Research shows that professional real estate images help increase about 32% in selling houses and properties. Stunning images of the interior or exterior of a house give your business a sense of professionalism and credibility and make you stand out from your rivals. Luckily, the market is full of a variety of photo editing softwares to improve your images quickly and affordably without high-priced real estate photography gear. In this blog post, we have listed the top 7 real estate photo editing softwares that real estate photographers and photo editors should use to make your real estate photos professionally edited with minimal effort and free.

1. Adobe Photoshop

Price: US$20.99/mo

Advantages: 

• A huge variety of design tools

• Increase resolution of photos

• Rich format support

Disadvantages:

• Photoshop is expensive

• Less support for vector graphics

• Full functionality may not be utilized by every user

• Poor image management

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard software when it comes to editing, retouching and prepping up photographs and ambiance attributes.  In fact, the uses of Photoshop in real life are limitless. Adobe Photoshop is definitely the greatest editing software that we highly recommend in real estate photo editing services. Using this, users can modify several image aspects and combine various exposures into one single HDR image. You can create HDR images in Photoshop and edit them using the same software as well. However, Photoshop is not easy to master and it takes a lot of time in order to be able to use Photoshop in the most appropriate manner so as to get desired outcomes.

2. Adobe Lightroom

Price: US$119.88/yr

Advantages: 

• Simple, clear interface

• Automatically syncs photos to cloud storage

• Powerful raw profiles and filters

• Panorama and HDR stitching

Disadvantages:

• Expensive

• Limited sharing

• Can’t choose which photos to sync

• No local printing

• No plug-in support

Adobe’s Lightroom photo software has long been a favorite among professional photographers. They now have a choice of flavors: Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. The first (the subject of this review) is primarily designed for serious beginner photographers who want to access their photos online and use some powerful editing and organizing tools. Lightroom Classic retains the program’s traditional interface and toolset for working professional photographers. Adobe has been gradually adding features to bring the newer sibling up towards parity with Classic. Unfortunately, the new program still lacks local printing, tethering, and plug-in support—among other things. It’s still one of the best editing softwares for real estate photo editing.

3. Aurora HDR

Price: US$99

Advantages: 

• Integrated file management/cataloging system

• Arrangement into collections and galleries

• Quick and intuitive slide creating

• Editing steps can be synchronized

Disadvantages:

• No lens correction profiles 

• Localized retouching is limited 

• Pricing of Add-on LUT packs is not friendly

Many real estate photographers choose to shoot in HDR which specializes in exposing details in the shadows and highlights of an image. Aurora HDR 2021 features a new Quantum HDR engine with artificial intelligence-based tone mapping technology. With these, your photo merging gives natural results. The new HDR engine helps in tone mapping and aligning your images as well as any camera movement between your bracketed images.

Nevertheless, if you consider small details, it is difficult to compare Aurora with any other software. It produces really stunning photos due to its intelligent automated algorithms. So if you are searching for the best HDR software for real estate photography, Aurora definitely deserves your attention.

4. Luminar AI

Price: US$99/life

Advantages: 

• Use Luminar AI as a plugin with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom

• The interface is user-friendly and easy to learn 

• Ideal for individual photographers and editors

• Produce great AI-based results

Disadvantages

• Doesn’t provide that much control over your photos as AI does most of the work

• You can’t migrate your photo catalog from Luminar 4 to Luminar AI

Luminar AI is an advanced and powerful real estate photo editor based on artificial intelligence that allows creators to save time and achieve desired results. It is created to help you make complex edits and achieve professional results in the minimum amount of time.

You can use Luminar AI as a standalone image editor or as a plugin with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. So, if you are already using these Adobe products, Luminar AI can add great convenience to your workflows.

Moreover, you can use Luminar AI even if you are a complete beginner or a seasoned editor. But, advanced users might find using it as a plugin to other software more practical and compelling.

5. Photomatix Pro 6

Price: US$99/life

Advantages:

• Lots of nice tools for adjusting HDR photos.

• Selective brush tool is effective for specific edits.

• Variety of presets including custom presets.
• Good amount of written tutorials and tips.

 

Disadvantages:

• A bit time-consuming learning the program.

• Issue with undoing brush tool strokes.

• Limited file sharing options when exporting an edited image.

For real estate photographers looking for something simple and easy to use, Photomatix is a great option. Though it may not have all of features like Photoshop or Lightroom, it proves to be an approachable choice for beginners that might feel overwhelmed by other real estate photo editing softwares. Photomatix, unlike some of its competition, keeps things simple and easy to understand. Whether used as a standalone or plugin, Photomatix Pro is certainly a program worth considering for your HDR needs. HDRSoft offers a cheaper and less extensive version of the program called Photomatix Essentials for those who edit as hobbyists or have no need for advanced tools.

6. Photomatix Pro 6

Price: US$99/life

Advantages:

• Lots of nice tools for adjusting HDR photos.

• Selective brush tool is effective for specific edits.

• Variety of presets including custom presets.

• Good amount of written tutorials and tips.

 

Disadvantages:

• A bit time-consuming learning the program.

• Issue with undoing brush tool strokes.

• Limited file sharing options when exporting an edited image.

 

For real estate photographers looking for something simple and easy to use, Photomatix is a great option. Though it may not have all of features like Photoshop or Lightroom, it proves to be an approachable choice for beginners that might feel overwhelmed by other real estate photo editing softwares. Photomatix, unlike some of its competition, keeps things simple and easy to understand. Whether used as a standalone or plugin, Photomatix Pro is certainly a program worth considering for your HDR needs. HDRSoft offers a cheaper and

7. PaintShop Pro

Price: US$99.99/life

Advantages:

• Photoshop-like features at a lower price

• Powerful effects and editing tools

• Help and tutorials

• Good assortment of vector drawing tools

• Automatic noise removal

Disadvantages:

• Inconsistent interface

• No macOS version

• Some operations slow

Photoshop is a magnificent tool, but many real estate photographers could do everything they need in PaintShop Pro without having to pay monthly tribute to Adobe. PaintShop Pro is easily one of the most straightforward photo editing software options online for people who want a simple but effective approach to upgrading their images. Though it might not be the most advanced tool in the market at first glance, it comes with everything you need to take your images to the next level without breaking the bank.

The newest version of Corel PaintShop Pro also boasts a new Photography Workspace, specifically designed for photographers. This simplified workspace streamlines your edit workflow by offering the best photo editing tools in a simple format. In fact, you can apply most of the tools in the Photography Workspace in just one click!

And, with more tools for high-quality photo-editing, PaintShop Pro has more unique tools lacking in Photoshop.

less extensive version of the program called Photomatix Essentials for those who edit as hobbyists or have no need for advanced tools.

Which Photo Editing Software is Right for You?

If you’re looking for a simple, free real estate photo editor that handles basic edits, then Pixlr may work. While it doesn’t improve your photo editing skills, it’s great for photographers who only need to make a small adjustment to one or two images on a budget.

For more serious editors and photographers who look for a perfect real estate photography editing, we recommend the powerful industry standard editor Adobe Photoshop and  Lightroom. In fact, 300Photo has been using Photoshop from the very beginning until now to handle some of the most difficult images. Since they are subscription based, you’ll be among the first to access cutting edge editing features as they release them.

Once you’ve got your pictures edited with one of our photo editing software picks from above, these high-quality images entice potential buyers to visit the property.