photo and Video Edits homepage

PhotoAndVideoEdits is an established online real estate photo and video editing company based in the USA. 

Operating since 2005, they primarily collaborate with English-speaking real estate photographers and professionals in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. 

According to their website, they provide a wide array of services tailored to the specific needs of the real estate industry, such as:

  • Video post-production services 
  • Line straightening
  • Sky replacement and lawn greening
  • Object removal
  • Color and exposure enhancements
  • And window masking

PhotoAndVideoEdits has a turnaround time of 24 hours but with a slightly complicated order process that can extend this a bit.

Pricing: Like PhotoUp, PhotoAndVideoEdits uses a credit purchase system for payments:

  • For monthly plan subscribers, a credit is $1
  • For non-subscribers, a credit is $1.50
  • However, the minimum credit purchase is 200 credits!

High-Quality & Consistent

Real Estate Photo Editing

Hire a dedicated editor with performance metrics from $7/hour.

5. Color Experts BD

Color Experts homepage

Color Experts BD is based in Leesburg, Virginia, and has editing facilities in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Sharjah, UAE. 

Their services go far beyond real estate photography and include:

  • 3D modeling
  • Sky attachments
  • Greenery attachments
  • Video editing
  • Advertisement design
  • And pre-press publishing services 

The turnaround time for photo editing at Color Experts BD is not fixed and varies based on the level and complexity of the requested edits.

Pricing: Their pricing starts at $4.99 per image and moves up to $110 per image depending on the editing service requested.

And there you have 5 top-rated real estate photo editing services to help you edit your photos to perfection!

Final Thoughts

Before selecting a service, we highly recommend reaching out to these companies to discuss your needs and perhaps request a trial edit to gauge their capabilities.

In conclusion, the importance of professional real estate photo editing cannot be overstated. It’s an investment that pays dividends in terms of attracting more buyers and closing sales faster. 

Take time to research and choose a photo editing service that aligns well with your style, expectations, and the demands of the real estate market. 

While you’re here, why don’t you try PhotoUp?! We have a decade of experience creating captivating images that are sure to impress your clients.

Sign up for a free PhotoUp account today, and you’ll get 10 free credits you can use on any of our services!

Allow our expert editors to take care of the editing so that you can shoot more properties and grow your real estate photography business at record speed.

We hope this blog post helped you vet out a good real estate photo editing service. Before you go, you may also want to check out the following related resources:

Stina Pettersson

Professional Blogger

Stina is an entrepreneur, digital marketer, and professional blogger who's passionate about real estate photo editing, being outdoors with her pup, and sweaty gym sessions. She loves the written word and has been writing for publications like Forbes and Thrive Global. Originally from Sweden, she's called South Florida her home since 2013.

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