How Digital Property Photo Retouching Could Attract Potential Property Buyers like Never Before
Photo enhancing can impact positively on many areas of modern day life, and visual evidence to support this claim doesn’t take much seeking out. From the further beautification of already radiant brides post-wedding, to restoring an old family photo to recapture the exact likeness of someone dearly departed. But were you aware that digital property photo retouching practices are making impressive strides in the estate agency sector? To the point that the potential difference between a quick sale and a house which fails to generate much interest (and subsequent buyer footfall) can be down to the quality of the photographs.
Photo Enhancing Apps Afford Would-be Home Buyers Glimpse of Their Future Lifestyle
Nowadays there are specifically created apps (PropertyBox, for example) independent house sellers and estate agents can utilise which pay dividends in terms of Rightmove stats, according to those who are active in the sector. Often increasing said figures by up to 20%.
Not only is that an incentive for people looking to shift property to wise up to the pivotal role that photo enhancing can play, but there’s more. As property insurance firm, AXA discovered on releasing recent findings of its own research, which makes for insightful reading. And which also emphasises the crucial contribution that digital property photo retouching can make to the overall process.
Digital Photo Retouchers See Benefits of New Business Landscape Opening Up
As a point in question, the insurer revealed that guesstimates of the value of a one bed flat (which it had invited people visiting its website to participate in) were ramped up by some 21% once the imagery had benefitted from a photo makeover.
However despite these separate instances indicating that the UK property market is – if you’ll pardon the pun – moving towards embracing photo enhancing as a means of attracting a wider demographic of would-be buyers, there are still pockets of resistance to change out there. Seemingly untouched by this visual evolution which is afoot.
So, you might ask; how exactly might digital property photo retouching be responsible for changes of opinion in practice?
Those witnessing a revolution of sorts within the property sector tell of how success is being measured more by the blending of both the virtual and real world. And how, essentially, this has become a trend. Where once simply showcasing houses as they are was all it took (and individual buyers’ imaginations dictated as to how they would envisage themselves in a certain property which captured their interest), nowadays prospective buyers demand more expansive conceptualising.
And basically having the work done for them as such.
In real terms this translates as being confronted with how their future home will look on the inside; wit fully furnished interiors offering a more aspirational touchstone that doesn’t simply exist in the mind’s eye of those with suitable visionary powers which in turn naturally progress to mental persuasion. In many ways the art is in planting the seed, and courtesy of digitally enhanced photos, the fruits of the retouching labour are plain to see.
Roses Can Be Any Colour an Estate Agents Asks the Photo Retoucher to Make Them….
A myriad of graphic aspects which can instantaneously affect a house buyer’s judgement calls are now being plundered by estate agents, so as to position properties found in their portfolio in the best of lifestyle-savvy lights. You name it; a variety of digital image tricks are being applied.
Everything from editing out cars parked in front of a house and having wheelie bins discarded on the kerb and/or leaves removed from driveways (as decluttering principles) through to the application of virtual furnishing. Not to mention removal of reflections in mirrors and the introducing of leaves to trees and the adding of plants and/or carpets.
Sorry, virtual what?
Furnishing. Or to photographically imagine what certain elements of typical furniture resolutions would look like were they to be in-situ, in a person’s dream home environment. Once an estate agent has taken photos of a property, then these images are handed over to firms (or dedicated CGI-led apps are facilitated thereafter) to help construct the bigger picture. A bigger picture which sees virtually-rendered furniture lend a more ‘lived in’ aesthetic to a home in the eyes of a potential buyer.
Image Edited Property Shots Help Estate Agents’ Big Sell
Particular styles can be determined from the outset, depending on what an estate agent will specify (and naturally inspired by the structural look and feel of the property itself), with a view to being property appropriate. It may even be that subtle revisions need to be made, including the tried and tested likes of colour contrasting, amending the white balance on an original agent’s photo to enhance the existing shot, correcting exposures and any distortion, sharpening images or fixing shadows.
When you think about it, personalising or tailoring interiors to better reflect those people who might choose to reside in desirable properties is no different than traditional architect’s impressions of exteriors. Once again, images (albeit technical drawings and illustrations in the latter case) which as much sell a lifestyle as much as bricks and mortar.
Virtual Staging Paves Way for Photo Enhancing to Make Inroads into Property Market
Colloquially referred to as ‘virtual staging’, the property sector still has some catching up to do with some of the trailblazers already making waves. Yet can take pointers from the likes of Swedish furniture icon, Ikea; whose interactive Ikea Place VR platform allows customers to drop selected furnishings into the parameters of their homes. Elsewhere – yet perpetuating this theme – paint giants, Dulux has enjoyed much success with its popular ‘Paint your Walls’ app.
There’s no doubt this self-styled ‘digital surgery’ being rolled out by app creators and specialist in-house photo enhancing companies is gaining a lot of traction of late, and can only burgeon still further. And when you bear in mind that a sizeable percentage of property searches begin online, visual appeal is priceless from the get-go. As one leading property expert suggests, virtual staging is significantly more cost-effective than actual staging. And does exactly the same job yet more besides, as photo enhancing can effectively place the interested party at home on the sofa; together with visually demonstrating what each and every living space does. Or moreover, could do for the individual.