The Ultimate Glossary of Real Estate Photography Terms and Definitions

Real Estate Agents can at times come across some puzzling terms when working with Real Estate Photographers. Here, we answer some of the most common photography questions in simple, digestible language. We hope that this glossary helps Real Estate Agents better understand what they are getting from their photographer. Without further ado, let's dive into it.

What is the difference between Composition, Framing, and Cropping?

Composition is the art of arranging elements within a photo. Effective composition highlights your property's best features. Framing involves composing a shot to draw attention to key elements. Cropping involves trimming an image to focus on a particular area after the photo is taken. These techniques help emphasize a property's most appealing features.

What is Aspect Ratio?

Aspect ratio is the relationship between the width and height of an image. The most common aspect ratio for real estate photos is 3:2. On Instagram, 1x1 dimension photos are most common, but it's also possible to use 4x5.

What is Colour Temperature?

Colour temperature is the warmth or coolness of a photo. Warmer colours are more orange or red (like a sunrise). Cooler colours are bluer (like overcast daylight or an electronic flash). Colour correction enhances the colours in a photo to make it more true-to-life.

What is White Balance?

White balance adjusts the colours in your photos to ensure that whites appear truly white. This helps maintain accurate colour representation in various lighting conditions. White Balance Adjustment is the process of fine-tuning a photo for colour accuracy.

What are Saturation and Vibrance Adjustments?

Saturation refers to the intensity of colours, while vibrance is a subtler adjustment.

Saturation adjustments can make colours pop, especially when you want to emphasize certain aspects of a property. This can enhance the greenery of a garden, make the blue sky more vibrant, or bring out the warmth of interior spaces.

Vibrance adjustments enhance the subtle tones and colours in a room, such as the pastel hues in a bedroom or the soft colours of furnishings.

What is Exposure?

Exposure is the amount of light that reaches your camera's sensor. Overexposure is when an image is too bright, while underexposure is the opposite. Correctly-exposed photos are neither too dark (underexposed) nor too bright (overexposed). Exposure correction is a brightness and contrast adjustment to improve the overall look of your property photos.

What are Bracketed Photos or Bracketed Exposures?

Bracketing involves capturing a series of photos using different exposures (underexposed, correctly exposed, and overexposed). This technique allows photographers to digitally create balanced images, especially in high-contrast scenes.

What is High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography?

HDR photography combines bracketed exposures to show a wide range of light and dark information in your property's photos. HDR image processing combines multiple exposures of the same photo into a single image. This produces well-balanced real estate photos.

What are hand-blended photos?

Photographers Hand-blend photos by combining different parts of photos to make each part of an image look just right. It's like putting together a puzzle where each piece is taken from a different picture. This creates perfectly balanced photos that use the best parts of each photo. In real estate photography, hand-blending helps show both the interior and the view outside a window in a single photograph. This ensures that nothing appears too dark or too bright.

What is Flash Photography?

Flash photography uses additional lighting in areas where natural light may not be enough.

What are RAW vs. JPEG files?

RAW and JPEG are different photo file formats. RAW files contain more data and allow for greater flexibility when editing. JPEGs are compressed and easier to share but have limited editing capabilities.

What are Sky replacements?

A Sky replacement is an editing technique used to replace dull skies with more attractive and appealing ones in property photos.

What is Virtual Staging?

Virtual staging involves digitally adding or removing furniture and decor to showcase your property's potential.

What is Vignette Correction?

Vignette correction adjusts the light and dark areas at the edges of your photos, ensuring even illumination.

What is Spot Removal or Object Removal?

Spot removal is the process of digitally removing blemishes, dust, or minor imperfections. Object removal is about eliminating unwanted distractions, or reflections from property photos.

What is Cloning and Healing?

Cloning and healing are editing tools used to retouch and refine areas of an image, perfecting the visual appeal of your property. These techniques are often used for:

• Removing Ceiling, wall, or floor stains.

• Removing Reflections and unwanted shadows.

• Cleaning up Exterior Debris.

• Minor Landscape Touch-ups, like filling in patchy grass or removing dead leaves.

• Cable and Wiring Cleanup.

These terms help Real Estate Agents better articulate their unique style and the look they want for their Real Estate listings. Investing in high-quality photography is essential in showcasing a property's unique features. This helps Real Estate listings capture the attention of potential buyers and stand out in a crowded market. To learn more about what we offer at Bash & Co, see our photography services here.