When scrolling through galleries of photos for residential (and some commercial) properties, it always seems like the perspective is off. But each picture seems a little differently off – almost like a fisheye lens, but not. What are they using to do that and why has that “look” become industry standard, even when we all know the pictures aren’t true to life?
In: Technology
Real estate photos often have that distinctive “look” because they’re usually taken with wide-angle lenses, which capture a broader view of a room and make spaces appear larger than they are. This technique not only makes small areas look more spacious but also creates a bit of distortion that can make the perspective seem off, similar to a slight fisheye effect. These photos are heavily edited to enhance appeal, making them a standard in the industry to attract potential buyers by offering a more inviting first impression online.
Wide angle lenses and High Dynamic Range effects. Makes everything look more spacious and much more deep and vibrant in color, with much deeper blacks
They use a wide angle but not quite fisheye lense, along with good lighting. The purpose is to make the rooms seem larger than they actually are and hide any defects in the paint, floor, cabinets, etc. Even if a lot of people are aware of it, the alternative is to use worse photos, and nobody’s going to do that.
Because they’re taken with a very wide lens or they’re possibly a panoramic photo. Also: it’s very possible they’re all taken by a contractor / freelancer / company that does nearly all the real estate photos in your area, and edits them using the same settings for color / contrast.
Using a tilt shift lens will give this look. More than a simple wide angle. It will distort the entire reality making things that are large seem small and vice versus.
https://www.dronegenuity.com/tilt-shift-lenses-how-to-elevate-real-estate-architectural-photography/
Easy, very wide angle or fish eye lens (or even tilt shift) combined with heavily over processed in post by someone who has no idea what they’re doing. The over processing makes the photos look very unrealistic/fake. I also think a lot of them are using AI now as well because a fair few I’ve seen recently look very strange to me as someone who has edited a lot of photos
Nobody Is mentioning the most important part. Someone said HDR but it’s more than that. Most good real estate photos are done with a technique called “flambient” which is a flashed photo + ambient photo blend.
They’ll take a few photos with ambient light at different levels of brightness, and then one photo with a flash to get accurate color of the room, because window light doesn’t do that very well. Then it all gets blended together in the editing process, which gives them the distinct look you’re talking about.
Source: am a real estate photographer
A wide angle lens is used, and in Photoshop they use a filter to flatten everything and make everything square. A wide angle lens shot without post processing would make all the straight lines in the floors, walls, ceilings, etc. curved. The filter fixes that. It also adds some distortion that can make things look unreal.
Add to that various HDR effects, and filters to enhance colors, shadows, lighting, etc. and you get a “fantasy” look to images.
Another is that in many real estate photos all windows are uncovered and/or have no coverings installed at all, which makes everything brighter and a bit more surreal than it would be in real life with blinds or curtains installed.
Heavily edited, just like the pictures of the agents when they were bottle girls in the 2000s.
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