Special offer

For Love or Money

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with New Paradigm Partners LLC EB #1326335

Since Valentine's Day was one of the themes of this month's tool challenge, I wanted to choose my topic with love in mind. Had I been writing about money tools, I would have reworked my previous posts about the benefits of blogging on AR with backlinks to an IDX Wordpress site - but I've done that already, and anyhow, love is more powerful than money.

 

And I have a new love when it comes to tools. I've been into photography since I entered my teens. I had a real darkroom and used to develop my own photos, and when Photoshop first came out, I bought version 1.0 and spent the time learning to use it. But keeping up with the updates was expensive, and the program was sophisticated way beyond what I needed - I wasn't doing color separations for magazine covers, after all.

 

So a bunch of years back, I switched to Photoshop Elements, a much cheaper version that actually did everything I needed, and did it very well - or at least I thought so. But during last month's contest, I called Sheri Sperry - MCNE® to talk about the excellent photos in her blogs. She put me on the phone with her husband Rick, who does all of their photography, and he shared his secret - he's using Adobe Lightroom, a program I had never tried.

 

Rick told me it was very easy to use, and that it is available in a cloud version - and thus always updated and current - and is bundled with the full-featured Photoshop and some great mobile app versions for the measly pittance of $9.99 a month. I immediately knew that I had to try it, and Adobe made that easy with a free 7 day trial - I used 2 days of that trial, and signed up.

 

The programs come with a good tutorial suite that is comprehensive and easy to follow - within a couple of hours, I was using the program to make dramatic differences in photos I had previously done my best with using Elements. Rick was right, it is easy to use, but in all honesty, my experience with Photoshop really shortened the learning curve. As a disclaimer, if you haven't had any experience with a sophisticated photo editor, you'll need to invest some time learning the program. That's not because it's hard - it just does so amazingly much that it takes a while to explore everything.

 

 before

 

Here's an example using a not very good, unedited photo of a listing I took a couple of years ago. With Elements, I was able to get rid of the dumpster, but it took about an hour of painful cut-and-pasting, and the results weren't spectacular. And that wasn't the only problem. The colors were flat and lifeless, and it took a while longer to get everything to a minimally acceptable level. I wasn't thrilled and it wasn't a great use of my time.

 

Using the base photo above, this is what I did in 5 minutes using Lightroom and Photoshop (they work in concert in the cloud version and it's easy to switch back and forth between the two).

 

 after

 

The dumpster was gone in a couple of minutes this time, using an amazing Photoshop capability called content-aware fill - somehow the program can make a great guess as to what's behind the dumpster, and when you remove the dumpster, Photoshop replaces it with that guess. The rest of the enhancements were done in Lightroom, and took maybe another couple of minutes. And I might have spent another couple perfecting the image if I were going to publish it as a property photo.

 

I've been spending a lot of time having fun with these two programs, and I know they're going to make a big difference in our future listing photos, as well as with all of the other photography I do. If you have been using one of the free photo editors, you should treat yourself to at least the 7 day free trial of these two killer programs. They're well worth the effort of climbing that learning curve - for both love and money.

 

Thank you, Rick Sperry!!

Posted by
Mary & Dick

Mary & Dick Greenberg
New Paradigm Partners LLC
2601 S. Lemay Ave. #41
Fort Collins, CO 80525
970-689-4663
www.maryanddick.com

 

Data Source: IRES MLS

Comments (40)

Kat Palmiotti
eXp Commercial, Referral Divison - Kalispell, MT
Helping your Montana dreams take root

I'm going to have to check this out as well. Thanks for the tip!

Feb 23, 2017 03:49 AM
Sham Reddy CRS
Howard Hanna RE Services, Dayton, OH - Dayton, OH
CRS

Thanks for great tips!!! Appreciate your time posting these

Feb 23, 2017 03:56 AM
Mark Neighbor
A O Home Solutions - Sell House Georgia - Buy House Georgia - McDonough, GA
Sell House Fast In Georgia

Rick, thanks for the review.   Hadn't heard of lightroom before.  I guess I better start using the two Photo editors to improve the pictures

Feb 23, 2017 04:50 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

My stuff never lasts that long. Picture editing would even make it go quicker

Feb 23, 2017 07:12 AM
Morgan Evans
Douglas Elliman Real Estate - Manhattan, NY
LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON

Very good before and after example.  The cost involved looks very do-able.  Putting in the effort to make that first impression that much more dramatic is time well spent.  

Feb 23, 2017 08:08 AM
Nick Vandekar, 610-203-4543
Realty ONE Group Advocates 484-237-2055 - Downingtown, PA
Selling the Main Line & Chester County

Sounds like two wondeful tools for photographers.

Feb 23, 2017 01:39 PM
Lou Ludwig
Ludwig & Associates - Boca Raton, FL
Designations Earned CRB, CRS, CIPS, GRI, SRES, TRC

Dick

Congratulations on being awarded a feature for an outstanding post.

Good luck and success.

Lou Ludwiig

Feb 23, 2017 03:47 PM
Nathan Gesner
American West Realty and Management - Cody, WY
Broker / Property Manager

Thanks for sharing! I've been considering Lightroom but haven't made the leap yet.

Feb 23, 2017 07:41 PM
Marte Cliff
Marte Cliff Copywriting - Priest River, ID
Your real estate writer

I have photoshop elements - and every time I need to use it I have to get out the book and search for "how to." As a result, I don't use it very often. I do think it would be fun to play with if I had unlimited time - but who has that?

Feb 23, 2017 09:31 PM
Kasey & John Boles
Jon Gosche Real Estate, LLC - BoiseMeridianRealEstate.com - Boise, ID
Boise & Meridian, ID Ada/Canyon/Gem/Boise Counties

Thanks for sharing your tools!  Have a great weekend. -Kasey

Feb 23, 2017 09:39 PM
Sham Reddy CRS
Howard Hanna RE Services, Dayton, OH - Dayton, OH
CRS

Photo enhancement is a great tool!!!

They're going to make a big difference in our future listing photos, as well as with all of the other photography

Feb 24, 2017 04:09 AM
Lottie Kendall
Compass - San Francisco, CA
Helping make your real estate dreams a reality

Pictures do say a 1,000 words - your examples here are proof of that.

Feb 24, 2017 05:38 AM
Anne Edwards Johnson
All City Real Estate - Austin, TX
Austin Realtor | HookemhomesATX (512)917-5260

Question?  Will using Light Room be as easy for someone who does NOT know Photoshop at all?  I have heard so much about this program but hesitate to venture out because I have never really learned Photoshop.  Keep the "how to's" coming. 

Feb 24, 2017 07:42 AM
Dick Greenberg

Anne Edwards Johnson The problem isn't the difficulty of doing things - that's easy. But there's so much you can do. It's totally worth the effort and the tutorials are very good.

Feb 24, 2017 07:58 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

I used a very old Adobe program many years ago but when it became obsolete I never upgraded and found something new.  I will have to check this out because your examples are great.

Feb 24, 2017 07:42 AM
Theresa Akin
CORPUS CHRISTI REALTY GROUP - Corpus Christi, TX

We have a couple part-time photographers in our brokerage. They use this program also.

Feb 24, 2017 01:44 PM
Debbie Reynolds, C21 Platinum Properties
Platinum Properties- (931)771-9070 - Clarksville, TN
The Dedicated Clarksville TN Realtor-(931)320-6730

That is a dramatic difference and ceratinly worth the investment of a few dollars to make your photo look professional. I use Smart Photo Editor that has easy steps too. It was a one time purchase and depends on the users to do update and presets so not as good as what you have.

Feb 25, 2017 06:49 AM
Patricia Feager, MBA, CRS, GRI,MRP
DFW FINE PROPERTIES - Flower Mound, TX
Selling Homes Changing Lives

Congratulations on your feature and thank you (Sheri's husband, too) for teaching us all something new and exciting. I've never used a photo editor and I take my own photos for the MLS but the problem is it takes a long time to move dumpsters, trash, and other things out of the photo by going back to the property if the original photos need to be retaken. I just hate when sellers insist I use their photos and they include all that junk that doesn't make a good impression. When I get my next listing, I'll have to give this software a try!

I really do admire people like you who have an eye for the camera and knows how to make photos more enjoyable. Also, you should know, I always thought your photographs were professional. In addition to being a fine photographer, you must be a perfectionist at heart who consistently strives to improve your techniques.  

Feb 25, 2017 07:50 AM
Roy Kelley
Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

Congratulations on your feature recognition. This is great information to share.

Feb 26, 2017 05:59 AM
Kirsten Mellinger
SkyView Real Estate - Simi Valley, CA
Ventura County Real Estate

I don't do a lot of photo-shopping, but WOW what a huge difference in the before/after photos!  I too haven't heard of Lightroom, but will definitely be looking into it.

Feb 28, 2017 01:20 PM
Jan Green - Scottsdale, AZ
Value Added Service, 602-620-2699 - Scottsdale, AZ
HomeSmart Elite Group, REALTOR®, EcoBroker, GREEN

Awesome advice Dick!  Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.  My learning curve would be more as I haven't used Photoshop much.  I appreciate the link for the free trial too!

Mar 08, 2017 06:34 PM